Page 221 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

f r o m ca ra t i v e f a c to r 10 t o C a r i t a s P r o C e s s 1 0
and human predicaments. Many people have experienced tragedies
in living and dying; often, these instances bring profound depth and
meaning to one’s life rather than the shallowness and superficiality of
a diminished level of living in the material plane alone.
Such profundity of living is shown in the existential-spiritual
struggles of Viktor Frankl (Frankl 1963). As a prisoner in a concentra-
tion camp for a long period of time, he struggled to find a reason to
live after his release. His entire family, except for his sister, had died
in the camps. He lost every possession, had every value attacked, had
suffered from hunger, cold, brutality, and fear of extermination. Yet
he was able to find a deeper meaning and responsibility in his life that
transcended his sorrows and suffering.
In contrast to Frankl’s involuntary suffering and his search for
deeper meaning is the example of Leo Tolstoy. He had an aristocratic
life of luxury and wealth but voluntarily subjected himself to suffer-
ing, deprivation, and isolation to find meaning and responsibility in his
life. Although Tolstoy’s philosophy was not considered existential at
the time in that it was more a spiritual quest, the beliefs he held in the
early 1800s are closely related to the later existential views of Sartre
(1956), Heidegger (1962), Buber (1958), and others. Thus, we see the
overlap between and among existential and spiritual questioning and
quests in the human search for meaning.
These notions of existentialism, phenomenology, and spirituality
are closely related and support a subjective appreciation of the inner-
life world of the experiencing person, as well as an appreciation for
the mysteries, multiple meanings, and unknowns of life. This Caritas
Process invites an opening to allowance for mysteries, miracles, and a
higher, deeper order of life’s phenomena that cannot be understood
with the ordinary mind and mind-set. In other words, the outer appear-
ance or behavior of what is happening to another in the outer world
may not necessarily reflect the inner subjective unknowns or deeper
dimensions of the larger universe. Acknowledging and incorporat-
ing this Caritas Process into nurses’ understanding of practice can be a
guiding influence and a turning point for healing, whereby a tragedy
can turn into a miracle of courage and strength, opening to another
reality of life’s deep meaning.

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