Spiritual Care: A Guide for Caregivers (2 page)

To protect individuals' privacy, unless a story is footnoted all
names are pseudonyms.

Mary Logy a faithful member of the church prayer team, seemed
plagued by chronic illness. An automobile accident ten years ago
had crushed several vertebrae, leaving her with nagging back
pain. A lingering problem with endometriosis gave her constant
abdominal pain. Then her blood pressure started rising, responding poorly to medication. Through it all, Mary Lou appeared
serene and sweet-tempered.

Although most people in the church knew Mary Lou and
deeply respected her for her strong faith, no one knew her well.
Shy and reserved, she rarely attended church function other than
the weekly prayer meeting and worship service. She explained
that the hard chairs were too uncomfortable for her and that she
had to watch her diet carefully. However, now that her blood
pressure was up, she began to visit the parish nurse regularly to
have it checked.

Kathryn, the parish nurse, asked Mary Lou if she would be
willing to go through a health assessment with her. Mary Lou hesitated but then agreed. First they concentrated on the physical
problems, which were many. It seemed that Mary Lou spent most
of her time visiting medical specialists. She took thirty-seven different pills each day, some of them prescriptions but many of them
over-the-counter vitamins and herbal remedies. Kathryn carefully
listed each medication, intending to make sure there were no
potential adverse effects or drug interactions.

Mary Lou's psychosocial history proved just as complicated.
Abused as a child, she had been treated for depression sporadically since she was thirteen years old. Her two grown sons had left
home soon after graduating from high school. She had not seen
either of them for years and had never met her grandchildren. Her
husband, Paul, was her only friend, and she felt she was a burden
to him.

As Kathryn began the spiritual assessment, she hoped this
would be one area of health in Mary Lou's life. But here she began
to get to the heart of many of the other problems. At first she hesitated to use the assessment guide.' It contained a checklist of spiritual disciplines and practices, including some that were rather
unusual. Certainly Mary Lou wouldn't know about most of these
practices. However, to Kathryn's surprise, Mary Lou checked
almost every one, including swinging a pendulum, meditating on a
mantra, consulting spirit guides and a wide array of alternative
therapies. Finally Mary Lou looked up and said, "I desperately
want to develop my spirituality-if it's spiritual, I've tried it."

Mary Lou is not alone. Recently, I attended a parish nurse support group meeting. Thirteen parish nurses from area churches
were sharing how they help people in their congregations deal
with stress. Ten of them were using some form of therapy bor rowed from other religions or the occult-yoga, transcendental
meditation, tai chi, Therapeutic Touch, crystals, herbal therapies,
diets and massage techniques designed to balance yin and yang,
talking to "angels," worry stones, aromatherapy and various forms
of imagery. As they discussed these techniques, they agreed that
the role of the parish nurse should be to minister to the spiritual
dimension, and they classified these activities as "spiritual." "What
else do we have to offer?" one of them asked.

Spirituality is a hot topic today. Almost every magazine, newspaper and television program has featured it recently. The bookstore at the local mall has a section on spirituality five times the
size of the religion section. Most of the books in the religion section are on religions other than Christianity. Just what is this spirituality that people are seeking? Why is there such a great interest
in spiritual things?

"You have made us for yourself," prayed St. Augustine of
Hippo, "and the heart never rests until it finds its rest in you." God
created us to be spiritual beings-people who seek after something beyond ourselves to find context for our lives. The apostle
Paul, preaching to the Greek seekers on Mars Hill, explained,
"From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth,
and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of
the places where they would live, so that they would search for
God and perhaps grope for him and find him-though indeed he
is not far from each one of us. For 'In him we live and move and
have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For
we too are his offspring"' (Acts 17:26-28).

Our culture's current fascination with epirLtuality should come
as no surprise. That's the way God made us. The soul's deep longing to know God is a basic human need. However, the definitions
of spirituality in the professional and popular literature today dif fer widely. We are not all talking about the same thing. Recently
there has been a strong movement away from defining spirituality
in religious terms. Religion is seen as narrow-minded, rigid and
confining, while spirituality is open-minded, creative and freeing.
On the other hand, there has been a trend toward investigating
other religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, shamanism and Native American spiritualities. A pantheon of other gods
has entered the American religious scene.

Recent polls seem to bear out these observations. A 1997 Yankel-
ovich Partners poll showed that significantly more Americans are
dabbling in spiritualism, astrology, reincarnation and fortunetelling
than did in 1976 (see figure 1).2 The Gallup polls, which have been
tracking Americans' religious beliefs for more than fifty years, have
consistently found that over 90 percent of those polled say they
believe in God. However, in 1976 the question was changed to "Do
you believe in God, or a universal spirit?"

In 1992 the question was broken down, with some interesting
results. While all but 2 percent believed in some sort of spirit, God
or life force, only 83 percent claimed to believe in a personal God.
Further questioning of this group revealed a "dazzling array of
New Age spiritualists who were `significantly more likely than those
who believed in God ... to say they believe in such things as astrol- who believed in God ... to say they believe in such things as astrology, ESP, psychic or spiritual healing, deja vu, ghosts, visits to earth
by extraterrestrial beings and reincarnation." However, the division
between those who believe in a personal God and those pursuing
other spiritualities is not clear-cut. If 83 percent say they believe in a
personal God, but 52 percent believe in spiritualism, a significant portion of those believers are dabbling in other beliefs as well.

Figure 1. Spiritual beliefs in the United States

The apostle Paul observed the Athenians' serious pursuit of a
vast array of gods and spiritualities in Acts 17. Then he went on to
explain that he could tell them about the Unknown God they were
seeking. Our own culture's fascination with spirituality presents
us with a similar challenge. But we need to be sure we know what
kind of spirituality we should be pursuingl In this book, we will
view spirituality as the whole person in dynamic personal relationship
with God. When we compare that to the definitions in recent literature and the communications media, we may find ourselves in
conflict. Part of the problem comes from the fuzzy reasoning we
experience as we find ourselves floundering in the midst of shifting paradigms and clashing worldviews.

The modern worldview comes to us out of the Enlightenment, a
movement beginning in the seventeenth century that initiated the
modern period of European culture. Although it had its roots in
Protestant Christianity and was strongly influenced by pietism,
empirical science replaced God as the primary authority. Rationalism, materialism and democracy characterized Enlightenment
thought. Most of us have been so immersed in this worldview that
we don't realize how deeply we are influenced by it. We assume
that if we can't prove something by empirical research, it isn't real
or true. God, though usually acknowledged by modernists, is seen as distant, benign and disengaged from the world. Spirituality, for
the most part, is viewed as superstition, and religion as a private
matter that shouldn't be discussed in intelligent company.

While the modern worldview set the stage for science and technology to flourish, people increasingly began to realize that some,
thing was missing. Modernism separates the mind from the body
and does not leave room for interrelationships between emotions,
beliefs, environmental influences and physical health. On the
other hand, it has contributed amazing advances to health care.
None of us would want to return to premodern days -before antibiotics, immunizations, anesthesia or modern surgical techniques.
But there is a new movement afloat today.

The postmodern worldview has begun to replace the modern
worldview. It grew out of an attempt by twentieth-century philosophers to deconstruct the assumptions of the Enlightenment and
modernism. The effects of postmodernism now permeate many
aspects of our culture, and it has radically transformed the prevailing understanding of spirituality. The trends in recent literature show a spirituality increasingly devoid of content and
divorced from religious faith. It is based in experience--feelings
and techniques. Many are quick to explain that "this isn't religious." Consequently, this spirituality is open to everything, for
there is no absolute standard of truth. Any spiritual practice that
brings comfort, strength or apparent healing is considered equally
good and can be incorporated into health care.

To some extent we have all become enculturated into postmodernism, which values tolerance, "political correctness" and multiculturalism. We hesitate to offend people by being judgmentalalmost to the point where we don't make ethical distinctions.
Although we may think that our Christian beliefs are right for us,
we may also consider other religions equally valid and true. Inter est in evangelism and missions is waning. Many Christians have
forgotten that the gospel is good news and that the Bible insists that
following other gods will lead us into bondage.

The biblical worldview looks at spirituality differently from
either modernism or postmodernism. Actually, the term spirituality doesn't appear in the Bible at all. God doesn't tell us to
develop our spirituality, because the spiritual is always personal
in the Bible. We develop spiritual relationships, and we are given
a choice -either to accept God's offer of a relationship with him
through Jesus Christ or to turn to other spirits. The spiritual
world is real, not a psychological projection or a primitive superstition. It is not a neutral world. God has warned his people
repeatedly to avoid colluding with any other spirits (gods), not
because he wants to limit our freedom but because it is dangerous. These spirits are enticing, deceptive and manipulative;
"even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14).