Spirituality/Religious

I talked to Kip after class yesterday to ask him what he was writing about because Brett commented in class that our topics may be similar. If you don't know, Kip is writing about spirituality and how that applies to the healing process or coping of an illness(I think). That's what I got out of it anyways. I found that very interesting because it is not an idea that pops into most scientists minds.

After I talked to him I was wondering he chose spirituality instead of religious because in our discussions he specifically kept using religion as his personal example. It made me reflect on my own identity and whether I would consider it spritual or religious. I had to define which each one meant to me.

I think spirituality is a knowing of and believing in a higher power but not having a certain set of beliefs to follow but rather can make up your own. Religious would be following beliefs that someone else has set up in the past and believing in a higher power. My initial thoughts was that do the definition of a rectangle and square. A square can be rectangle but a rectangle cannot be a square. I think someone can be spiritual withough being religious but I don't think someone can be religious if they aren't spiritual.

Some people prefer to view organized religion as maybe apart of the conformist self. I prefer to think of both my religious and spiritual identity as the inner-directed.It is something very private for me but also very powerful for me.

I was wondering how I could relate this to my paper. Most residential care facilites are secular so the patients don't have the opportunity to attend services or express their religoius habits other than in the privacy of their own room. If someone only participates in religion when they are in worship or within a church community this whole aspect of their life could be taken away.

Maybe part of expanding the types of residential care facilites should be to have ones that are religiously affiliated or ones could be created that have groups and services for all kinds of religions.

I don't know what is best but I know that the support of a spiritual or religious comunity and the support of a higher power can have huge effects on how a patient copes or heals. So, I think we should provide more of those services to people in residential care facilities.

I'll just leave you with my favorite religious quote.

"Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." - St. Francis of Assisi