Page 85 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

fr oM carative fa c to r 2 t o C a r i t as Pr oC e s s 2
The original Carative Factor of faith and hope is closely tied to
the expanded language that seeks to make it a little more explicit with
respect to the level of authenticity required for human presence in
the midst of the need for faith and hope, making more explicit the
importance of honoring the deep belief system and subjective inner-
life world of meaning the other person holds for his or her life and
purpose and the presenting situation in which that person happens
to find him- or herself. Another’s situation could be any of our situa-
tions, eliciting compassion and deep understanding and reaching out
to other, honoring his or her belief in the right outcome for self. This
Caritas Process likewise honors the belief system of the nurse, invit-
ing the practitioner to connect with that which sustains him or her
when in need of faith and hope to draw upon. All of us need faith and
hope to carry us through the vicissitudes and slings and arrows of the
human earth-plane existence.
This expanded Caritas Process is closely related to the founda-
tional humanistic-altruistic value system and to loving-kindness and
equanimity as consciousness. These are the touchstones, the founda-
tion and core processes that carry us into and through the work of
human caring-healing and life experiences of birthing, living, being,
dying.
We cannot ignore the importance of hope and faith and the role
they play in people’s lives, especially when faced with the unknowns,
mysteries, and crises of illness, pain, loss, stress, despair, grief, trauma,
death, and so on. That is why this value concept is included as core
to a professional model of nursing and to Caring Science: Caritas
Consciousness.
One of the ways we feel hope is to offer hope to another. Often
we discover that in this moment, because we are here we are the hope;
we may become the hope for someone who is isolated, alone, aban-
doned in the prison of his or her despair and illness, fear and suffering.
By being sensitive to our own presence and Caritas Consciousness, not
only are we able to offer and enable another to access his or her own
belief system of faith-hope for the person’s healing, but we may be the
one who makes the difference between hope and despair in a given
moment.

62