Psychologist George Bonanno uses the term “resilient” to describe people who are able to maintain a sense of core purpose, meaning and forward momentum in the face of a traumatic set-back, such as getting cancer. Purpose and belief can come from different directions. Robert contrasts modern wonder drugs and a religious icon, both found on a patient’s bedside table. The proximity of these objects is more than a little jarring. Robert reverses Karl Marx’s famous quote that describes religion as “the opiate of the people.” Instead, Robert seems to be saying that modern wonder drugs, used to combat everything from depression to cancer, are now believed in with such fervour that they’ve become a religion and a source of miracles.