Spirituality

Friends:

It strikes me that I've been throwing about the term "spirituality" yet have not offered a definition to help us ground our experience together. I offer this definition of spirituality from a book entitled, "Making Healthcare Whole" by Puchalski and Rennell, page 192:
"Spirituality provides a source of meaning and a way to understand the significance of living. Aspects of spirituality include the need for purpose and meaning, forgiveness, love, relatedness, hope and creativity and its expression. It may include rituals, music, prayer, and symbolic representations to help understand or interpret what it means to be human and to reckon with things greater than us."

So, by this definition then, a spiritual person would employ some or all of the listed aspects as well as rituals and representations in order to aid in the search for meaning and cosmic place. I think this is a very workable definition (BTW, one of 14 definitions of spirituality in this book - not to mention another 6 for religion.)

How can we then meld health and wellness with spirituality (that purpose for Possibilities Journey)? If one discerns upon the aspects of spirituality: love, forgiveness, need for purpose and meaning to life, creative expression; I think that it becomes clear that focusing only on the bio-medical aspects of disease leaves a whole lot to be desired. Thus, as Rachel Naomi Remen has stated, "We thought we could cure everything, but it turns out we can only cure a small amount of human suffering. The rest of it needs to be healed." (Puchalski and Rennell, pg 106)

Spirituality's addition to the healthcare model, therefore, offers an addition that no medicine or medical provider can offer - that of healing human suffering. No cures are offered, but the opportunity to be truly compassionate (definition, "to suffer with") in our provision of care, allows for the possibility for God to heal what is in need of healing. What a wonderful way to re-envision healthcare.

Peace,
Dan