In the deep south, spirituality and religion are terms frequently used interchangeably. There are overlapping characteristics in both religion and spirituality, but they are defined differently. In order to provide spiritually competent care, it is important to understand your own views, as well as, the impact of community culture.
I have worked all my 24-year nursing career in the state of Alabama. According to the Pew Research Center, Alabama is currently ranked as #1 (tied with Mississippi) as the most religious state in the U.S. Religion is a strong thread in the cultural fabric in this state and a key consideration in providing culturally competent nursing care. I considered religion and spirituality as interchangeable throughout many of my nursing years. In 2016, I found myself in spiritual distress eventually- leading to a deeper understanding of spiritually competent nursing care.
In May 2016, I checked into an inpatient facility for treatment of alcoholism. I don’t think anyone enters detox without having to experience a significant degree of negative life consequences- such as loss of job, relationships and sense of self. Through my drinking, I did a great job of isolating myself from all the people, places and things I held most dear. After 10 weeks of inpatient rehabilitation, I realized I also lost my sense of spiritual connectedness. My treatment team would frequently to assess my spiritual condition by questions similar to these:
-Who or what provides you with strength, hope and peace on a daily basis?
-What is helping you through this experience?
-How do you express yourself spiritually?
-What personal spiritual goals do you hope to reach during treatment?
Important note: Our spiritual journey is unique to us- just as our patients’ spiritual journey is unique to them. The intent of this article is not to provide a “right or wrong” path to spirituality because it is different for every individual. To care for an individual in spiritual distress simply requires a nurse to support individuals in their own spiritual growth.
Prior to my spiritual crisis, I had inner laced religion and spirituality. I felt I was competent in supporting another’s spiritual needs but had little self-awareness of my own spirituality. I am certain living in a state where 53% of the population reports affiliation with a specific religion shaped my own perception of spirituality. In order to provide truly competent spiritual nursing care, I had to first understand the differences in religion and spirituality.
The Difference in Religion and Spirituality
Religion and spirituality are not the same, but the two often overlap. Spirituality reflects an interconnectedness with something bigger than ourselves and the search for life’s meaning. Christina Puchalski, MD, Director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health defines spirituality as “the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature and to the significant or sacred”. Both religion and spirituality refer to the belief systems and philosophies of people and are often used in similar contexts. Belief in a religion may be very spiritual to an individual. However, an individual may be spiritual without affiliation to an organized religious system.
Characteristics of religion include:
A formal, organized system of beliefs with practices, activities and rituals to facilitate closeness to the sacred or transcendent.
Being a member of a group and following the teachings of others
Interconnectedness linked to church, temple, mosque, synagogue, etc.
Teaching and philosophies often based on the past
Belief in a religion may be very spiritual to a person
Characteristics of Spirituality:
A sense of relationship with believing in a power greater than ourselves
Subjective and individualistic
Spiritualism is a feature of the individual, not the group
About finding one’s own path
Inwardly directed
Less formal and emotionally oriented
Not authoritative
May be spiritual without affiliation with a religion
The Experience of Spiritual Distress
I experienced spiritual distress when I was unable to find sources of meaning, peace, strength and connectedness. I felt as if I was in a deep and dark hole and lost all hope I could get out.
I am now more aware when other individuals are having signs and symptoms of spiritual distress. A person may ask questions about the meaning of life, their belief system or pain and suffering. They may also suffer from feelings of sadness, depression, anxiety, anger and depression. A sense of isolation, emptiness and feeling alone is common with spiritual disconnect.
Meeting Spiritual Needs
It is important to be aware of your own spirituality to support another experiencing spiritual distress. As nurses, we must meet patients “where they are” and not where we think they should be. By projecting our own beliefs and ideas about where the patient should be spiritually, we could potentially inflict more suffering. This can be challenging for healthcare providers in a highly religious state or area. Here are a few guidelines when providing spiritual care:
Don’t assume you know what is best for the patient and do explore what or who can help in reconnecting (meditation, prayer, journaling, art, nature etc.)
Don’t give empty reassurances (“it will be alright”)
Don’t debate religion or impose your own views
Don’t try to “fix” your patient’s spiritual problems or answer “ unanswerable” questions
Actively listen to the patient
Ask “Who or what provides you with strength, hope and peace on a daily basis?
Ask “How do you express yourself spiritually and what is helping you through this experience”.
Do you think nurses fall short of addressing patients spiritual needs? Does the culture in your area impact the spiritual care you provide?
The only religion that is completely peaceful and nonviolent is Jainism. A Jain extremist would simply let himself die so that other beings won't be hurt by his unintentional harm. I cannot say the same about a Christian extremist or a Muslim extremist. Even a Buddhist extremist can do appalling things, too. I have to face that fact even though I grew up in that tradition. I don't think you do, but that is your business to sort it out with your church and your Pope. Those figures are not my authority, not mentioning the action from your church does not reflect what you said.
There isn't a human being alive that never caused someone harm intentionally. I think you know that.
There isn't a human being alive that never caused someone harm intentionally. I think you know that.
Of course. As much as I disagree with anti theists because they are shortsighted about religion, I think they have a good point: harmful beliefs can make good people do terrible things. I don't think we can avoid that fact.
I like Desert Fathers and Mothers tradition the most. They are what I consider peaceful and spiritual Christians. The rest of Christian sects always produce some people who are capable of doing horrific things to other people.
For one thing these two things are not even remotely related and are standard canards for seemingly low hanging fruit to indict Christianity as a whole. It also betrays an ignorance of history. For example, part of the reasons for that sham persecution was anti-Catholic bigotry by other Christians. Are you saying that it was a legitimate expression of Christianity?
You still haven't answered me and as you have spoken about history here is a little fact - Inquisition began in the 12th century when Europe was catholic. Martin Luther did not nail his thesis to the church door in Wittenberg until 1517. So who were these "other christians?"
However I will point out something to you, Jesus knew he was going to suffer and die because god told him and also he is god so he knew he was going to suffer and die. He also knew that god planned to resurrect him because he is god so knew what he would do after the suffering and dying. So according to that logic jesus did not give up his life for mankind he gave up his weekend - 3 days - knowing that he was going to resurrect himself.
This thread was originally quite interesting and helpful - see my comment on page 1 (March 2) - but as usual they get hijacked by extreme xtians who think their version is better and everyone needs to know it. You have called me toxic and stated that I am living a pretence. I feel that;
a), you are not going to stop or change your mind and,
b), it is not my place to try to stop you or change your mind.
You have my full support to allow you to practice the religion of your choice but please do not abuse me when I disagree.
To the moderators, please note that I am not trying to be abusive or argumentative and am only trying to have a discussion. However as there seems little chance of new dialogue I will remove myself from the thread. Please feel free to delete this post if you think it violates TOC's.
This thread was originally quite interesting and helpful - see my comment on page 1 (March 2) - but as usual they get hijacked by extreme xtians who think their version is better and everyone needs to know it.
To be fair Grumpy, offlabel was not the person who threw out the first salvo in this thread (and neither were you ?.) I think regardless of what religion a person practices nobody likes assumptions being made about what they believe or how they act and they tend to get defensive. That being said I agree that this was an interesting discussion about spirituality outside of formalized religion and it would be good if we can try to steer back to the original intent of the article.
To be fair Grumpy, offlabel was not the person who threw out the first salvo in this thread (and neither were you ?.) I think regardless of what religion a person practices nobody likes assumptions being made about what they believe or how they act and they tend to get defensive. That being said I agree that this was an interesting discussion about spirituality outside of formalized religion and it would be good if we can try to steer back to the original intent of the article.
Thank you Wuzzie, (I know I said I will leave and I will but felt you deserved a reply). In my part of the world there is a long history of protestant/catholic animosity which is still ongoing. Only last month a catholic terrorist group, The New IRA, sent letter bombs to addresses in the UK.
I should add, that I do not for 1 second believe that all catholics should be held responsible, the same as I did not believe all Irish people should be held responsible during the troubles. These, like all extremists, are a very small minority.
If my religion is the true one, the others cannot be true. There's the rub. If I can't prove that even 1 religion is true, how can I prove that ANY religion is true. Like all religious texts, it us made up. Why is your bible true and a Koran is not? Come on here...religion does not mix with public discourse. The planning commission does not need to argue that they need a Christian prayer before a meeting. Religion, by definition , is decisive. Churches get an awful lot of good work dine, but when the fundamentalist Christian right gets into politics, things get nasty. Jesus would never shared a glass of wine with Betsy DeVos or Mike Pence.
If my religion is the true one, the others cannot be true. There's the rub. If I can't prove that even 1 religion is true, how can I prove that ANY religion is true. Like all religious texts, it us made up. Why is your bible true and a Koran is not? Come on here...religion does not mix with public discourse. The planning commission does not need to argue that they need a Christian prayer before a meeting. Religion, by definition , is decisive. Churches get an awful lot of good work dine, but when the fundamentalist Christian right gets into politics, things get nasty. Jesus would never shared a glass of wine with Betsy DeVos or Mike Pence.
The question you are posing, at the end of the day, is a philosophical one, not a religious one. The first and probably most well known groups to take it on were the schools of Plato, Socrates and Aristotle in the 3rd and 4th centuries before Christ was born. They would have been considered pagans by biblical Hebrews. The question is "is truth knowable by human reason?", and they did a pretty good job demonstrating that it could. You don't need to be Christian to know truth by reason. The Koran contains truth, so does the Bible. But human reason would tell us that there is more truth in some places than others and it is through reason that we determine that. It's why I have a CRNA do my anesthetic and not a paramedic.
If my religion is the true one, the others cannot be true. There's the rub. If I can't prove that even 1 religion is true, how can I prove that ANY religion is true. Like all religious texts, it us made up. Why is your bible true and a Koran is not? Come on here...religion does not mix with public discourse. The planning commission does not need to argue that they need a Christian prayer before a meeting. Religion, by definition , is decisive. Churches get an awful lot of good work dine, but when the fundamentalist Christian right gets into politics, things get nasty. Jesus would never shared a glass of wine with Betsy DeVos or Mike Pence.
I think it depends on religion. Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Nordic heathendry, Wicca, Sikhism,.... can coexist with religious and non religious people without much tension.
Christianity and Islam are totally different stories. It is very clear that wherever these two faiths appear irreconcilable conflict or violence almost always occurs. The outcome is theocracy wins in the case of Islam or human rights triumphs in the case of Christianity.
Seeing how the nurses in this website protect their faith with such zeal to the point that they admit they become a nurse to "save souls", I cannot imagine how they are outside their profession. That scares me.
Seeing how the nurses in this website protect their faith with such zeal to the point that they admit they become a nurse to "save souls", I cannot imagine how they are outside their profession.
In real life or on media, the only group that threatens our society is Christianity. The next one is Islam. I have yet seen any other religion do the same.
Poor the Jews who are constantly on the spotlight because of what people in your religion and Islam do.
offlabel
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There isn't a human being alive that never caused someone harm intentionally. I think you know that.