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178 UNIT II Nursing Philosophies

relationship between a concrete other (human being) Natural basic caring is expressed through tending,
and an abstract other (some form of God) that the hu- playing, and learning in a spirit of love, faith, and
man being constitutes himself and his being (Eriksson, hope. The characteristics of tending are warmth, close-
1987a). The human being seeks a communion where he ness, and touch; playing is an expression of exercise,
can give and receive love, experience faith and hope, testing, creativity, and imagination, and desires and
and be aware that his existence here and now has mean- wishes; learning is aimed at growth and change. To
ing. According to Eriksson (1987b), the human being tend, play, and learn implies sharing, and sharing,
we meet in care is creative and imaginative, has desires Eriksson (1987a) says, is “presence with the human
and wishes, and is able to experience phenomena; being, life and God” (p. 38). True care therefore is “not
therefore, a description of the human being only in a form of behavior, not a feeling or state. It is to be
terms of his needs is insufficient. When the human be- there—it is the way, the spirit in which it is done, and
ing is entering the caring context, he or she becomes a this spirit is caritative” (Eriksson, 1998, p. 4). Eriksson
patient in the original sense of the concept—a suffering brings out that caring through the ages can be seen as
human being (Eriksson, 1994a). various expressions of love and charity, with a view
toward alleviating suffering and serving life and health.
Nursing In her later texts, she stresses that caring also can be
Love and charity, or caritas, as the basic motive of seen as a search for truth, goodness, beauty, and the
caring has been found in Eriksson (1987b, 1990, eternal, and for what is permanent in caring, and mak-
2001) as a principal idea even in her early works. The ing it visible or evident (Eriksson, 2002). Eriksson
caritas motive can be traced through semantics, an- emphasizes that caritative caring relates to the inner-
thropology, and the history of ideas (Eriksson, most core of nursing. She distinguishes between car-
1992c). The history of ideas indicates that the foun- ing nursing and nursing care. She means that nursing
dation of the caring professions through the ages has care is based on the nursing care process, and it repre-
been an inclination to help and minister to those suf- sents good care only when it is based on the innermost
fering (Lanara, 1981). core of caring. Caring nursing represents a kind of car-
Caritas constitutes the motive for caring, and it is ing without prejudice that emphasizes the patient and
through the caritas motive that caring gets its deepest his or her suffering and desires (Eriksson, 1994a).
formulation. This motive, according to Eriksson, is The core of the caring relationship, between nurse
also the core of all teaching and fostering growth in all and patient as described by Eriksson (1993), is an
forms of human relations. In caritas, the two basic open invitation that contains affirmation that the
forms of love—eros and agapé (Nygren, 1966)—are other is always welcome. The constant open invitation
combined. When the two forms of love combine, gen- is involved in what Eriksson (2003) today calls the act
erosity becomes a human being’s attitude toward life of caring. The act of caring expresses the innermost
and joy is its form of expression. The motive of caritas spirit of caring and recreates the basic motive of cari-
becomes visible in a special ethical attitude in caring, tas. The caring act expresses the deepest holy element,
or what Eriksson calls a caritative outlook, which she the safeguarding of the individual patient’s dignity.
formulates and specifies in caritative caring ethics In the caring act, the patient is invited to a genuine
(Eriksson, 1995). Caritas constitutes the inner force sharing, a communion, in order to make the caring
that is connected with the mission to care. A carer fundamentals alive and active (Eriksson, 1987a) (i.e.,
beams forth what Eriksson calls claritas, or the appropriated to the patient). The appropriation has
strength and light of beauty. the consequence of somehow restoring the human
Caring is something natural and original. Eriksson being and making him or her more genuinely human.
thinks that the substance of caring can be understood In an ontological sense, the ultimate goal of caring
only by a search for its origin. This origin is in the cannot be health only; it reaches further and includes
origin of the concept and in the idea of natural caring. human life in its entirety. Because the mission of the
The fundamentals of natural caring are constituted by human being is to serve, to exist for the sake of others,
the idea of motherliness, which implies cleansing and the ultimate purpose of caring is to bring the human
nourishing, and spontaneous and unconditional love. being back to this mission (Eriksson, 1994a).