Spirituality and ethics had, by the mid-1980s, become for me distinguishable from and broader than ‘religion’. I had met variations on Camus’ Dr. Rieux (The Plague) among the physicians, nurses, social workers, and volunteers who -- though diverse in their thought worlds and life views -- embodied similar values in their care for easily forgotten or overlooked patients. It had become apparent to me that (1) if these professionals were more than highly-skilled technicians and if their patients were more than biological systems, illnesses, or diseases, then (2) a vocabulary and a grammar to consider this ‘more’ are necessary. Such vocabulary and grammar, which must be accessible to all who care about the ‘more’, became for me the stuff of spirituality and ethics.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Fragment #10 - Reflections from Journal Entries
Spirituality and ethics had, by the mid-1980s, become for me distinguishable from and broader than ‘religion’. I had met variations on Camus’ Dr. Rieux (The Plague) among the physicians, nurses, social workers, and volunteers who -- though diverse in their thought worlds and life views -- embodied similar values in their care for easily forgotten or overlooked patients. It had become apparent to me that (1) if these professionals were more than highly-skilled technicians and if their patients were more than biological systems, illnesses, or diseases, then (2) a vocabulary and a grammar to consider this ‘more’ are necessary. Such vocabulary and grammar, which must be accessible to all who care about the ‘more’, became for me the stuff of spirituality and ethics.
