Page 219 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

c h a p t e r f i f t e e n

From Carative FaCtor 10: Allowance for
Existential-Phenomenological Forces
to Caritas ProCess 10: Opening and
Attending to Spiritual/Mysterious and Existential
Unknowns of Life-Death*

As for me, I believe in nothing but miracles.
Walt Whitman
This factor in the original (1979) work is perhaps the most difficult one
for people to grasp, in part because of the language and terms. All I
am trying to say is that our rational minds and modern science do not
have all the answers to life and death and all the human conditions we
face; thus, we have to be open to unknowns we cannot control, even
allowing for what we may consider a “miracle” to enter our life and
work. This process also acknowledges that the subjective world of the
inner-life experiences of self and other is ultimately a phenomenon,
an ineffable mystery, affected by many, many factors that can never be
fully explained.

* Phrase “allowing for a miracle” courtesy of Resurrection Health, Chicago.

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