title: Stress and human spirituality 2000: at the cross roads of physics and metaphysics.
abstract: Although stress is defined as a perceived threat, the implications of stress go well beyond physical well-being. In the words of Carl Jung, "Every crisis is a spiritual crisis." Western science, so strongly influenced by the Cartesian Principle of Reductionism, has ignored the essence and significance of human spirituality in the health and healing process. Holistic healing honors the integration, balance, and harmony of mind, body, spirit, and emotions, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Stress (unresolved issues of anger and fear) chokes the human spirit, the life force of human energy, which ultimately affects the physical body. From the perspectives of both physics and metaphysics, stress is a disruption in the state of coherence between the layers of consciousness in the human energy field. The emerging paradigm of health reunites mind, body, and spirit, and considers health as a function of coherence among the energy levels of these components.
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado-Boulder, P.O. Box 18831, Boulder, Colorado 80308, USA.
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Seaward
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008602:Mental Healing; D008678:Metaphysics; D012067:Religion; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*