In his discussion of the art of healing, Ralph Twentyman places the problems of modern medicine in the context of the evolution of consciousness and the modern crisis of selfhood and community. He relates this to today's all-too-common experience of loneliness in relation to the experience of individuality. In contrast, he points to the dawning vision of humankind as a ''true being'' it itself -- a living organism. The illnesses that characterize our time are looked at within the context of these birth pangs of a new era of evolution and consciousness.