A number of measures of mindfulness have been developed to assess one or more facets of mindfulness. However, to date, all of these have been validated by comparing the mindfulness questionnaire with other self-report measures of theoretically related constructs. Given the problems of demand characteristics and shared method variance, other approaches to validation are warranted. Therefore, we sought to determine whether individuals who describe themselves as more mindful evidence lower levels of stress reactivity. Thirty-six university students completed the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test. Results indicated that those individuals who described themselves as more mindful show smaller cardiovascular increases in response to the stress task (heart rate r = −0.38, diastolic blood pressure r = −0.43). This study supports the validity of the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills, indicating that people who score more highly on this measure of mindfulness show less marked cardiovascular reactivity to a low-grade mental stress task. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Spirituality is increasingly recognized as a key determinant of health, and it has been adopted by the World Health Organization as part of its seven principles of health promotion. However, little is known about the extent to which it is incorporated into health promotion practice. This paper reports on a survey on spirituality and its perceived role in health and well-being among Health Promotion Officers within Health Promotion Services in the Republic of Ireland. Although the importance of spiritual health promotion was recognized, it was discussed within health promotion practice relatively infrequently. The need for training in spiritual health promotion, a working definition of spirituality, and a set of guidelines for engagement with client groups were highlighted. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper argues that two concepts, attitudes to mysticism and mystical experience, need to be distinguished carefully. This implies that a new questionnaire is needed to assess the former, and the paper reports on construction of a new scale to assess Attitudes to Mysticism. This scale was found to have good internal consistency, criterion-related validity and construct validity, and evidence is also given that this concept is related to but conceptually distinct from mystical experience. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Conceptually, attitudes to mysticism, is related to, but distinguishable from, mystical experience. Empirical data that attitudes to mysticism and mystical experience bear different relationships with personality traits such as psychoticism will provide good grounds for distinguishing these variables. Personality correlates of these two variables were assessed in this study; the latter was more directly linked with psychoticism. Comparisons were also made of how Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Pagans scored on measures of attitudes to mysticism and of mystical experience. Buddhists and Pagans scored significantly higher on the attitudes scale than did Christians or Jews, whereas scores on the mystical experience measure produced significantly different findings between Pagans and all other groups, and between Buddhists and Jews, but not between Buddhists and Christians. Between-groups differences therefore suggested further grounds for distinguishing between mystical experience and attitudes to mysticism. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Spirituality and Health InternationalVolume 9, Issue 3 p. 179-181 Book Review Wounds that heal: theology, imagination and health, Edited by J. Baxter, London: SPCK, 2007, ISBN 978-0-281-05830-3 Helen L. Leathard, Helen L. Leathard University of CumbriaSearch for more papers by this author Helen L. Leathard, Helen L. Leathard University of CumbriaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 February 2008 https://doi.org/10.1002/shi.338Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume9, Issue3September 2008Pages 179-181 RelatedInformation
Spirituality and Health InternationalVolume 8, Issue 2 p. 101-108 Digest Digest – a review of research, literature, music and media Niko Kohls, Niko KohlsSearch for more papers by this author Niko Kohls, Niko KohlsSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 May 2007 https://doi.org/10.1002/shi.309AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume8, Issue2June 2007Pages 101-108 RelatedInformation
The issue of free will and freedom of choice has been debated by countless theologians and philosophers throughout the history of mankind, but only recently have neuroscientists begun to address the subject from a neurobiological perspective. In this paper we explore the potential contributions of neurosciences towards answering the question of whether free will exists in humans and its potential neurobiological correlate. To accomplish this, we discuss the neural mechanisms of free will from two perspectives: that of voluntary movement and the stimulus response paradigm. We also address the role of awareness in free will and propose the existence of an underlying ‘volitional system’ contained within the central nervous system. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to have benefits across a diverse range of physical and mental health problems. The present qualitative study explores the experience of individuals diagnosed with a terminal cancer who attended either of two six-week mindfulness groups. Five people participated. There was a rich diversity in participants' responses. Participants reported finding mindfulness practice beneficial in a range of ways, as well as valuing the social context of the group and the wider hospice setting. Participants also described forming a meta-understanding of mindfulness practice, which was informed by the experience of others in the group as well as their own, and this understanding illuminated the degree to which people found mindfulness beneficial. In conclusion, the study raises some themes and issues around mindfulness in palliative care which might enrich future practice and research. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among doctors of North India ( n = 250) with the help of self-administered questionnaire. The mean age of doctors was 42.18 years (standard deviation = 9.108). Of the total respondents, 74.35% were male and 25.65% were female; 65.65% had a strong or very strong belief in the spiritual dimension of health; 55.22% believed in the preventive role of spirituality; 80% believed in the curative role of spirituality and a similar proportion held the view that spirituality has an important role in day-to-day patient care; and 92.5% wanted to know more about the scientific work being done in the field of spirituality. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Previous research shows religiosity (across several religions) is associated with conservative values (tradition, conformity and security) from the Schwartz value scale and not with spiritually oriented, self-transcendent values. The relationship between religiosity and spirituality is controversial. We developed a 48-item scale, the Spiritual Connection Questionnaire (SCQ)-48, to measure experience and beliefs of spiritual connection, an aspect of spirituality that is consistent with religious and non-religious or New Age interpretations of spirituality. We selected 14 items (SCQ-14) that best predicted health and then tested the correlation between the SCQ-14 and the SVS in a student and an older population in the UK. In both populations the SCQ-14 was negatively associated with values at the self-enhancing value pole (power, security and hedonism) and in the older population was positively associated with a value at the self-transcendent value pole (universalism, but not benevolence). Religiosity has been shown to be associated with values that enhance societal identification and hence inter-group differentiation and conflict. By contrast, we found that the experience of spiritual connection is associated with values that reduce inter-group differentiation. Despite these differences, we found that self-reported religiosity enhances spiritual experience. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
This paper presents key concepts related to spirituality that are meaningful to a community-based paediatric rehabilitation centre in Ontario, Canada, for the provision of holistic care for children and youth with disabilities and their families. These key concepts were identified through an extensive review of quantitative and qualitative studies from relevant areas of research. Discussions around the concepts then took place with service providers from multiple disciplines, administrators, advisory board members, childhood disability researchers and parents of children and youth with disabilities. Practice implications from the literature and from the discussions resulted in six recommendations related to implementation of holistic care to address the spiritual needs of children and youth with disabilities and their families within the context of paediatric rehabilitation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper argues that although health-care professionals claim to deliver holistic care, spirituality is overlooked. This may be because of lack of recognition of this role in nursing and secularization of the contemporary society. The findings of this descriptive exploratory study originated from nurses ( n = 77), chaplains ( n = 71) and patients with myocardial infarction ( n = 53). Spiritual care was perceived as an integral part of the nurse's role in liaison with the interdisciplinary team. While taking into consideration the factors which may inhibit or enhance the delivery of spiritual care, recommendations address further research, education and management of patient care. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
As two students and a teacher immersed in practice education at a Canadian nursing school. We were curious about how to engage in spiritual health care practice, viewed as relational nursing practice that assumes interconnections of spirit, health and healing. This paper explores how to interpret theoretical understandings into pragmatics of teaching, learning and engaging in spiritual health care practice. There is discussion about story telling, taking a stand of ‘not knowing’ (Irving and Moffatt, 2002), opening space for diversity, authentic dialogue across, within and through difference to inform pragmatic ways of knowing, being and of doing spiritual health care. To inform the discussion, theoretical perspectives on the religion/spirituality divide, interconnections of health, healing and spirit, ‘defining moments’ and spiritual/sacred spaces are presented. A review of the literature juxtaposed with student/teacher experiences and perspectives helps to inform a deeper understanding of teaching, learning and engaging in spiritual health care practice. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
When we hike in mountainous areas, we often think that the next peak is right in front of us, just a little walk. And all of a sudden, when reaching a little hillock, we discover that there is another dip between us and the peak, which we have to get down to before we can walk up again. This is how I felt a bit when, at the end of my holidays in August, the message of the new managing editor reached me that the publishers do not want to carry on publishing Spirituality and Health International any longer. I was quite flabbergasted by this message, especially because I had the feeling that all was going well after my last meeting with the previous managing editor. Well, in the meantime, Wiley, our previous publisher, has merged with Blackwell to a new company. New editors were being appointed; I had no point of contact for quite a while, and when I had one, this was the information I got. This is an economical and strategic decision I do not want to dispute. You will receive this double, or even multiple, issue containing all the papers that we have accepted as the last issue of Spirituality and Health International as it was from the old publisher, Wiley. I am in conversation with other publishers, and so far, the feedback has been positive in principle, but we will have to solve a few issues before we can be back with a new series of the Journal, with a new publisher. Bear with me. The period in between might serve us to develop the Journal and its outlook further, and I would invite comments and discussions regarding this. When I took over the Journal as editor-in-chief from Steve Wright, we did not change much, except the colour of the cover and reworked the mission statement slightly. We wanted to emphasize continuity, rather than change. We changed about half the advisory and editorial board, though, to give the Journal a broader standing and a somewhat more international touch, reaching out more strongly to the continent and to the US. Now, a similar situation has arisen as 2 years ago. We are discussing whether we should take ‘mindfulness’ in the title, perhaps as ‘Mindfulness, Spirituality, and Health’ or ‘Spirituality, Mindfulness and Health’. Perhaps one of our readers or editorial advisors has a better idea? At this point, the deck is going to be completely reshuffled. Hence, I am inviting everyone who has a stake in the Journal's development to help think and plan. Whoever has a helpful idea, as to publishers, title and conceptualization, is invited to share these. Here are a few parameters that I find useful: In order to pull the Journal up to an internationally respected, cited and authoritative outlet, we need a professional publisher. Wiley has been a very good choice, and we will likely need some publishing house of the same calibre that is present on international markets, has a professional website and marketing strategy, can handle the editing process and all the rest. I also think we should keep to the general track that we have started heading for: a good mix of papers of qualitative and quantitative kind, together with reviews and good conceptual pieces. Some rubrics I would like to develop would be short experiential pieces and a more lively discussion and letter section. Already, by way of new advisory board members, I have highlighted some conceptual broadening: reaching out into the field of medicine and psychiatry, not just nursing, and reaching out into the newly emerging field of mindfulness. Perhaps this would be the chance to make this conceptual opening more transparent? Another avenue to think along would be the question of whether to integrate the strong field of spirituality and religion that is particularly of interest in the US. I am a bit hesitant, though, not because I am against religion, but because I am not sure whether we would not be trespassing on the feeding grounds of journals such as the Journal of Religion and Health. The uniqueness of our Journal really is that it is non-denominational, not even religious, and hence offers a clearer point of dialogue with the mainstream of science. So I invite your thoughts, your ideas, perhaps even your help, should you have some saving insights. Meanwhile, we will have to walk down into the dip before we can actually reach the next peak, which seemed so close by not long ago. But it will not be an abyss. The next rise is visible already. So do not cancel your subscriptions, and do not think that was it now. Not at all. Authors, do not think your work was in vain. Not only will we publish all material that is still in the process and has reached me, and is still under review. Also, the publisher will keep the website of the previous Journal live, so that back issues can be either purchased or articles downloaded. And a new publisher will surely link back the new Journal, even if the title should be slightly changed, to the old one to document the continuity in scope. I am quite sure that whatever will emerge from this will probably be even better than the previous solution. So stay put, share your views and ideas, and give me a few weeks, perhaps months to sort the problem. When you get the next issue, we will already have secured a solution. Until then, be patient please.
Since I was little, the figure and legend of the Apostle Thomas was one that has captivated my imagination. For those of you who do not have a Christian upbringing, let me recapitulate the story (don't worry, this is not a surreptitious attempt at proselytising, just to establish common ground and setting the scene): after his death and resurrection, Jesus seems to have appeared as alive to various followers, so the Acts of the Apostles, and the Gospels, especially later additions, tell us. These reports of experiences are the source for the statement of faith that Jesus has arisen from the dead. Thomas, who was one of the twelve Apostles and called the ‘twin’ by the Gospels, perhaps because he was very close to Jesus according to some commentators, was not there at one of those major occasions of reunion between Jesus and his followers. When his companions told him afterwards what had happened, he did the natural thing: he disbelieved them. He probably thought that they had all gone mad and demanded direct experience of this risen Jesus, should he be to believe that he is indeed alive. According to religious teaching, and no doubt this was also the intention of the author of the Gospel of John, Thomas and his story is the epitome of mistrust, lack of faith, in short everything the faithful should not do: doubt the words of their elders and those who have had the direct experience, demand evidence, challenge the majority view. The lesson to be learned, it seems, is you should also believe if you were not among the lucky ones who have met the risen Christ before he went into heaven: Happy are those who do not see and still believe, as the Gospel and the teaching following from there goes. I always thought that this was wrong. Chiding Thomas for his disbelief and doubt, I felt, was completely unjustified. Thomas did the only sensible thing: he demanded evidence. Evidence by way of brutal, direct experience: being able to see, touch, feel the material wounds themselves so that he might really believe that this was Jesus, the person he knew to be dead, now come back from the dead, and not just a phantasm or a trickery. What is encapsulated here, in this little story, is in fact one of the major challenges to standard religious teaching and the path beyond: it is the daring demand that only direct experience counts as evidence. Everything else is not worthwhile having. Interestingly enough, the Gospel puts Thomas in the right: He gets what he wants. Jesus comes back a second time, allows Thomas to feel the wounds, talks to him and lets him have his experience. That is often overlooked (although he does say ‘happy are those who do not see and still believe’). So in fact, Jesus does answer Thomas' call to give him direct evidence, to let him have experiential proof. So he was right after all. He had a right to be full of doubt, he had a right to demand experiential evidence. And his demand and doubt was answered. Thomas is the prototype of the one who needs experience, not teaching, words or statements of faith of others. We all are, in a way, Thomas. We only have the word of our respective traditions, be they Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish or otherwise, to believe in this or that. We live in a very secular environment, where it is not exactly taken for granted that religious beliefs are natural. Our historical distance to whatever origination of whatever creed is huge. And most people, in fact the majority, will likely say: o well, you just have to either believe it or leave it. Except for the Thomases, who say: I will only believe what I can experientially verify. So this story of Thomas actually encourages everybody, and entitles everybody to have their doubts, to live their doubts, and to do something about and with them. The natural thing is to demand evidence. Perhaps we are rarely given any experiential evidence, because we do not really demand it, because we are quite satisfied with things as they are. The interesting spin about this Thomas story is that he does not let it rest. He could have walked away thinking everybody is mad anyway, let's go somewhere else. He did not do that. He stuck with his companions, came back, tried again, gave it another chance. In a way he was quite obstinate, and was rewarded. Sometimes I think we need to be much more obstinate about things spiritual (and otherwise), letting ourselves be pacified less by cheap talk and shallow consolations. We need to challenge ourselves, the universe, others to actually find the experiential proof of whatever it is we are seeking. The story of Thomas is one that can be adapted to any creed and faith, to any religion and denomination. It is not about believing something specific, it is about what type of evidence is needed. And the answer is clear: the evidence needed for true spirituality, for spiritual effectiveness in our world can only be experiential. It is about having a clear, direct, comprehensive experience of what the ultimate reality is. This experience will always be an individual one, and we being individuals will always have a limited view. But we will certainly be able to have that experiential evidence which we, specifically and experientially, need to be able to trust and go about our lives. This is the truth of the story beyond all religious affiliations. There seem to be three requirements: We need to truly want it, even demand such a direct experience. And we need to be obstinate, not giving up quickly, trying again and again. And we need to have a basic faith in the trustworthiness, the residual faith that made Thomas come back and try again. Those spiritual traditions, which place emphasis on direct experience, have developed intricate pathways that all emphasize this obstinate challenge and trying to access experientially the final reality. Christianity is normally credited with being a tradition averse to mysticism, spiritual experience, meditation and the rest of it. And official statements coming from the Vatican recently, for instance, sadly reinforce this self-misunderstanding and public perception. My interpretation of the Thomas story shows that this is not quite right, and I could go to great lengths to show how important this spiritual heritage was to the making and survival of Christianity as an institutionalized religion. I am not going to do this here. Let it suffice to say that the signature of direct spiritual experience is at the very birth of Christianity as a religion: when followers of Jesus had the experience of the risen Christ, when Thomas actually demanded to have such an experience and got it, when the Apostle Paul was converted from a hater and prosecutor to a lover and Apostle, again by direct experience, when, again and again, founders of orders, monasteries, reformation movements, etc., operated out of their own inner and direct experience. True, these experiential realizations were all specific, individual, tainted by the psychological and cultural history of those who had them. But then, this is our human condition. It is a precondition, not a negation of the possibility of direct experience. And it used to be, still is, and hopefully always will be at the core even of Christianity, as well as of other religions. Will experiential realization of such an ultimate reality always lead to a particular creed, such as Christianity, or Judaism, or the Muslim creed or any other? My guess is: yes and no. We will not be able, as long as we are humans with our confinement to history, space, time and an individual psychological history, to transcend these boundaries. And in fact, they are probably necessary to allow us full activity. So in one sense, such an experiential realisation will always root us more deeply in our respective traditions. But, and this is important, it will also give us a taste of the ultimate reality, thereby transcending the very boundaries that make it possible for us to experience in the first place. Quite a paradox, isn't it! And paradox is what you always find at the core of spiritual teaching. You see that paradox in the figure of the historical Jesus all the time. He says, on the one hand, he will not take off one iota of the law, abiding with tradition as it can possibly be done. He says, on the other hand, here is one who is greater than Abraham, and the rest of the prophet crowd, quite disrespectfully for the tradition, insinuating that he is not bound by it. We will not get rid of that paradox: direct experience will root us in our original (or any other chosen) tradition. For without it we cannot be possibly living our spirituality properly. It will, at the same time, carry us beyond all known and imaginable boundaries. It is for us to unite these tensions in our daily lives. Thomas, the Apostle, is a good exemplar also here. Few know the follow-up story. As legend has it, he went to India, and arrived there. When the Portuguese first came to India in the 16th century, they were extremely puzzled to find a large community of Christians in Kerala, the Eastern coast of South India. These Christians traced their lineage back to the Apostle Thomas and actually called themselves, and were called afterwards, the ‘Thomas Christians’ (Connors-Nelson, 2001; Podipara, 1966). They stick to an ancient Syrian rite and use old-Syrian as their liturgical language; nowadays they are united with Rome. The archaeological record is not clear, although Roman ships are known to have travelled back and forth between India and the ports in Egypt and the Persian Gulf. Excavations have revealed Roman remnants in the area where Thomas allegedly landed, making the legend at least plausible. According to the legend, he tried to convert the Brahmans. Not a good idea, as they went after him, chased him around and finally, on a mountain in Kerala, called Malayattur, where he had his dwellings, wounded him. According to legend he then travelled to Madras, where his grave is still venerated. I was lucky enough a couple of years ago to be able to combine a business trip to Kerala with a trip to that mountain. What I did not know at that time is that this mountain, around Easter time, is a multi-faith, trans-denominational pilgrimage. Hindus, Christians and apparently also local Muslims walk up that hill in a large stampede of incessant pilgrims, paying respect and honour to Bar-Thomas, as he is called, as a kind of interfaith saint. Although trying to convert the Indian religious aristocracy and failing in this particular respect, Thomas' mission was successful to a degree. He became the local hero of inter-religious dialogue, one might say with a certain postmodern slant. Although his church is clearly a Christian one, there is also a shrine with an image, candles and incense that could be any Hindu shrine, but for the Christian symbols around the image of Thomas. For some reason, this mysterious figure, beyond his death and beyond the creed he tried to instil, has succeeded far more than he had originally anticipated. He inspired people beyond their particular creeds to take up the Way, to make a pilgrimage, to seek out experience for themselves. Interestingly enough, Kerala is one of the little paradises in India, a huge continent that is not a paradise everywhere. Analphabetism is at the lowest here, nearly everyone has schooling, nearly everyone has work, and the population is, on average, better off than in other places of India. It would be too much bending the records to attribute all this to Thomas being associated with Kerala, as a lot of other political differences have also to be taken into account. But it is certainly worthwhile reflecting to what extent this ancient tradition, inspired by one of the mythical figures that operated out of his own inner experience, infused the social and political situation in that particular part of the country. On another level of analogy it might give us some consolation: often it is not what we think we want, have to do, aspire to achieve, that will live on or will be effective. But if we sincerely, stubbornly, repeatedly demand the experiential evidence for our faith, or for the general faith in life for that matter, we will certainly find it at some point. And this will make us effective, probably even more so than we can imagine now. Let good old Thomas be your example here, as a truly trans-religious saint. I take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been active as an author, a reviewer or member of the editorial board to shape the journal. I think everyone has done a great job, and our journal is taking off. It will be the next challenge to now seek an inclusion in the large indexing and referencing systems, a challenge I would like to take on over the coming year. We have been sent a good number of good, even very good, manuscripts, so that we are now in a position to turn down not-so-good ones, or send them back for major revisions before we accept them. This is not to discourage you to submit or solicit manuscripts. It is to inspire you to send even better material. Although I do enjoy writing editorials, I encourage everyone to consider writing a guest editorial, if you have something to say. It could be any length up to 3,000 words. Guest editorials will just undergo editorial screening. The same is true for a new category of publications: Experiential accounts. We had such pieces every now and then. We would like to have a more systematic column which is meant to allow readers and authors to share opportunities of spiritual experience – accounts of a particular training, quest, workshop, etc. Such pieces would typically be around 2,000 to 3,000 words max. They will not undergo external peer review, but internal editorial review, which will look mainly on style and grossly on content. We are well aware that experience cannot be peer-reviewed. This type of review will establish suitability, nothing else. If you have a response to anything you see written in our journal, please send it. Letters to the Editor will be considered for publication if something of substantial information value to readers is in them. This could be a backed and substantial disagreement with an opinion of one of our authors; the pointing out of flaws in methods, interpretations or conclusions in published papers; the start of a scientific debate, or a fruitful discussion. It is this discussion that makes a journal a lively and current read.
My wife often reads books from back to front, a practice I find silly. With this book, it would have been very useful. The very last pages and the last chapters contain the jewels of this book: There, the author, a neuroscientist with the University of Montreal in Canada, briefly relates his own spiritual experience that obviously motivated him into doing studies in spiritual experiences and writing this book. Apart from high-profile publications in affective neuroscience, using straightforward brain imaging technology, he has become well known for his studies on Carmelite nuns, who were scanned during intense remembrances of unitive mystical states compared with states of memory of personal closeness with a human being. These studies, published well in the scientific literature already, are described in more detail here, as is all the interesting background information. The problems with such studies which are highly complex to organize are rarely with the science, but with all the social issues around convincing participants, finding the funding and getting the permissions of superiors, etc., and this background information is covered well. The book is daring in the sense that for a mainstream neuroscientist, it can be the end of the career to venture out in the open, with a view that attacks the commonly accepted materialist position head on. This is what Mario Beauregard does here. He argues that the mainstream view of reductionist materialism is wrong, which holds consciousness is nothing but the result of neurons working together, hence, all you need to do is to study the brain. I would basically agree with his argument in the sense that philosophically speaking, you cannot conclude from a correlation, even if perfect, to causation. Even though the number of breeding stork pairs and the number of birth rates in Nordic countries are highly negatively correlated, storks do not bring babies. And even though we can see with every inch of brain tissue how its demolition affects psychic and mental functions, it is, philosophically speaking, not cogent to conclude that the brain produces this function. The point taken here, at least in principle, and argued philosophically much more stringently in a paper, which he published together with Jeffrey Schwartz and Henry Stapp (Schwartz et al., 2005), is that every physicalist viewpoint necessarily presupposes the best physical theory which we have, which is quantum theory, and quantum theory presupposes conscious measurement and choice. Hence, consciousness cannot be simply derivative of matter. However, the problem of this particular book is that this argument is never spelt out clearly and convincingly. There are many interesting, and often even very interesting, details of the argumentative lines, but not woven together into a stringent argument. My guess is that this is because of the fabric softener for woolly thought that is poured into that book in great measure by the co-author, who is obviously more of a kind of popular science writer. I am not privy to the information on how this collaboration was brought about, but my guess is that a publisher like Harper that wants to produce a best-selling book commissions a scientific talk master to put the scientific information into digestible bits and pieces, interspersed with loads of quotes and anecdotes from eminent people of the past and present. While this makes a nice evening read by the fireside for those who want to get some general information, it is a bit of a nuisance for the reader who wants to find the argument, which is often hiding behind those meandering moves. Once that argument is found, and once the information is uncovered, the book proves a valuable source. For the reader who is not exactly familiar with the emerging literature of neuroscientific imaging and spiritual practice and experience, it can be a good introduction. It covers good ground of the literature on placebo effects, the interesting paradox that purely psychological processes can manifest physical effects on our bodies, and it is a good critical piece on some of the major recent attempts at debunking spirituality and religion as ‘nothing but’ the result of genes, evolution or a ‘god spot’. What I find most valuable is that the author really exposes the quasi-religious fervour behind most of the materialist mainstream thinking, the scientism that is a belief system masquerading as rationality. However, it is a pity that he is not really mustering the whole strength of the argument. Whether this is because of the popular appeal of the book is difficult to tell. One could easily weave the arguments together and expose the very foundations of the mainstream as faulty. But this would require some philosophical or at least theory-, history- and sociology-of-science arguments. Perhaps one should advise the author to team up with his erstwhile co-authors Jeffrey Schwartz or someone else, but surely not with a popular science author to make such arguments stringent, convincing and watertight in a second edition of the book. This well-referenced book can be a good resource to those who have no prior knowledge in the field. It can be a stimulating read for those who are interested in the area and have some knowledge of their own, as it brings in new perspectives. Hence, readers of Spirituality and Health International should at least be familiar with it. It is a culturally important landmark, because one out of the crowd of comparatively powerful, arrogant, and at the same time, philosophically comparatively ignorant neuroscientists stands up and finally says: hang on guys, there is more to the story than neurons calculating. I wish he had caulked his argumentative vessels better beforehand, because as it stands, it does not do more than deliver counterstatements, but without the philosophical underpinnings necessary to make it really convincing. This is a very good first shot. Now, I wish Mario Beauregard would take another aim, with the help of one of his philosopher or physicist friends who can dig out the necessary philosophical foundations, and then establish a good, solid, counterargument. This could be a second, completely revised edition, or it could even be a new book.
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine rehabilitation nurses' experiences providing spiritual care. Rehabilitation nurses provide care for patients and their families after life-threatening events and are in a unique position to meet holistic health care needs. Little is written about rehabilitation nurses' perceptions of providing spiritual care. Fourteen rehabilitation nurses self-identified as providing spiritual care and agreed to participate in individual interviews. The interviews focused on the nurses' definition of spiritual care, interventions the nurses perceived as spiritual and their comfort in providing spiritual care. More studies are needed to determine if providing spiritual care improves patient outcomes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Spirituality and Health InternationalVolume 9, Issue 3 p. 117-122 Editorial The most precious resource Harald Walach, Harald WalachSearch for more papers by this author Harald Walach, Harald WalachSearch for more papers by this author First published: 22 July 2008 https://doi.org/10.1002/shi.351Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume9, Issue3September 2008Pages 117-122 RelatedInformation
Spirituality and Health InternationalVolume 9, Issue 1 p. 1-5 Editorial Spaghetti Monster and quality control – new religions taking over Harald Walach, Harald WalachSearch for more papers by this author Harald Walach, Harald WalachSearch for more papers by this author First published: 30 January 2008 https://doi.org/10.1002/shi.336Citations: 1Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume9, Issue1March 2008Pages 1-5 RelatedInformation
