Our Sportive Origin

About the Book

Anyone caring for or ravaged by a chronic illness, a need for hope and healing, or an interest in spiritual exploration, will be interested in Dr. Purdy's journey. This is a soul-searching human interest story for all.

Our Sportive Origin: An Archetype for Healing (A Personal Story) is an autobiography, combining narration, journaling, and poetry to describe the life lived, being lived, by Dr. W. Randolph Purdy. At times it presents more-or-less like a stream of consciousness beginning with early childhood athletic experiences, early adulthood successes, and then the unraveling of professional and personal life due to a devastating, disabling illness. He reveals his life-long involvement in athletics, with its attendant injuries as well as its joys and values, along with his life-long need for learning. The context throughout the book focuses on the intellectual and ultimately spiritual underpinnings of athleticism. There is a cogent argument that our "sportive origin" provides the author and potentially any one of us with an archetype for healing and remembered wellness.

About the Author

A physician specializing in internal medicine and vascular diseases, W. Randolph Purdy, D.O., has played with the written word most of his life. He has had numerous publications including poetry, editorials, a clinical textbook, and research articles. Dr. Purdy attended Dartmouth College where he played football and was on the Dean's Honor list; Knox College (B.A.) where he graduated with a major degree in Anthropology/Sociology and with a minor in English Literature; Middlebury College's famous Bread Loaf School of English and Creative Writing, and its Master's degree program; University of Minnesota to complete the necessary pre-med courses; and Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.). He is the father of four, and currently lives alone in Athens, OH. He has been an active member of the National Association for Poetry Therapy, the Academy of American Poets along with numerous medical organizations. An athlete all of his life, he considers his present situation requires spiritual vigor, or "spiritual athleticism," in order to play the game of life.