Page 44 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

NURSING: THE PHIL O S OPHY A ND SCIENCE OF C A R IN G , revI s e d ed I t I o n
2005:10–11). In considering Caring Science, art, the humanities, and
the beauty of science and life itself all come into play. When one is
engaged in human caring and healing, one cannot ignore the element
of aesthetics and beauty and the spiritual domain of life’s journey.
In Emerson’s words: “This element [beauty] I call an ultimate end.
No reason can be asked or given why the soul seeks beauty. Beauty in
its largest and most profound sense is one expression of the universe”
(Emerson 1982:48). In this sense, then, art transforms us and helps us
to see our everyday world differently, in that arts move us into a space
where we can create visions of other ways of Being/doing/knowing
and ask what it might signify to realize them (Greene 1991). It is this
engagement in art and a sense of beauty that gives rise to wonder, to
questioning, and to pondering our Being.
The art and science of caring-healing is emerging in mainstream
medicine and nursing, as the public has a hunger for the intersection
among art, science, beauty, and spiritual dimensions of the healing
arts and health and also has a greater sense of self-knowledge, self-
control, and well-being. As Kandinsky (1977) understood it, “the spiri-
tual resides in art” (just as Emerson viewed nature as spirit); perhaps
they are one and the same, tapping into the human spirit of humanity
and the universal source of infinity in which we dwell.
In any event, in nursing and caring-healing work, we draw upon
healing arts in a more expanded way that integrates science, art,
beauty, and spirituality. These are manifest in unlimited potential for
areas such as visual arts, music, sound, aroma, dance, movement, the-
ater, drama, storytelling, design, psycho-architecture/sacred healing
architecture, and a variety of tactile-touch and noncontact, energetic
modalities.
Diverse categories of healing arts are emerging. At least four types
have been identified:

• Art intended to directly heal, using symbols, images that calm
and center.
• Art created by artists to facilitate their own healing; for example,
autobiographical art, representational art depicting incidences of
treatment, illness, change.

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