Читать книгу Finding Jesus in the Storm - John Swinton - Страница 30

The basic understandings of spirituality in the relevant literature focus on the central features of what people assume spirituality to be: meaning, purpose, hope, value, respect, love, dignity, and (for some people) God.52 Few of these definitions offer a strong philosophical or theological rationale for what spirituality actually is, and why it should be understood in such ways. Instead, many researchers simply create their own definitions of spirituality, which tend to focus on those things the researcher assumes to be most valuable in and, importantly, most absent from current caring practices. Their general assumption is that the content of spirituality emerges from the personal choice of the individual. Some people choose to express their essential spirituality in terms of religion, but others choose different ways of engaging with their spirituality (through nature, art, relationships, sport, and so forth).

Researchers think about spirituality in this way in order to ensure that it is inclusive. Put slightly differently, this is a spirituality designed to cater to people of “all faiths and none.” It is nondenominational, open to the religious and the secular, and above all, individualistic and personal. Spirituality is thus perceived to relate to a series of personal choices that everyone should be given the freedom to develop on their own terms and in their own image. Spirituality relates to my meaning, my purpose, my value, and my choice about whether I believe in God. Viewed in this way, spirituality becomes a mode of self-actualization, a way of meeting personal needs and goals quite apart from others or God. This mode of spirituality fits neatly within the goals of modernity and the expectations of a culture that is deeply individualistic and fundamentally oriented toward personal choice as the moral arbiter.