My Ishvara is dead: spiritual care on the fringes.
Human suffering speaks differently to different lived contexts. In this paper, I have taken a metaphoric representation of suffering, Ishvara, from the lived context of a Hindu immigrant woman to show that suffering is experienced and expressed within one's lived context. Further, a dominant narrative from her world is presented to show that the same lived context can be a resource for spiritual care that could reconstruct her world that has fallen apart with a suffering experience. Having argued that suffering is experienced and expressed within one's lived context, and that lived context could be a resource, in this paper I present that spiritual care is an intervention into the predicaments of human suffering and its mandate is to facilitate certain direction and a meaningful order through which experiences and expectations are rejoined. Finally, I observe that spiritual care is an engagement between the lived context where suffering is experienced and the spiritual experience and orientation of the caregiver.
George
Titus
T
Spiritual Care Services, Kaiser Permanente, 39400 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont, CA 94538, USA. titus.m.george@kp.org
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001293:Attitude to Death / Q000208:ethnology*; D001601:Bereavement; D002562:Ceremonial Behavior; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D010327:Pastoral Care / Q000379:methods*; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D029181:Spirituality; D017805:Widowhood / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology