Spiritual Goals

No. 16 To facilitate progress toward achievement of personal spiritual goals

By: Vincent Molina

To complete the totality of human being, every individual must meet the physical, social, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs. Needs that could never be neglected for the normal equilibrium.  If one of these needs is missing, life could be compare to a piece of puzzle with missing tile. Though, a spiritual value is the last priority among all, but we need to understand the significance to human life, how it works and how it will affect the man’s health status. 

Spirituality is the core of a person’s being and usually is conceptualized as a “higher” experience or a transcendence of oneself.  It is a melding of connectedness – with higher power, with others and with the surrounding world – as a person seeks meaning of life’s journey. In significant discussion of spirituality, faith is a multidimensional concept that links spirituality to health (Drouege, 1991; Wylie & Solari-Twadell, 1999).  Faith allows people to hold beliefs that cannot be directly observed.  Some people have faith that God will heal them or that their friend will keep a promise.  Faith can be deeply moving and personal, fostering people as they find meaning in life’s journey and view themselves in relation to God and others. Here in Middle East, the place of Muslim community who strongly believe that Allah (God) guides them in everything they do.  Frequently observed, before doing any procedures either at hospital or anywhere, they have a habit of saying Bismillah (in the name of Allah) or asking for the help of god.  Likewise for the Christian society, “OMG” abbreviation for the word OH MY GOD, whisper to hear but meaningful in essence.

On our daily walks of life, we can encounter different person with different beliefs about spiritual values and health.  Generally, health is defined as presence or feeling of wellness.  However, term is highly subjective and takes different meanings for different people.  On my experience as ambulatory nurse, I often encounter a client with chronic disease like Diabetes with hypertension, looking frail and worn, yet he or she claimed her health is good.  Another person may seem to be in wonderful physical condition, however reported that his/ her health is average or poor.  Every individual has different needs, unique ways of thinking, perception on health and treatment in relation to spiritual values.

In medical point of view, some professionals believed that health and spiritual values are separated.  There is no connection between medicine and religion.  They just focus on the nature of evolution, evidence based practice, research and the state of sciences. Thankful to Nursing Theorist Faye Glenn Abdellah who believes that medical practice with a focus on disease and cure must include the progress of spiritual problem towards achievement of an individual.

Yes, I am convinced that the beliefs of health-care providers can affect patients. However, when choosing a physician, spiritual attitudes and issues should not always be paramount. If you're having surgery, a doctor's technical skills and solid experience would be more important than his or her personal beliefs. But if you have a serious, chronic illness, or one requiring long-term care, you might want a physician whose beliefs are congruent with yours.

I still remember my experience when I was in Oriental Mindoro Provincial Hospital as Medical Surgical Nurse, taking care of 72 years old male, terminally ill patient in a private room.  He was suffering from COPD with chest tube in place on the right thoracic, NGT to right nostril and Foley catheter attached.  He was admitted for 10 days and still counting with no response to the medical treatment.  The condition was worsening despite of family support, nursing care and expensive medicine. Finally, the eldest son decided to sign a DNR (do not resuscitate) consent. I was shock at first since I knew the attachment of their family.  That night after living from my evening shift, I decided to visit him, trying to communicate while holding his hand.  Suddenly, I felt a soft pressed on my fingers and a whisper saying “I need a priest” from a 10 days comatose patient. Surprised at first while staring at him then I nodded with a promised to bring the clergy.  The next morning, I’ve informed the relatives on the patient’s request and I got to know that he live a life without believing God (atheist). After that day of spiritual renewal, a gradual improvement was noted and discharged after few weeks of hospitalization.

To sum up, spirit is the source of health and healing. Attunement to spirit allows energy to flow freely through all aspects of our being: spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical. The real Self is Spirit. Thus, to attain transformation, healing and progress to achievement of spiritual goals, our task is nothing more and nothing less than to connect to our real self.

 References:

K Mauk & N Schmidt (2004). Spiritual Care in Nursing Practice. Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins

Clinebell, H.J. (1992). Well Being: A Personal Plan for Exploring and Enriching the Seven Dimensions of Life: Mind, Body, Spirit, Love Work, Play, the World.New York, NY: Harper Collins.