Spiritual Health

In this blog, I will try to explain what is meant by ‘spiritual health’ and why it has become important to medical science. I will point out the areas in which ‘spiritual health’ and ‘spirituality’ overlap and, hopefully, help the reader to understand why an awareness of our spiritual health is important to our general well-being. I will look at the background to the introduction of this new concept in medical terminology. Then I will look at how this concept is affecting modern thinking. I will also look at the four elements that make up our spiritual health. Finally, I will look at how notions of our spiritual health fit in with the general concept of spirituality. Let’s start with the background.

Background

The term ‘spiritual health’ first entered the vocabulary of spirituality about 50 years ago in the late 20^th century. At that time, it was found necessary by medical researchers to find a word or term which explained why our general health (including our physical, emotional and mental health) is influenced by spiritual considerations. Medical scientists concluded that there were over-riding considerations of ethics, metaphysics, value and belief systems which affected our thought processes and ultimately our physical and mental health. Or, to put it another way, there was the understanding among medical researchers that there is a definite spiritual component to our well-being which must be reckoned with if individual and publish health are to be improved.

Prior to this, doctors and scientists generally considered that our health was largely influenced by physical and dietary factors. By the mid-20^th century, thanks to the work of Sigmund Freud, it was realised that there was a mental component to our well-being. It became understood that what we think influences how well or badly our body functions. As part of this understanding, greater emphasis was placed on researchers to find out which factors could influence our thought processes. It was against this background of inquiry, that the understanding that a metaphysical or spiritual component was also to be taken into consideration as a factor influencing our thought processes.

Modern Developments

In 2006, in the European Journal of Public Health, a certain Jean Paul Vader wrote an article with the inspiring if somewhat controversial title ‘Spiritual Health: the Next Frontier’. He pointed out that the World Health Organisation (the WHO) in the late 20^th century had discussed whether ‘a spiritual dimension’ should be included In the definition of ‘health’ alongside physical, mental and social well-being. Vader noted that there was an increasing urgency in world agencies concerning the need to address ‘the spiritual needs of the population and to create governmental policies which reflected all the needs of individuals, families and communities. He pointed out that governments of all European nations had signed the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development in which they committed themselves to include the spiritual needs of their citizens. Vader also noted the Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalised World, in 2005, also emphasized the spiritual dimension of health.

In recent years, the concept of our ‘spiritual health’ has become much more widely discussed and accepted as a legitimate concern in the formulation of a nation’s health policies and also its political, economic, education and social policies. Indeed, nowadays, consideration of the spiritual dimension of illness and healthcare has led to a change in the way that nurses are trained to deal with patients especially in a palliative care framework.

Indeed, there has been world progress in the understanding and development of spiritual values in the creation of economic, political and health policies for the benefit of humanity but this progress has been slow and fitful. This earlier foot-dragging was partly because of a failure to agree what the spiritual dimensions of health are.

Now there is agreement.

The Four Elements of Spiritual Health

Most medical experts, when discussing our spiritual health, agree that there are four elements to the concept of spiritual health:

• the way we relate to and see ourselves as individuals: our self-scrutiny in which we try to work out our reasons for our existence, our purpose in life and to what extent we value ourselves and how successful we are in acting according to the values in which we believe .
• the way we relate to others: our honesty in our dealings, our respect for the rights of others, our humility,our ability to empathise, our generosity, our compassion, our sense of responsibility to others and our willingness to help others
• the way we relate to the environment and nature:showing respect for nature; being aware of our impact on nature; having a sense of duty and responsibility for the animal and natural world; loving and caring for nature.
• The way we view and connect with an external supreme force, a transcendental connection: our recognition of a power of creation (in religious terms the many names for God according to religious beliefs); our sense of gratitude, feelings of affection and love towards a Supreme Being. Researchers of spiritual health tend to see this external connection in religious terms but a religious faith is not necessary for an understanding of our spirituality.

Our spiritual health can be seen as a visible sign of our spirituality, our conscious awareness of who we are, why we are and how we translate our spiritual values into everyday actions.

The Fifth Element of Spirituality

Our spiritual health is included in our understanding of spirituality. The characteristics of spirituality involve all of the above four yardsticks of assessing the spiritual health of an individual but they also involve a fifth element: a sense of forward movement, of becoming, of growth and progress in our spiritual understanding.

Being spiritual means being aware of our connection with a cosmic force and of the effort needed to realise our full potential as beings. Being spiritual recognises that we are much more than a three-dimensional being; it involves thinking of ourselves as a multi-dimensional being, part of a cosmic force which underpins everything. Being spiritual involves a recognition of ourselves as an individual as part of a greater whole and, from this, the necessity to treat everything with respect and love for the benefit of all.

Being spiritual involves an opening of the heart to recognise our connection with all beings, human and animal and our connection to All That Is.