The ethical basis of teaching spirituality and spiritual care: a survey of student nurses perceptions.

The Fictional Labyrinths of Thomas Pynchon.

Research indicates that many social work practitioners are interested in using spiritual interventions in clinical settings. Unfortunately, studies also indicate that practitioners have frequently received minimal training on the topic during their graduate education. Drawing from the evidence-based practice movement, this article develops some guidelines to assist practitioners in using spiritual interventions in an ethical, professional manner that fosters client well-being. These guidelines can be summarized under the following four rubrics: (1) client preference, (2) evaluation of relevant research, (3) clinical expertise, and (4) cultural competency. The article concludes by emphasizing that these overlapping guidelines should be considered concurrently, in a manner that privileges clients' needs and desires in the decision-making process.

Using Spiritual Interventions in Practice: Developing Some Guidelines from Evidence-based Practice

Conceptualizations play a central role in social work discourse, shaping actions in the areas of practice, research, and education. Although many formulations of spirituality and religion have been advanced by social work scholars, the views of members of the general public have been largely absent from the professional conversation. The present article adds to the profession's evolving discussion on spirituality and religion by describing common understandings of spirituality and religion among the general population and by discussing the implication of these views for social work discourse on spirituality and religion. By understanding common views among the public, the social work profession is better positioned to provide ethical and professional services that respect clients' spiritual beliefs and values.

Spirituality and Religion among the General Public: Implications for Social Work Discourse

Writing about Wittgenstein, that most eminent philosopher of language, means writing about problems of translation. In his Miscellaneous Remarks, one can find this: “Philosophie durfte man eigentlich nur dichten” (Vermischte Bemerkungen 483). One good attempt to translate that statement was made by Martin Puchner, who gives it as “Philosophy should only be done as poetry” (295), with an additional explanation that the word dichten means to write poetry but also to condense. David Schalkwyk amends Peter Winch’s translation “philosophy ought really to be written as a form of poetic composition” (56) by the term to poetize. Yet dichten not only refers to the writing of poetry, but to fictional production in general, even if it is not in written form, and it also evokes the semantic field of being sealed off, tight, consolidated, and also that of proximity. Wittgenstein’s comment on the literary nature of philosophy is already subject to the play of meaning which places it itself closer to literature than philosophy.

https://pynchonnotes.openlibhums.org/article/2472/galley/2865/download/

Bernard Moss

Papers

Religion and spirituality