Looking specifically into the development of ‘new’ illnesses in modern healthcare, Dr Kim Jobst shakes up our preconceived ideas about illness and asks us to contemplate the meaning of illness? Just when science has managed to eradicate several major killers, why have a plethora of new illnesses sprung up? In our race against disease, Dr Jobst argues why modern medicine needs to take a broader perspective. Using her own experience, Dadi Janki illustrates that illness is often a message to go into spiritual silence, let go of superficial anxieties and learn something new; as an opportunity for growth, illness can promote wisdom rather than worry.