Page 195 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

a d m i ni s t er ing s acr e d n u r s in g ac t s
Martinsen’s (2006) philosophy of life acknowledged the totality that
surrounds and imbues one. It is presented as follows (from Martinsen
2006:136, referencing Bjerg 2002:50):

One lies sick in one’s Bed and feels excluded from everything,
closed in, imprisoned in this constricted Room. Then one asks
someone present to pull the Curtain a little to the Side. And out-
side are the blue, infinite Depths of the Sky, whose Waves of light
have no Shore, but wash in everywhere where the Room is open,
into the Heart, if it is open, and take back into those Depths all
closed in Longing, unifying all the sick Singular with the eternal
Whole.

As Martinsen points out, when this happens the sickroom is
opened to the infinite depths of the sky, and when the heart is open,
longing is set free from its imprisonment. Thus, then there is some-
thing to long for, and in this longing there is hope—the longing for life
fulfillment, the feeling of being alive, different from being immobile,
tied down. As this awareness filters into our view and understanding
of inactivity-activity, we can honor that the human is embedded in
nature, place, architecture, the room (Martinsen 2006:137), and the
broader universe of the whole. When the sick, inactive, immobile per-
son is closed in and imprisoned in the sickbed, longing and hope often
do not enter; thus, one becomes more ill.
When the sickroom and the human in the room, who is ill and
immobile, are turned outward to nature, the sky, a new unity of rela-
tionship with nature, place, architecture, the room, and even the larger
universe is opened to the patient. “The human is unified with the
whole and healing will be in this union” (Martinsen 2006:137).
Just as balanced activity is essential for living, so is inactivity. Our
bodies have a biorhythmic pattern that is self-sustaining, life-energy
sustaining. Our activity-inactivity level affects our efficacy and Being in
the world and thus is integral with all other needs and experiences.
Even though activity and inactivity exist on a continuum of energy
utilization, they have a biorhythmic pattern that is self-sustaining.
There are exogenous rhythms, which depend on the external envi-
ronment (e.g., seasonal variation, lunar cycles, night-and-day cycles).

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