The conceptual foundations of the interrelationship between spirituality and healthcare is a phenomenon that draws critical controversies. Attesting to this observation is Yadava (2015), who argues that spirituality has for long been an integral part of healthcare since time immemorial. A similar connection is supported by Puchalski (2001), who adds that suffering and disease go just beyond the physical manifestation to include existential elements that encompass societal, mental, but also spiritual aspects. As such, it is critical to underscore that there exists a significant link between spirituality and healthcare. This paper argues that issues of spirituality and religious underpinnings highly influence healthcare.
Part One: Responses
The Socio-cultural, Religious and Philosophical Aspects of the Term "Spirituality"
Spirituality is a phenomenon whose meaning is dependent upon the context, premise, or perspective from, which it is viewed. This implies that there exist various prisms from, which the moniker 'spirituality' can be interpreted to convey meanings that show distinctions from multiple perspectives. Perhaps the multidimensional aspect of spirituality is best noted by Puchalski (2001) who pinpoints that suffering and disease go just beyond the physical manifestation to include existential elements that encompass societal, cultural, mental but also religious facets.
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The religious perspective on spirituality, which tends almost always to take precedence implies that spirituality is a phenomenon that is inseparable from belief in a divine being. Such is the reason spiritual issues tend to be almost always related to the mosque, the church, or on certain occasions, the synagogue from the Judaism religion (Puchalski, 2001). Nonetheless, the societal and cultural viewpoints on spirituality tend to have a deep-rooted and an almost insatiable connection with the religious realm. Why such is the case is argued to be because societies are the embodiments of civilizations, whose roots are historically the linchpins of various religious inclinations. As such, socio-cultural perceptions of the term still tend to relate spirituality with belief in a Supreme or divine being. While the socio-cultural facet shares a common denominator with the philosophical view of the concept, such a view is argued to be that spirituality connotes the existing relationship between humans and nature thus at times signifying it as an art (Yadava, 2015). However, it is critical to underscore that the philosophical view of 'spirituality' took precedence especially following the advent of learning in the 17th century when science began to effectively take the place of religion in defining human actions in society (Yadava, 2015).
The relevance of spirituality in health care and wellness Contexts
Spirituality holds a relatively high significance in matters of wellness and healthcare. Corroborating this viewpoint, Yadava (2015) opines that spirituality has for long been an integral part of healthcare since time immemorial. Its relevance in healthcare and wellness is manifest in the argument that suffering and disease while being a wellness issue is equally a spiritual issue as it needs compassion to procure healing for the affected. That is why in ancient Siberia, the shaman acted as religious (priest) as well as medical (healer) (Puchalski, Dorff & Hendi, 2004).
The Concepts of Scientism and Post-modernism
The scientism concept took to the helms of medical thinking on the eve of the 17th century, thereby demeaning spiritual healing with descriptive and experimentally-backed studies and evidence. In this light, scientism holds that belief system of all ancient religions and civilizations, including their theories on the origin of life and societies, lack facts (Puchalski, 2001). Scientism thus advocates evidence-based healing as opposed to religious inclinations on healthcare. Post-modernism, on the other hand, signals a departure from modernity and is a late concept that taking off in the late 20th century, sought to redefine the modernist thinking in various disciplines albeit via skepticism and ridicule of modernist ideological inclinations.
The relevance of Scientism and Post-modernism in Healthcare and Wellness
As is elucidated above, scientism is noted to have fundamentally altered the healthcare and wellness architecture by revolutionizing it through excluding the spirituality that initially took prominence in wellness matters (Yadava, 2015). It was not until the advent of scientism that activities of traditional healers who also performed priestly duties became less evident (Yadava, 2015). On the other hand, post-modernism sought to rebuke the scientism that took the helms of healthcare by trying to re-engineer the concept of spirituality back into the healthcare purview. It did so by criticizing non-compassionate care administration in the advent of scientism.
Part Two: World View Questions
Prime Reality
It is critical to pinpoint that the moniker, "prime reality" as is manifest from the literature so reviewed within this paper's parlance arguably related to issues about the existence of a supreme being, "God." Such elucidations relate to such questions as, 'Does God exist?' or 'How is God like?" In a well-noted observation, Puchalski, Dorff, and Hendi (2004) observe that while various rationalizations supporting and others opposing the existence of God exist in the empirical, metaphysical, subjective or at times logical respects, it is a contested subject in religion, philosophy, and culture. Prime reality thus depending on an individual's inclination varies as an atheist would argue there is no God, a scientist would say no evidence attests to the existence of God whereas Christians would support his presence through miracles and provision.
The Nature of the World Around us
The nature of the world around us reveals the physical realm on the one hand and the non-physical realm on the other. While the physical realm reflects issues not limited by physical laws such as the senses of smell, sight, and among others, taste, the non-physical world requires people to try to meditatively or attempt to live peacefully with others. Such is an essential way of coexisting peacefully with others in society.
A Human Being
Humans are anatomically structured primates with a highly developed brain structure that has enabled the complex hominid to be cultured as is manifest in the ability that characterizes the species Homo sapiens. With the propensity for more abstract reasoning ability augmented by highly-developed speech, human beings are the most developed of the hominids.
What Happens to a Person at Death?
The subject of spirituality is a highly contested one with what happens to an individual at death being arguably the most contested issue. For instance, one school of thought basing on the biblical manifestation argues that those sleeping in the dust will awake from their thousands years' unconsciousness state during judgment day with others receiving everlasting life while others contempt that is eternal (Daniel 12:12).
The Possibility of Knowing Anything at All
An examination of the literature of philosopher David Hume manifests that it is arguably impossible to in the first place know anything at all. Such leaves us with the rationale that understanding is an issue attributed to belief about both abstract and material things. Such is the case considering that most scientific phenomena and ideas such as 'democracy' are indubitably abstract. The nature of knowledge is in such a way that certain people have it while others lack it.
Knowing Right from Wrong
The question concerning the rightness or wrongness of an action is arguably a moral one in orientation. Understanding or differentiating right from wrong is, nevertheless, argued to be based on moral knowledge pertaining to a specific issue that is under analysis. Since all human actions fall within the ethical dimension, various philosophical schools imply that the rightness or wrongness of an action is dependent upon the system of rules justifying it rather than its consequences. The consequentialist approach, nonetheless, sees the results as the justification of the wrongness or rightness of an action.
Human History
As is noted in the 'human' connotation in the term 'human history,' it is particularly crucial to underscore that the 'human element' implies the existence of man as part of history. In essence, human history is a narration of social events through time and space telling of how, when, what the circumstances were like and the involved players in the real events. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that subjective judgments almost always tend to take precedence over objectivity as a game is recorded based on the writer's knack for validity or at times, their bias.
Part Three: Influence of Learnt Concepts in Building my Understanding of Spirituality in Healthcare and Wellness
Such concepts as 'prime reality,' the world around us, scientism and postmodernity augment each other in elucidating the concept of 'spirituality' in its relationship with wellness and healthcare. They do so by examining the existence of God, moral attributions related to good and wrong, which are paramount for a safe and harmonious world that spirituality and wellness so require to exist. Yadava (2015) for instance contends that medical ethicists are on record arguing that spirituality, religion, and morality are embodiments of wellness for patients who almost always require to be shown compassion and care that is not just restricted to cure but holistic care. Through the learned concepts, it thus becomes manifest that spirituality advocates a philosophy of wellness and healthcare that is not only holistic but also compassionate to the sick beyond the treatment model of cure supported by modernist scientific thinking.
Conclusion
This paper examined the issue of spirituality and its relationship with healthcare and wellness. In so doing, crosscutting concepts such as religion, prime reality, scientism, and postmodernity have been used as fundamental building blocks of manifesting that relationship. Despite post-modernist efforts to underscore spirituality back into the healthcare and wellness purview, scientism has arguably taken over the place of spirituality from the matrix.
References
Puchalski, C. M. (2001, October). The role of spirituality in health care. In Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings (Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 352-357). Taylor & Francis.
Puchalski, C. M., Dorff, R. E., & Hendi, I. Y. (2004). Spirituality, religion, and healing in palliative care. Clinics in geriatric medicine , 20 (4), 689-714.
Yadava, O. P. (2015). Three Spirituality and Health. In Healing across Boundaries (pp. 62-77). Routledge, India.
