Spiritual Issues in Health Care

Every challenge to physical health entails a spiritual challenge. Forcing us to face our mortality, medical crises raise questions about the meaning of life: Why this? Why now? Why me? Why anything? Whether phrased in religious terms or not, these are spiritual issues. People facing health crises need to be able to address the spiritual as well as the medical issues, for achieving peace of soul is part of the healing process. Building on the psychology of spirituality that Daniel presents in his books—Meditation without Myth, Spirituality for a Secular Society, The Human Core of Spirituality, and Religion and the Human Sciences—this workshop will propose a model of spirituality that is non-religious, geared to contemporary pluralistic society, but open to various religious expressions. And this workshop will relate this model to the specific concerns of health care.

Daniel has presented these ideas on the following occasions: Positive Living Conference, Fort Walton Beach, FL, April 5, 2003. Heartsong Retreat, Camp Beckwith, AL, November2002. International Network for Personal Meaning, Annual Convention, Vancouver, BC, July 20,2002. Graduate Nursing-Theory Course, School of Nursing, University of West Georgia, February 20, 2002. Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, Milwaukee, WI, November 2, 2001. Pitt Men's Study and Pennsylvania Prevention Project, University of Pittsburgh, July 17, 1998. Northside Hospital/St. Joseph Hospital CPE Program, Atlanta, GA, Junuary 12, 1996. Mercy Mobile Health Care, Atlanta GA, November 3, 1995. School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin, March 30, 1989. The 15 th National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference and 11 th AIDS/HIV Forum, Houston, TX, July 22, 1993