"To discover to the world something which deeply concerns it, and of which it was previously ignorant; to prove to it that it had been mistaken on some vital point of temporal or spiritual interest, is as important a service as a human being can render to his fellow creatures..."
John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty"
How do we navigate the world in spite of change? It's one of the central tenants of modern society. Over and over again, Oliver Sacks used the experience and metaphor of debilitating conditions to explain the amazing resilience of the human mind. A resiliency he himself exhibited right up until the end of his life.
I had many chances to talk with Sacks over the years, the last was in November of 2012. It was about his book The Mind's Eye. Inspired in part by his own experience with the cancer that would take him from us.