Health Givers Understanding Faith Across Religions - Essay Example

? Health Givers Understanding Faith Across Religions (College) The research utilizes the interview method to determine varying perspectives on religious faiths and health care from respondents of non-mainstream religions. Critical components of the minority faiths of respondents were drawn, also their attitudes towards health care on patients of different cultures. The first interview of a young student teacher showed that her practice of Yoga is beneficial to health as well as to spiritual enlightenment. A second interview of a Shinto believer showed how his ancient religion has close affinity to nature and ancestor spirits, while bodily cleanliness is regarded as conducive to fortune and health. A third interview of a lady Unitarian Universalist showed a minority Christian religion which contradicts the most basic orthodox beliefs such as the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, original sin, and final judgment after death. She described her faith as one that upholds freedom of conscience and ethical-social causes. Advocacy of the lady’s church for early abortion and right to the dignity of dying among terminally ill patients was radical, even though some state laws in the United States allow these practices. In spite of their rather strange cultural religious beliefs, all three respondents expressed their support and confidence for the salutary effects of modern medicine and health-giving. Analyzing the interview, the researcher saw a wide span of beliefs in which nature, spiritual consciousness and freedom of conscience are the outstanding features. Meanwhile, the researcher learned that respondents appreciate modern scientific medical treatment and care in spite of their minority religious views. As a personal insight, the researcher viewed the confidence of patients for health givers to be anchored on the competencies of health providers including patient care, medical knowledge, interpersonal relations and communication skills and professionalism. Introduction This paper required interviewing persons of various minority faiths, with an aim to gather perspectives on spirituality and health. The interview methodology was used to gain insights into what is important to people of different faiths outside mainstream church groups, whenever they are cared for by health providers. During three interviews, the respondents were also asked about their attitude towards health givers, whose spiritual beliefs may be different from their own. Do they think perhaps that there may be a gap between patients and health providers due to their having different belief systems? The learning which could be gathered was deemed important from the start, since inputs can be reflected on for practical application in the career of health care providers. The Three Interviews The first interview was with a young sophomore college student taking up Education for Special Children. She was attending to her sick mother, a patient being treated for a malignant tumor. The female college student was slight in built although prim and attractive-looking. At first she showed reservations but soon opened up for the requested interview. Initially, however, the interview was with her mother, whose medical records showed her being an American university Yoga teacher. However, since her mother was resting, the daughter volunteered to give the interview, saying that she also practiced Yoga. Yoga, she explained, is not a religion and does not entail worship or going to church. It is more of a personal discipline most helpful, especially to people stressed due to modern living. For those who join Yoga groups or classes, it may simply be an exercise for body toning and beauty. Still, it has health benefits as it can strengthen the body, balance blood pressure, and enhance the body’s circulatory systems. Of course, she said, Yoga can mean more than just exercise, such as for those who teach it like her mother. As a practitioner herself, she revealed that Yoga has the spiritual perspective of enlightenment in which man is liberated to be one with a Cosmic Universal Self beyond time and space. This means there are other components beyond body posture-exercises, such as the practice of meditation, breath control, stilling the mind, and union in an altered state of awareness of a Universal Self. As to her attitude towards care providers, she said an unbiased service to care for the sick above religious differences is important. Cultures of the East and West are different, she added, but there are ways in which they can meet, such as in practicing Yoga. The second interview was with a Japanese middle-age patient who was to undergo surgery for a liver ailment. Rather jovial, he jocosely said he got ill after drinking too much rice wine. He was raised up in the traditional belief and is still practicing Shintoism. He took great pride in his country Japan, his people, and culture. Shintoism for him is unique, because it is “a religion of doing, not believing.” This ancient religion gives importance to nature, purity and tranquility. That is why he said, Japanese are nature lovers—having dinner parties to listen to crickets or to watch the moon. Nature is sacred, he stressed. Shinto believers also value physical cleanliness, and this is shown through ablutions or taking baths, and washing of hands and mouth rinsing before entering Shinto temples. They believe in prayers for health and good fortune, while honoring spirits of ancestors, similar to what Christians call souls. As to health providers, he said those who enter the medical profession—particularly doctors and nurses-- have the natural gift of healing, even if they use processed medicine and modern machines. He mentioned Reiki, a traditional healing method in Japan which is healing by touch, applying pressure—by passing the palm without actual physical contact-- above sick parts of the body. This is the Japanese way of natural healing, he pointed out. In a post-interview search, the New Age Almanac validated the existence of Reiki also known as the Usui Shiko Ryoko system of healing. It is described as “the art of applying through a precise technique the universal life energy (ki) to promote healing and wholeness” (Larson, 2004). The third interview was with a middle-age lady who was undergoing an executive check-up for her post-menstrual maladies. She belonged to the Unitarian Universalist Church, a minority comprising only about 2-3 percent of the U.S. population. She explained that the UU religion is difficult to define. It is more generally known through negatives, namely not believing in the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, redemption from Original Sin, and eternal damnation since all will be saved. To define the UU faith positively, it can be described as a belief in the freedom of conscience while promoting ethical and social causes for society and the world. The small UU churches are autonomous in worship but one in a single fellowship. They encourage meditation, nature retreats, and religious conferences while having advocacies such as encouraging voters to vote, same sex marriage, female priesthood, timely abortion and the dignity of dying already made into law in the State of Oregon. On the Oregon Law, she explained, this allows physicians to prescribe lethal medicine for patients suffering terminal ailments. It is a human right to die with dignity, she said, since this relieves the dying from the indignity of prolonged suffering and pain, while freeing his family from further emotional and economic burden. As to care providers, she said they should follow the UU attitude to respect everyone’s personal belief system, while keeping the supreme value for life. There is no need to impose limits to spiritual freedom, she added to say, since man is capable of advancing in religious truth beyond any present religious system. Conclusion As an outcome, this research activity provided ‘an opportunity to consider one’s own cultural perspective, an exploration of the impact of culture on health interactions” (MedEdPortal, 2012). The interviews showed that faith across cultures are diverse: an earth-bound faith in Shintoism, cosmic vision in Yoga, belief in freedom to believe in Unitarian Universalism. As there are contrasts, there are also similarities, such as the Shinto belief in spirits and deities centered in Amaterosu the “Female Sun Goddess” (Shintoism, n.d.). This is similar to the mainstream Christian belief in immortal souls, saints, the Blessed Virgin and the divine persons in God. As to belief components, Christianity also adopts the practice of meditation and encounters along a supernatural dimension in life, similar to the Hindu Yogic belief. Above cultural diversity, it is good to find among respondents an abiding faith in modern medicine and healthcare. The truth surfaces, however, that health givers need to understand patients who believe in non-traditional healing forces, complementing the healing methods of modern medicine and healthcare. Overall, the research pointed at certain competencies which health givers can provide, such as patient care, medical knowledge, interpersonal and communication skills, and professionalism. To end, the role of health givers in providing holistic healing of mind-body-spirit remains to be the main parameter to follow. If modern medicine can heal, so can beliefs that bring man closer to nature, to humanity and life as a whole. References Larson, B. (2004). World Religions and Alternative Spirituality. Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 400-401. MedEdPortal (n.a.). Culture, Faith, Traditions & Health. Retrieved from http://mededportal.org/publcations/217 ClassWeb (n.a.). Shintoism. Retrieved from htt:www.mtholyoke.edu/chen20m/classweb/116/Shintoism.html Read More