Health and Spirituality

Health is a crucial element of life, thereby all the supporting factors of health assumed as crucial element as important as health it self. This study was focused on relation between physical, mental and spiritual health. Since, they have a strong correlation between each other. Number of person died because of suicide and depression and other mental disease whereas they have a healthy physical state, and vice versa. Number of person suffering illness caused by their unhealthy mental condition. And most startling fact, many researchers found that spiritual well-being involved in both physical and mental health. Spiritual well-being give the feeling of acceptance, satisfaction, happiness, self-control, and long term of hope. These feelings support mental health and more over mental health enhance physical health. Physical, mental and spiritual health work as harmony to achieve high quality of life and bring us health and happiness.

Passage Meditation is an eight-point contemplative program
whose foundational meditation practice is designed to help practitioners deepen their spirituality and manage the pressures of contemporary life by drawing directly upon the words and wisdom of the world’s spiritual
traditions. A growing number of adherents across all the major faith traditions use the PM program, as do many seekers who characterize themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” Together, the program’s eight tools constitute what Oman (this volume) calls a “fully integrated contemplative practice.”

The temples of the Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn) in Brazil and across the world are intended as 'spiritual emergency units' where mediums and their spirit guides provide patients with free assistance for health, relational, spiritual, and material matters concerning the person’s wellbeing. The therapeutic practice is known as 'disobsessive healing' and involves the release of causal spiritual agents considered to be affecting the person’s wellbeing. This paper discusses the Vale do Amanhecer’s etiology of illness and how mediums understand disobsessive healing as a complementary epistemology of healing, discerning spiritual and pathological experiences. Then, it examines how patients may draw their therapeutic trajectories across biomedical and spiritual contexts, sometimes developing mediumship as part of their therapeutic process. Approaching these therapeutic practices from the standpoint of affect and bodily experience may undermine the prominence of 'belief' in the study of non-biomedical approaches to healing, shedding light upon the relational, embodied, and lived-through dimensions of the notions involved in the therapeutic process.

Maslow, 1969a( ‫מבוא‬ ‫מאשר‬ ‫ובמגרעות‬ ‫במגבלות‬ ‫בחולי,‬ ‫יתר‬ ‫מיקוד‬ ‫שיש‬ ‫טוענים‬ ‫הנפש‬ ‫בתחום‬ ‫ומחקר‬ ‫מקצוע‬ ‫אנשי‬ ‫הגישה‬ ‫תומכי‬ ‫החיובית.‬ ‫הפסיכולוגיה‬ ‫גישת‬ ‫היא‬ ‫לכך‬ ‫תגובה‬ ‫האנושי.‬ ‫ובפוטנציאל‬ ‫בצמיחה‬ ‫מימוש,‬ ‫אושר,‬ ‫נפשית,‬ ‫בריאות‬ ‫אופטימיות,‬ ‫כגון‬ ‫לאיכויות‬ ‫מרבית‬ ‫לב‬ ‫תשומת‬ ‫לייחס‬ ‫מבקשים‬ ‫ניתן‬ ‫לטענתם,‬ .)Csikszentmihalyi & Seligman, 2000( ‫על‬ ‫ותפקוד‬ ‫חוכמה‬ ‫יצירתיות,‬ ‫הצלחה,‬ ‫חווה‬ ‫האדם‬ ‫שבהם‬ ‫הרגעים‬ ‫חקר‬ ‫באמצעות‬ ‫שלו‬ ‫והפוטנציאל‬ ‫האדם‬ ‫טבע‬ ‫אודות‬ ‫על‬ ‫רבות‬ ‫ללמוד‬ .)Fatemi, 2004( ‫ונעימות‬ ‫חיוביות‬ ‫חוויות‬ ‫חיוביות‬ ‫פעמיות,‬ ‫חד‬ ‫חוויות‬ ‫של‬ ‫המיטיבה‬ ‫השפעתן‬ ‫בנושא‬ ‫ומתפתח‬ ‫ההולך‬ ‫המחקר‬ ‫למרות‬ ‫ובשיח‬ ‫בכלל‬ ‫הנפש‬ ‫בבריאות‬ ‫העוסקים‬ ‫בקרב‬ ‫דיין‬ ‫מוכרות‬ ‫אינן‬ ‫אלו‬ ‫חוויות‬ ‫לאדם,‬ ‫ומשמעותיות‬ ‫חוויית‬ ‫שחווה‬ ‫לאדם‬ .)McAdams, Josselson, & Lieblich, 2001( ‫בפרט‬ ‫והטיפולי‬ ‫החינוכי‬ ‫ולרוב‬ ‫ולהבינה,‬ ‫לחייו‬ ‫החוויה‬ ‫משמעות‬ ‫את‬ ‫ללמוד‬ ‫יוכל‬ ‫שבאמצעותה‬ ‫מקובלת‬ ‫מסגרת‬ ‫אין‬ ‫שיא‬ ‫זאת‬ ‫לעשות‬ ‫צורך‬ ‫חש‬ ‫הוא‬ ‫אם‬ ‫גם‬ ,)Brown, 2000( ‫שעבר‬ ‫במה‬ ‫איש‬ ‫ישתף‬ ‫ולא‬ ‫אותה‬ ‫יצניע‬ ‫מעניקים‬ ‫השלישי‬ ‫המגזר‬ ‫ארגוני‬ ‫גם‬ ‫כמו‬ ‫השונות‬ ‫השלטון‬ ‫מערכות‬ ‫זאת,‬ ‫לעומת‬ .)White, 1997(

This Special Issue examines the construction of ethnographic knowledge in researching among participants of religious and spiritual groups through the lenses of bodily experience. Articles discuss the methodological implications of engaging the scholarly body in the field and the ways in which to convey these experiences through ethnography, by addressing the empirical, ethical, epistemological, relational, political and analytical implications of this significant aspect of fieldwork. Authors are particularly concerned with religious and spiritual groups whose practices imply the use of techniques, resources, plants, substances and other strategies used in religious contexts to modify the states of consciousness. They ask specifically how does the researcher's experience in researching among these groups inform the production of ethnographic knowledge? In which way does it redefine our analytical categories, and even the way we approach the experiences of participants in these groups? Up to which extent do our interlocutors expect us to know about their experiences and practices? Assessing critically their own experiences and their implications, they raise issues associated with contemporary debates around concepts of 'knowledge' and 'belief', 'body', 'self' and 'personhood', 'health' and 'illness' in religious contexts.

The aims of theological education include not only cognitive goals but also goals related to personal formation. These 'affective' goals are typically difficult to define, but a taxonomy developed by Barbara L. Martin and Charles M. Reigeluth provides categories that are appropriate and useful in the professional formation of adult learners. Understanding affective goals related specifically to the aims of theological education can help instructors design and teach these 'fuzzy' areas of the curriculum more intentionally; and students, who can tailor these outcomes to their individual circumstances, will find their personal formation less mystifying. This article explores the development of appropriate learning outcomes for the curriculum as a whole and for individual modules within a course of study, and it concludes by providing an example of instructional design for affective learning using a course in Film and Theology.

rie/Psychotherapie/psychische Störungen zugeordnet werden konnten. Das Resultat ist möglicherweise darauf zurückzuführen, dass Spiritualität als individueller Transzendenzbezug aufgefasst wird, der insbesondere in Grenzsituationen an Bedeutung gewinnt und Religion mit institutionalisierten Glaubensformen und sozial geteilten Werten und Normen assoziiert wird. Der interdisziplinären und methodenpluralen Gesundheitswissenschaft könnte in Zukunft die Aufgabe zuwachsen, die gesundheitliche Relevanz religiöser/spiritueller Faktoren in allen Lebensbereichen undsituationen zu erfassen und die individualpsychologische Sicht um die notwendige sozialmedizinische bzw. religionssoziologische Makroperspektive zu ergänzen.

This Introduction presents the main arguments debated in this Special Issue upon the construction of ethnographic knowledge in researching among participants of religious and spiritual groups through the lenses of bodily experience, addressing the empirical, ethical, epistemological, relational, political and analytical implications of this significant aspect of fieldwork. We ask specifically how does the ethnographer's experience of researching among these groups inform the production of ethnographic knowledge? In which way does it redefine our analytical categories, and the way we approach the experiences of participants in these groups? Up to which extent do our interlocutors expects us to know about their experiences and practices? When it comes to religious and spiritual experience these questions seem to enter an insidious territory challenging established categories, such as ‘knowledge’ and ‘belief’, ‘body’, ‘self’ and ‘personhood’, ‘health’ and â€...

This Introduction presents the main arguments debated in this Special Issue upon the construction of ethnographic knowledge in researching among participants of religious and spiritual groups through the lenses of bodily experience, addressing the empirical, ethical, epistemological, relational, political and analytical implications of this significant aspect of fieldwork. We ask specifically how does the ethnographer's experience of researching among these groups inform the production of ethnographic knowledge? In which way does it redefine our analytical categories, and the way we approach the experiences of participants in these groups? Up to which extent do our interlocutors expect us to know about their experiences and practices? When it comes to religious and spiritual experience these questions seem to enter an insidious territory challenging established categories, such as ‘knowledge’ and ‘belief’, ‘body’, ‘self’ and ‘personhood’, ‘health’ and ‘illness’; categories which we argue that should arise from the felt immediacy of the field. Eventually we address ethnography as a dispositive that throughout the research process not only involves the ‘intellectual’ activity of the scholar, but also the researcher as person and agent whose theoretical task should also include the empirical research on his/her experience of knowing and becoming in the field, considering the flow of relationships established with those ‘others’ in many ways who participate in the ‘project of knowing’ and constitute the raison d'être of ethnographic research.

Recognized by the World Health Organization as essential for good practices in palliative treatments, “spiritual care” is a recent term in the context of Brazilian healthcare, and should be more well-defined. To fill this gap, this study presents an overview of the updating of spiritual care in Brazil, the United States and Europe, provides brief guidance on how to identify spiritual needs, and outlines four useful tools for this type of care. After the contextualization follows an interdisciplinary and introductory reflection based on bioethics and public theology, questioning whether this care would be a public health issue. The text concludes by presenting some recommendations that may support public policies aimed at implementing spiritual support in palliative care in Brazil.

Do w nlo a d e d fro m: h t t p://i n si g h t. c u m b ri a. a c. u k/i d/ e p ri n t/ 1 3 8/ U s a g e o f a n y i t e m s f r o m t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f C u m b r i a' s i n s t i t u t i o n a l r e p o s i t o r y 'I n s i g h t' m u s t c o n f o r m t o t h e f o l l o w i n g f a i r u s a g e g u i d e l i n e s .

This Introduction presents the main arguments debated in this Special Issue upon the construction of ethnographic knowledge in researching among participants of religious and spiritual groups through the lenses of bodily experience, addressing the empirical, ethical, epistemological, relational, political and analytical implications of this significant aspect of fieldwork. We ask specifically how does the ethnographer's experience of researching among these groups inform the production of ethnographic knowledge? In which way does it redefine our analytical categories, and the way we approach the experiences of participants in these groups? Up to which extent do our interlocutors expect us to know about their experiences and practices? When it comes to religious and spiritual experience these questions seem to enter an insidious territory challenging established categories, such as ‘knowledge’ and ‘belief’, ‘body’, ‘self’ and ‘personhood’, ‘health’ and ‘illness’; categories which...

OPEN PANEL 162: Therapeutic itineraries often unfold across different approaches to wellbeing posing new challenges to patients, healers and medical professionals. This panel explores the entanglements of spirituality and biomedicine in people's experiences of healing, specifically asking: how do people make sense of and use different epistemologies of illness and healing in their therapeutic itinerary? How to they either draw, shift, or cross the boundaries between spiritual and medical approaches? How do they understand and apply notions of 'efficacy' and 'evidence' in their therapeutic experiences? How they deal with the power relations between the different approaches? How do they consider the relationships of negotiation and processes of decision implicated? Researching these experiences, contexts and itineraries, demands that also ethnographers address particular methodological challenges. How could ethnographic knowledge approach the tension between different epistemologies of healing coexisting in people's experiences? What kinds of methodological and ethical challenges arise in the ethnographic encounter with people in, or moving between, the fields of spirituality and biomedicine? We invite papers discussing ethnographic research in groups practising spiritual healing, among patients following both biomedical and spiritual therapeutic itineraries, and health professionals using conventional and non-conventional therapeutic approaches to healing. Conference webpage: http://www.inscricoes.iuaes2018.org/trabalho/view?ID_TRABALHO=68

This paper explores the current and extraordinarily diverse concept of spirituality, particularly as it relates to healthcare practices. It suggests that there is no such 'thing' (singular) as spirituality. Rather it is a 'made up' concept that helps us to understand certain things about human beings and human living. It is in this sense that there is no such 'thing' (singular) as spirituality. However, once we 'make up' spirituality(s) and create 'spiritual people' who require 'spiritual care', and then enshrine that in our policies and values, the concept of spirituality becomes extremely important and practically significant. This paper argues that the ongoing discussions around whether or not spirituality is 'real' or otherwise miss the practical point that spirituality may be necessary even if it is not 'real'. This article was first delivered as a keynote speech at the Third International Conference of the British Association for the Study of Spirituality, Spirituality in a Challenging World. keywords spirituality, healthcare, spiritual care, relational consciousness, left and right brain, breast cancer

Enmarcado dentro de los llamados "Nuevos Movimientos Religiosos", el fenómeno de la Nueva Era, surgido en Estados Unidos en la década de 1960, obligó a repensar las fronteras de lo religioso. En Argentina, dentro de este campo, una figura que se destaca tanto por su alcance masivo como por su ubicua presencia mediática, es la de Claudio María Domínguez.

Articles on "Spirituality and Health" have multiplied considerably in Brazil in the last decade. More recently, however, research groups created specifically to investigate this topic have emerged. This study aims to provide an overview of the field by means of a survey in the Directory of Research Groups in Brazil. Thirty-three groups were initially identified, of which 16 were selected for analysis and placed into two categories: "established" groups and lines of research, and "in-process" groups and lines of research. The survey made it possible to identify postgraduate programs that develop studies on this theme, the main researchers, and the potentials and challenges of this research field in Brazil. The results also indicate that "Spirituality and Health" is a fundamentally interdisciplinary field of research that is expanding and has gained greater legitimacy in the scientific community in the last four years. The main challenges to and potentials for advancement of knowledge are the need for theoretical and methodological development to support research , educational improvement in spiritual care, development of a critical and conscious reflection on the political implications of the field (especially due to the religious diversity in the Brazilian cultural context), and the role of spirituality/religiosity in public health promotion policies.

This paper explores the process of mediumistic development in the Brazilian Spiritualist Christian Order Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn) drawing on ethnographic research in temples in Brazil and Europe. This process is described by mediums as being culturally shaped according to the purposes for which it is used. Since mediumistic practice in the Vale do Amanhecer is aimed at releasing discarnate spirits obsessing humans – that is, 'disobsessive healing' – these spirits need to be discerned from the medium and the spirit guides, and controlled during a semiconscious trance. Control and discernment are skills to be learned; and emotions, feelings and bodily experience play a pivotal role in this process. In illustrating the different modes of discernment as culturally informed, the discussion addresses specific notions of the self as produced through the bodily and affective dimensions of this process, and how these embodied notions, in turn, inform therapeutic experiences.

Spiritual care is a component of end-of-life care that has become an expectation for healthcare professionals seeking to provide holistic care. However, until recently spirituality and spiritual care were not included in the educational training of most health professionals. Little is known about how best to support and teach spiritual dimensions of dying to health professionals. This article reports on an evaluation of an innovative educational program that brings together the spiritual tradition of Buddhism alongside best practices of hospice palliative care. Findings suggest that contemplative approaches to end-of-life care presented through an experiential and online format hold potential benefi ts for health professionals both professionally and personally and contribute to our understanding of contemplative practices in addressing spiritual dimensions of dying.

Research concerning the relation between physical health and prayer typically employs an outcome oriented paradigm and results are inconsistent. This is not surprising since prayer per se is not governed by physiological principles. More revealing and logically compelling, but more rare, is literature examining health and prayer from the perspective of the participants. The present study examines the health–prayer experience of 104 Christians in the United States. Data were collected through recorded video interviews and analyzed by means of content analysis. Results show that prayer is used as a context nuanced spiritual tool for: dealing with physical suffering (spiritual-religious coping); sustaining hope and spirituality via a sacred dimension; personal empowerment;
self-transcendence. These findings demonstrate that practitioners primarily engage prayer at a spiritual rather than a physical level, underscoring the limitations of a biomedical or “Complementary and Alternative Medicine” perspective that conceptualizes prayer as a mechanism for intentionally improving physical health. In clinical practice, regarding the medical, psychotherapeutic, or pastoral, the challenge is to understand prayer through the framework of the practitioner, in order to affirm its potential in healthcare processes.

Conferința Europeană de Medicină și Spiritualitate Creștină ediția a II-a, se desfășoară online (via zoom & youtube) și on site (Monza, Italia) 11-14 noiembrie 2021.

Bienala se adresează medicilor români și personalului medical de pretutindeni, specialiștilor interesați de valorificarea potențialului terapeutic al vieții spirituale creștine.

Sunt așteptate comunicări științifice cu teme care se încadrează în:

- Secțiunea principală: Abordarea integrativă a persoanei în îngrijirea medicală, în psihoterapie și în viața spirituală creștină. Principii și practici.

- Secțiunea specială: Pandemia CoVid-19 - abordări interdisciplinare.

Înscrieri la adresa medicina.si.spiritualitate@gmail.com

Eveniment organizat de Episcopia Ortodoxă a Italiei

21 July 2018, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil

This meeting brings together people working in the field of health and spirituality to discuss experiences, projects, and expectations, particularly related to their ethnographic encounters. The debate will address, among others, questions such as the following: (a) native and analytical categories of 'belief' and 'experience', 'illness' and 'pathology', 'cosmology' and 'science'; b) the multiplicity of understandings of healing; c) how the participants deal with the diversity and tensions between different understandings of healing; d) relationships in the field: learning and experience, especially how participants are affected by the relationships and experiences during fieldwork.             

Este Encontro tem como objetivo reunir pessoas que trabalham no campo da saúde e da espiritualidade para discutir experiências, projetos e expectativas, particularmente relacionadas aos seus encontros etnográficos. O debate abordará, entre outras, questões como as que seguem: a) as categorias nativas e analíticas de ‘crença’ e ‘experiência, ‘doença’ e ‘patologia’, 'cosmologia' e ‘ciência’; b) a multiplicidade de entendimentos da cura; c) como os participantes lidam com a diversidade e as tensões entre entendimentos da cura; d) as relações na pesquisa de campo: aprendizagem e experiência, especialmente como os participantes são afetados pelas relações e experiências durante pesquisa de campo.

The experience of having a family member hospitalized in an ICU is stressful, leading the individual to search for support to deal with such a situation. This study aimed to understand specifically the spiritual resources used by families in facing the situation of a family member hospitalization in an ICU of an emergency and trauma hospital. Forty family members were interviewed. Of these, 24 (60%) reported using religion as the main coping method and 13 of them (54,1%) changed their religious practices in such a situation. Prayer was the most used strategy by 20 participants (83,33%). After 6 months, the majority of participants had maintained or even increased their religious practices. The study indicates that spirituality/religiosity is an important factor in facing situations in which life is threatened, being relevant its integration into the care practices by the multidisciplinary hospital team. It also highlights that as with other aspects of intensive care, interdisciplinary collaboration is essential when it comes to the integration of spirituality into the health care

How do clinicians begin to offer spiritual care to the dying patient? And why do they find it so hard to offer such care? In this essay, I reflect on my involvement in a course called “Exploring the spirituality of healing,” which I teach each year to medical students at the University of Auckland. In particular, I  consider some of the difficult and anxiety-provoking issues I  have discussed with the students about the provision of effective spiritual care for patients during their pilgrimage  towards the end of life. And, in the process, I draw upon some  of my own experiences – as a former nurse and fellow pilgrim, and as a person who has lost close family members to cancer.

This paper is part of a series of essays prepared from notes for the class "the Healing Ministry of Jesus and the Church. The symposium was an introduction to the healing ministry of the Church with particular attention to the resources within the Episcopal Church. The evening's topic was prayer; intercessory and affirmative prayer. It contains slight revision of the content of one of the five nights teachings during Lenten Symposium held at St. Timothy's in 2011. The symposium was a collaborative teaching experience with Rev. Paul Price while he served as Interim Priest.

The paper reflects on a study which explored the role of spirituality in the lives of women during the first year after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The study utilised a qualitative method (hermeneutic phenomenology) designed to provide rich and thick understanding of women’s experiences of breast cancer and to explore possible ways in which spirituality may, or may not, be beneficial in enabling coping and enhancing quality of life. The paper draws on the thinking of David Hay and Viktor Frankl to develop a model of spirituality that includes, but is not defined by, religion and that has the possibility to facilitate effective empirical enquiry. It outlines a threefold movement inwards, outwards and upwards – that emerged from in-depth interviews withwomen who have breast cancer. This framework captures something of the spiritual movement that women went through on their cancer journeys and offers some pointers and possibilities for better and more personcentred caring approaches that include recognition of the spiritual dimension of women’s experiences for the management of those with breast cancer.

Working on our emotions is essential for growth and well-being. The author shares his experiences, identifying a few difficulties that come from this part of the nature. We need to be very awake to immediately defuse any emotional negativity. Whatever the hindrance however, our nature is capable of change and the solution resides always in our Truth inside.

Review of THE ENLIGHTENMENT  by Nicholas Socrates
Reviewer: Ruel Chavez

Socrates, Nicholas. 2011. The Enlightenment. Socrates Books. 105 pages.

An Assessment as to the Content of the Book
I find in “The Enlightenment” a writer who is overwhelmed by the grandeur and mystery of life. In this “review” I want to join him in his amazement and wonder of everything that is… Actually, I am hesitant to call it a review for it is not an appropriate word and an inappropriate response to the book. If people would still stick to the idea of review, let me say beforehand that it is not a typical kind of review but a response to a conversation initiated by the writer. How can you review a book that goes beyond logic or has logic of its own? How can you review a book coming from a spirit deep within? Something will escape you. Each word is a world, a book, a seed, and a potential tree. In the latter section of the book, my initial impression was confirmed by the words of the author himself. The world is made of words. “Words shape worlds.” They are mysterious. They are “thought containers.” Instead, let me call it a “journey”…a journey through the book. Let me share what thoughts enter my mind as I go along, as I journey through the thoughts of the writer. This is the kind of impact this book can do for you.
An Orientation
The Preface is good place to start for it gives the reader the orientation of what to expect in viewing the panorama “painted” by the writer…painted with “words”…surprising words!
The book is difficult to assess. There is a mixed feeling in me. It is one of a kind and the first kind I have ever read in my more than twenty years of reading a book. Yes, I read few books somewhat like it but totally different. Those books I read are similar in a sense that like the “Enlightenment” are written in poetical terms and in a philosophical manner. But those books never combined the two. The Enlightenment surpassed them all for to my limited knowledge of both philosophy and poetry, the author is paving the way to a new literary genre – “poetical-philosophy.”
The book is both difficult and easy, refreshing and intimidating… refreshing and frustrating. Intimidating because of its grandeur and depth…in words and thoughts. Frustrating because you cannot take hold of it…it is boundless…it is like a liquid that escapes your hand, a thought that eludes your mind…a journey that I do not know its end. When I reach the finish line, I felt that I am just starting for another run. The book calls me to reflect…and reflect…towards a journey of a continuous reflection. It makes me cry. I know I will subject the Enlightenment for a repeated rereading. I thank the author for the gift of giving me a copy of it.
I find the ideas profound, the wealth of experience that formed those thoughts and words. I can’t find a word to describe the author’s choice of words. 
It is a different “orthodoxy” if orthodoxy is a proper way to describe it. It is ambitious in its dreams – world peace and the improvement of it! The Enlightenment is concerned about the future,
The book is about opening the door to spirituality, to a festival of ideas for the future of humanity. It is about addressing what the world needs. Enlightenment is man’s only way to salvation…finding the ultimate truth.
The book opens a series of questions to another series of questions and still to another and to an unending series of questions. To arrive at that conclusion is to come closer in your journey to finding the ultimate truth…for the ultimate truth is that you will never arrive…you will be in a constant journey. And with that you have finally arrived.
Reading the book, you will find peace a constant theme in it. But I asked, what kind of peace? Is it the peace of a lonely man on planet earth? Or is it the gift of peace from the divine?
I suspend my question for you will not find the answer after you reach the last page of the book. And even after reaching the last page, you will be left to yourself contemplating what is it that you have read.
The book is a lesson on humility. It teaches us to imitate the child that no matter what station in life we have reached, we should never forget to laugh and to smile.
The book is about the dawning of a new era. The new era for humanity and for the world…the binding of the spirit and the matter into one.
This is so far the kind of orientation I received from reading the preface for without it, I will be lost in my journey throughout the book.

Start of the Journey
I start my journey in the content proper. I took down notes while beginning reading chapter 1 but when I reached chapter 8, I stopped writing. I might lose what I am supposed to gain. Grasp the spirit of the book for it is alive. There is life in it. The spirit of the author lives through the words written in it. I consider writing about that spirit not a proper response and so I stopped not until I reached chapter 42.
Let me share what I found from chapters 1 to 41.
The book talks about “the new spirituality.” It speaks about Eastern faith going West and the Western faith going East and both traveling all over the world. It tells us about the wisdom of both the ancient and the modern, an enlightened society, a journey within, a journey to change the world.
It speaks about the transformation of human consciousness. I find somehow that each chapter is almost similar with the previous ones but different at the same time. Each chapter serves like a separate lens in seeing the same thing…and so as result, we have in this book a perspective of life and reality coming from various lenses. Though the title of each chapter differs from one another, it is hard to identify specifically the difference for you are in its midst…all I can do is wonder…
The book appears to be simple. I can read it in one sitting in less than two hours, I can write a review of it…but that would be missing the substance of things…and I find it disrespect to a reality of great grandeur passing before my presence…
While reading, I cannot avoid to compare my limited knowledge of the modern world with what I am witnessing. In the modern world, we make easy things complicated. In the book, I find a different world…a world that makes profound truths accessible and simple without losing its profundity.
Chapter 7 talks about “Contributing to Peace, Culture, and Education throughout the World.” The author understands the time but gives a different answer. I see in his words that much of orthodox talk is anemic in terms of action, which is contrary to what you will find in the book.
Some books can be easily digested. This one mystifies me but it does not make me sick. It causes me to stop, ponder, smile and reflect. It causes me to close the book, to be read again when my mind and spirit are prepared…


The book speaks about the spontaneity of life. I was looking for a logical arrangement of the chapters and the words but it seems there is none. It has its own arrangement. It is “chaotically” and beautifully arranged. In latter part of the book, I realized that the writer affirmed both chaos and order, one and many, u nity and diversity, change and certainty. How does he do it? I simply don’t know.
Reading the book, I am reminded of the fact that indeed it is great to be alive. This is existentialism at its height…a hunger for something…a hunger and thirst for more…There are too many ideas but too little time…The author affirms the beauty and study of the individual.
The author talks about the importance of meditation, waiting, solitude, serenity, and silence. The spirit behind the book is so peaceful and quiet. It is a rare kind but very strong.
Chapter 81 is the most surprising chapter. Somehow, I anticipated it and at last I found it! It tells about the eternal evolution of humanity, an individualized expression of the universal presence…“you are the world”…“the world is in you”…the world is at your disposal…
What is Enlightenment?
My impression of enlightenment based on what I understand about the words of the author is the state of both rest and continued search. It is indefinable. You can simply describe it but you can neither grasp it nor control it. Enlightenment is about being in a constant journey and the experience of arrival. It is about acceptance of all there is…the one and many, the individual and the whole, chaos and order, change and permanence, being and becoming…
Profound Ideas
Examples of profound ideas that I found as I journey through the book…ideas that I could relate:
“You are the experience.”
“You have a unique relationship with yourself.”
“Watch what you are creating with your thoughts and your actions.”

“Assume authority and take responsibility for your world.”
“Remember what you have truly come here to do.”
“Your entire life unfolds every moment.”
“ Freedom from time. Freedom from your story.”
“For the sake of you future; do not waste a moment.”
“We become what we behold.”
“ Everything is in the moment. There is just this moment. Every moment is now. There is only now.”
“Stop and smell the flowers.”
Few thoughts are familiar. Many are new. Each stands on its own. Each defies explanation. Each has a beauty of its own. To me, the quoted statements above, speak about the glory of being here and being alive in this specific time in history and place in space. This is humanity at its best. The height of human existence!

My Personal Response
About the author, I find his name is not given for nothing. My mind directs me to the old Socrates – the wisest and mysterious philosopher of Greek civilization.
The author is a mystic. His style betrays it. You can identify if you are one yourself.
I envy the man. I have never seen anyone like him so amazed with the wonder of life. It drives me crazy to think that those who claim to know have failed to show the same passion even at least in printed words.
I could not help myself but recite my review, my poem. To use log...

Table 4.1. Distinctive Features of the Eight-Point Program Feature Explanation Universal PM can be used by members of any religious faith, or by those who identify as "spiritual, but not religious." Comprehensive PM provides a comprehensive program for spiritual living, offering a classical meditative practice with supporting tools for practitioners with families and careers. Wisdom Based PM offers direct daily contact with the world's wisdom traditions.

Abstract—Spiritual health is not given its due importance since long time. But nowadays modern medicine is seen in relation to spiritual health and studies were conducted to find out its effect in various diseases. So this study was conducted on elderly aimed to assess the spiritual health and its association with psycho wellness. For study purpose, 30 cluster technique to identify houses with elderly (≥60 years) in Municipal Corporation area of Jaipur City. After collecting general information Spiritual Health Assessment Scale (SHAS) was used to assess spiritual health and Modified Mini Screen (MMS) was used to assess psycho-wellness in elderly. Data were anlysed and inferred by Chi-square test and ANOVA with Post-hoc Tukey test. Majority of elderly were having poor spiritual health and this spiritual health was strongly associated with psycho-wellness in elderly. Poorer the spiritual health of elderly leads to poorer the psycho-wellness in elderly.

Moving inwards, moving outwards, moving upwards: the role of spirituality during the early stages of breast cancer The paper reflects on a study which explored the role of spirituality in the lives of women during the first year after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The study utilised a qualitative method (hermeneutic phenomenology) designed to provide rich and thick understanding of women's experiences of breast cancer and to explore possible ways in which spirituality may, or may not, be beneficial in enabling coping and enhancing quality of life. The paper draws on the thinking of David Hay and Viktor Frankl to develop a model of spirituality that includes, but is not defined by, religion and that has the possibility to facilitate effective empirical enquiry. It outlines a threefold movement-inwards, outwards and upwards-that emerged from in-depth interviews with women who have breast cancer. This framework captures something of the spiritual movement that women went through on their cancer journeys and offers some pointers and possibilities for better and more personcentred caring approaches that include recognition of the spiritual dimension of women's experiences for the management of those with breast cancer.

We-that is me and my research group in Northampton-had just arrived in the UK, coming from Freiburg University Hospital in Germany. We did not have many contacts in the fi eld and although spirituality and health have been subject areas of great interest to me for quite some while, I kept that interest rather hidden and someone had to look closely to discover it. The reason for my being rather quiet was not that I did not want to come out of the closet, but our situation in Freiburg University Hospital had been, shall we say, politically delicate. I had founded one of the few and prime-time research groups dealing with complementary and alternative medicine, not a subject held in particularly high esteem in one of the largest academic hospitals in Germany, especially as we were dealing with topics that, for some, would feature under the heading of scientifi c pornography, such as homeopathy (

experiences until recently (Kohls, 2004). Yet, various exceptional, particularly spiritual experiences can also have positive effects on mental and physical health (Cardena et al., 2000; Koenig et al., 2001). One recent signal of recognition of spiritual and religious domains was the inclusion of the new coding V.62.89 'Spiritual and Religious Problems' in the V-category 'other clinical relevant problems' of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV of the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 1994; Turner et al., 1995) as clinically important but explicitly distinct from psychological (axis 1

In an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a Children's Hospital science, wisdom and compassion must be interwoven into the fabric of everyday in order for the children and their families to heal and the staff caring for them to remain healthy. The challenge is to practise both the art and science of medicine and to respond to the different cultural and spiritual beliefs of those brought together by a child's illness. This paper summarizes the special needs of parents and children in the ICU, the obstacles and opportunities encountered by staff, and research from Vancouver which helps those who provide holistic and spiritually oriented care.

Getting old is a growing phenomenon in the world, including Iran, which is evident in comparing the results of the recent years’ censuses. The main aim of this study is to compare death anxiety, spiritual health and loneliness among elderly men and women in elderly centers in Kermanshah. The type of this research is causal-comparative. The statistical population of the research included all elderly people in Kermanshah. 126 people were selected through available sampling method. To measure variables, a) Collett-Lester Depression Anxiety Scale; B) Loneliness Questionnaire; and (c) Spiritual Health scale was used. T-test was used to analyze the data. The results showed that there is a significant difference between men and women regarding death anxiety, spiritual health and loneliness, such that the mean scores of the two components of self-death and dying in elderly women were higher than elderly men, the mean of two components of spiritual health (existential health and religious health) in elderly women were higher than elderly men and the mean of two components of loneliness due to family relationships and emotional symptoms of loneliness were higher in elderly men than elderly women.

Healthcare provides a rich ground for the demoralization of providers. Healthcare providers who experience threats to their sense of purpose are at risk for spiritual and professional crisis. Defending against the dehumanizing and bad-faith aspects of contemporary health care requires the cultivation of practices that are individualized, authentic, and consonant with the profession's virtues. Spirituality experiences are woven into the beliefs of healthcare providers throughout their training and it is important to engage topics and reflective practices from training through
initiation and into mature practice.

To cite: Erwin, Cheryl & Tansey, Janeta & McGovern, Thomas. (2015). Promoting the spiritual well-being of the healthcare team. Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice. 1. 56-57. 10.1016/j.xjep.2015.07.023.

There is mounting evidence that more elaborate treatment rituals trigger larger nonspecific effects.The reasons for this remain unclear. In a pilot field study, we investigated the role of psychophysiological changes during a touch-based healing ritual for improvements in subjective well-being. Methods. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and skin conductance levels (SCL) were continuously assessed in 22 subjects before, during, and after a touch-based healing ritual. Participants rated their expectations and subjective well-being was assessed before and after the ritual by the “Short Questionnaire on Current Disposition”. Results. Subjective wellbeing increased significantly from before to after the ritual. The analysis of psychophysiological changes revealed a significant increase in respiratory rate from baseline to ritual, while skin conductance, heart rate, and heart rate variability did not change. Increases in SCL as well as decreases in respiratory rate from baseline to ritual were significantly associated with improvements in subjective well-being. Regression analyses showed increases in SCL to be the only significant predictor of improvements in wellbeing. Conclusion. Higher sympathetic arousal during a touch-based healing ritual predicted improvements in subjective wellbeing. Results suggest the occurrence of an anticipatory stress response, that is, a state of enhanced sympathetic activity that is known to precede relaxation.