Page 215 - 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
Caritas Consciousness Nurse to hold others in their highest ethical sense
of Being and Becoming, even if they cannot see it for themselves at
the moment. An awareness of this human need invites each of us,
whether nurse or patient, to listen and open to the inner call to follow
one’s authentic inner self in the outer world.
This need thus intersects energetically with evolving conscious-
ness and is consistent with Newman’s notion of “health as evolving
consciousness” (Newman 1994). Quality of living is associated with
self-love, self-awareness, and self-knowledge—allowing for more self-
caring, self-healing, self-knowledge, and self-control through insight-
ful, informed choices, decisions, and actions. This evolving awareness
provides one with the ability to face life more directly, with its pain,
joys, sorrows, and suffering as well as challenges, opportunities, and
successes. Our evolving consciousness contributes to our understand-
ing of life patterns and stresses and how they contribute to our well-
being or illness and disease.

signifiCanCe of tHe
self-aCtualization need for Caritas NursiNg
The notion of self-actualization placed within a contemporary ener-
getic Caritas framework invites other considerations that make new and
broader connections between the inner and outer in self-development
and between the human and the universe that go beyond the conven-
tional separatist mind-sets of the Western world—that is, the prevail-
ing mind-set that pits humans against each other, their environment,
planet Earth, and the larger universe that is our shared home. The
energetic mental field of consciousness is the entry point that “pours
endlessly into the human energy system, from the greater universe,
from God or the Tao” (Myss 1996:265).
By locating ourselves within the dominant view that separates
self from our spiritual-evolved consciousness dimension, except in pri-
vate personal matters, we find ourselves in a conflicted world of prac-
tice and human evolution. On the one hand, the world is filled with
spiritual awareness, from Florence Nightingale forward; on the other
hand, the public world favors exclusivity of the physical plane, lead-
ing to conflict, blame, and violence, wars against and over each other.

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