Go to Essence: Dr. Alan Chun

Dr. Alan Chun grew up in Hawaii and has worked as a family physician for nearly 50 years, all in community-based health centers serving the Asian and Pacific Islander populations. For the past 30 years he has been with International Community Health Services (ICHS) providing health care in King County. He now specializes in geriatrics and works with ICHS’ PACE program, keeping medically complex older adults living in the community from having to move into nursing homes by providing comprehensive multidisciplinary care until their end of life.

Having just turned 75, it’s hard to comprehend this three-quarters of a century sense of dimension. Time certainly is intangible and elusive. Perhaps our memory of time is always delusional, since the only time we really have is the fleeting and ever-changing present moment. 

What would you tell your younger self 60 years later?

Your self-consciousness and fear that everyone can see only your faults will turn out to be an error of perception. It is a form of self-centeredness, not so much in a selfish way, but one that comes out of a sense of isolation. The truth is that almost everyone is self-centered, and they barely are aware of other people’s reality, especially at your age. Taking a chance to investigate how other people experience their lives by asking them will help you loosen the grip of this deceptive self-consciousness. 

What wisdom about aging would you want to share with a younger person? 

With age and experience comes an expansion of perspectives, one in which there can exist many realities, many truths. And the means of learning about these different worlds is to be curious and open to other people. As we age successfully, our learned boundaries about who we are and how we should act will slowly erode until we blend and share our experiences with others. We can contain multitudes. 

What is important to you looking ahead?

The ultimate mystery, death, is viscerally near. We enter this life naked and we leave it nearly so, without any possessions except for our former selves and our soul. Even our loved ones we leave behind. What is important to me is to discern what is most valuable right now and slowly discard the superficial layers I’ve accumulated. Go to essence. Paradoxically, this may involve indulgences, so that I can try on different wants to see if they satisfy a deep need, or if they are just one of those outer layers that no longer fit and can be left behind.

Go to essence.