As care providers, we know that spirituality, religion, and philosophy are all closely related in the popular language of many careseekers. Sometimes we need to remember these distinctions are important in care encounters, because they are not interchangeable. Spirituality is primarily concerned with a personal relationship with the divine or the transcendent. It is often experienced as a deeply interior journey and can take many different forms. Religion is more focused on the social aspects associated with a belief system and includes rituals, traditions, and a community of believers. Philosophy is primarily concerned with understanding the nature of reality and the human experience, relying primarily on reason and logic. Those we care for may use any one, or all three, of these words to describe their understanding of the world and their personal narratives.
Expanding the Cultural Horizons of Ritual
Addressing Unique Needs with Unique Rituals
Chaplaincy has traditionally defined rituals as those activities that are specifically associated with a particular religious or spiritual tradition. While this is still true for many careseekers who are deeply connected to tradition, many Chaplains have had to address the immediate and particular concern of an individual, family or community using a more customized approach by creating original rituals unique to that situation.
Chaplains in Our Time and Place: World Wisdom Project
Care providers on the role of ritual in their practice
Ritual, Pastoral Presence, and Character Virtues
A study of chaplains’ support of bereaved parents following the in utero or neonatal death of their baby.
The study used in-depth interviews with 33 Muslim and non-Muslim chaplains in New York City. The results indicate areas of both convergence and divergence that are useful guides.
How some Black Americans are finding solace in African spirituality
Between the pandemic and protests, practitioners of African religions are welcoming the community connection and liberation their traditions and rituals can bring.
Dr. Quing Li, MD, Ph.D is a doctor at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo and President of the Society of Forest Bathing and the Author of How Trees Help You FInd Health and Happiness. He estimates that we spend 93 percent of our time indoors. He has identified a condition he refers to as "nature deficit disorder."
The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan
The results show that forest environments promote lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, lower blood pressure, greater parasympathetic nerve activity, and lower sympathetic nerve activity than do city environments. These results will contribute to the development of a research field dedicated to forest medicine, which may be used as a strategy for preventive medicine.
Consider
Think about your own culture (this includes white, western dominant culture): What are some aspects of the culture you grew up in? Think below the “tip of the iceberg.” What ways of thinking, doing, and being define you? What would you keep? What would you let go of?