Page 105 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

t heoret ica l Fra m ew or k F or C ar it as/car i ng rel at i on s h i p
• Through actions, words, voice, nonverbal presence, thoughts,
feelings, and full use of self, the Caritas Nurse connects with the
other.
• The Caritas connection may occur through intentional yet
authentic acts, movements, gestures, facial expressions, proce-
dures, information giving, touch, voice, tone of voice, type of
touch, soothing sounds, verbal expressions, and/or scientific-
technical skills that communicate caring to the other. All these
forms of professional and personal human communications and
actions contribute to the transpersonal caring connection.
• The Caritas Nurse is not expected to have a transpersonal caring
connection or caring moment with every patient. But Caritas
Consciousness is held as a professional ideal to guide one’s moral,
ethical commitment and intentionality with each patient and
sustain nursing’s caring mission and covenant with society.

A CARING mOmENT
With every moment’s light, may something beautiful be revealed
to me, and become a part of who I am.
marianne williamson
A central component of the theory of transpersonal caring and Caritas
Consciousness, already emphasized, is that it manifests in a given Now
and becomes a part of both individuals who experience it. This is
referred to in my work as a “Caring Moment.”
The caring moment in-the-Now takes place when the nurse con-
nects at a spirit-to-spirit level with another, beyond personality, physi-
cal appearance, disease, diagnosis, even presenting behavior; the nurse
seeks to “see” who this spirit-filled person is as she or he “reads the
field” in that instance. The Caritas Nurse in a caring moment is using
all of his or her skill, knowledge, resources, and ways of knowing. In
connecting this way, the moment becomes transcendent. This kind of
moment is a focal experience in space and time, but a caring moment
of connection in-the-Now transcends a sense of time and space; it has
a field greater than the individuals who experience it. The connection
goes beyond itself yet arises from itself in the moment, and it becomes

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