Spiritual World View
- A Christian Point Of View of the nature of ethics and spirituality in contrast to the perspective of postmodern relativism within health.
Diverse perspectives can be related to spirituality because of its broad area of concepts. The most significant concept of spirituality identifies it as the belief of an existing relationship between an individual with something more meaningful and significant than the ordinary human life (Orr, 2015). Research has proved that there exists a spiritual void within every human being. Christians tend to occupy this void by deciding to believe in God and the Holy Trinity. Patients can choose to receive or reject treatment from their caregivers. A patient’s values more in life between spirituality and health care treatment will determine the choice they will make to get treatment. They can opt for spiritual healing in cases where they value spirituality over healthcare services or opt for a healthcare service in instances where they value healthcare services more (Smith & Quimba, 2019). The process of making this decision is spiritual that will lead to a reasonable judgment. For example, some Christian families do not believe in the healing power of medical health, and for this reason, they don’t take it and believe in God for healing.
Ethics involves making decisions to keep off wrongs and do good. Ethics also looks at the consistent behavioral patterns of an individual and a person’s inner character (Ferdinard & Johannes, 2015). At this point, ethics and spirituality marry. An individual’s spirituality will influence their ethical considerations and hence, their decision. (Pulchaski, 2001). It is impossible to place spirituality and ethics in two separate spheres. Take a scenario where a patient is brain dead, and the hospital is seeking permission to turn off life support machines. A Christian family is likely to wait on God’s time for the victim to be completely dead. Most likely, there were questions about the future state of the person if they were to live. However, their belief in God informs their decision-making.
Postmodern relativism seeks to achieve a world where people can accommodate the diversity of views and character. It implies that a health practitioner should understand and respect a patient’s beliefs even as they attempt to administer treatment on them (Salladay, 2016). Before the postmodern era, patients were comfortable with what health practitioners had to offer. However, there is now a change of behavior where patients go for treatment with no prior scientific proof and reject the hospital imposed truths.
- Definition of scientism and two arguments against it.
Scientism is an excessive obsession with the power of science. People who believe in scientism hold the view that the world revolves around science (Peels, 2017). They undermine other systems that the world believes in, such as religion and philosophy (Ani, 2016). It is important to note that there is a difference between science and scientism. The former is a discipline that seeks to explore the world using clear and concise methods, thus expanding human knowledge. The latter looks into the universe’s meaning and consequently tries to limit the world into a scientific shell.
There are several cases against scientism. One such is the case against the claims that scientism is the only way to find out the truth. The demand accelerates since most scientific conclusions are based on concrete evidence (Ani, 2016). Scientism fanatics, therefore, dismiss philosophy or religion as a means towards the truth. Nevertheless, this is a shallow claim, as science cannot explain everything. For instance, earlier scholars believe in a higher power and even confess that they felt a void each time they tried to tell their minds that science was all there was to life. It is possible that this void only disappears after spiritual interactions.
Another argument against scientism is the claim that one has to see it to believe it. Basic individual experiences prove this assumption wrong (Ani, 2016). A scientist who is a strong advocate for scientism once said, ‘we can only believe that the embryos will someday become human beings.’ This implies that there is room left for humans to trust their gut instincts and apply their beliefs.
- Answering the provided questions according to my worldview and perspective:
- What is the ultimate reality?
Ultimate reality is the incomprehensible and complex nature that exists within every rational human being. It stirs up many controversies, as individuals want their ultimate truth to be superior to others and perhaps become primarily accepted. Some believe in personal beings such as God for the Christian faith as their reality. Others believe in a specific target for all human beings whose power is beyond human comprehension. The common aspect of these two beliefs is that there is a higher power (Burnett, 2018). So, where is the ultimate reality? God is the reality of Christians. According to Christian scriptures, faith is an essential element in life. However, the proof of the ultimate truth for a Christian has answered prayer. Another group believes in universally governing principles. Scientists fall into this category as they think that the human brain has the intellectual capacity to figure out everything. The discoveries made after that become the ultimate reality of this category.
(b) What is the nature of the universe?
There can never be a clear-cut definition of the universe’s nature as discoveries, and theoretical perspectives on this are coined every other day. However, there are various perspectives on the world’s quality from the religious, historical, and scientific views of how the universe began. The spiritual perspective adopts the creation story where God is the sole giver of life and man, the caretaker of all the galaxies, and wondrous creation. The historical view on the nature of the universe talks about the evolution of all species in existence today. The scientific perspectives improve by the day as scientists search for proof of claims here and in space. The most prominent scientific story on the universe’s nature is the big bang theory that implies the world began with a big bang. From this, we can derive the fact that the universe is diverse.
(c) What is a human being?
The general definition of a human being is; a man, woman, or a child with an advanced developed brain that can control all the other creatures in the universe. History has a different meaning, as it states, the man was a member of the primate family before evolving to the present-day Homo Sapiens Sapiens. There are claims by historical scholars indicating that evolution is still going on. This is apparently because of the increasing levels of beauty seen generation after generation. Intelligence levels among humans are on the rise. From a religious perspective, the human being was the only creature created by God in his image and likeness and authority over the earth. On the other hand, a scientist would claim that a human being is the only creature in the world with the intellect to question who they are.
(d) What is knowledge?
Today’s society defines knowledge as an awareness of a particular subject, factor sets of information. To achieve this, one has to undergo practical or theoretical training. The level of knowledge acquisition differs from the individuals in question, as some are fast learners, while others are slow learners. It is a norm for people to go to schools to acquire relevant knowledge. A few are home-schooled away from the social menace that the world is. Then there is the illiterate category that lacks access to primary education.
Nevertheless, it is not fair to define knowledge by the ability to attend a school, but the value an individual can add to relevant fields. For instance, an illiterate woman from rural West Africa can educate Ph.D. scholars on the importance of the fermented bean Daddawa. This type of knowledge is priceless.
(e) What is your basis for ethics?
A few years ago, I was a strong advocate for moral relativism as a basis for ethics. Over the years, I have come to realize how detrimental this basis is to personal beliefs and behaviors. Today, I base ethics on the decisions that I can make outside the societal pressures of decision-making. This involves doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Moral relativism has ruined the ethical considerations the society formerly leaned on. People believe it is okay to behave in any way that makes them happy even if it infringes on their fellow human rights. Such behavior is bound to be the end of harmony within the human race.
(f) What is the purpose of your existence?
I believe that the purpose of my existence is to spread love to a world with so much hate. To achieve this, I understand that I have to enlighten and appreciate my authentic self continually. This will enable me to be spiritually awake at all times.
References
Ani, N.C. (2016). ‘Does scientism undermine other forms of knowledge?’ Verbum et Ecclesia 37(1), pp 1-9
Burnett, T. (2018). What is Scientism?. Retrieved from https://www.aaas.org/programs/dialogue-science-ethics-and-religion/what-scientism
Ferdinand, P., & Johannes, V.D.W. (2015). Postmodern Relativism and the Challenge to Overcome the “Value-Vacuum.” Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 1(1), pp 235-254
Orr. D.R. (2015). Incorporating Spirituality into Patient Care. AMA Journal of Ethics, 17(5), pp 409-415
Peels, R. (2017). Ten Reasons to Embrace Scientism. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, pp 1-11
Puchalski, C. (2001). The role of spirituality in health care. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1305900/
Salladay, A.S. (2016). Healing is Believing: Postmodernism Impacts Nursing. Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, 4(1)
Smith, L., & Quimba, M. (2019). “Faith and Spiritual Decision-Making in Health Care Professions.” Retrieved from https://www.gcumedia.com/lms-resources/student-success-center/?mediaElement=7285A42D-1FDE-E811-844B-005056BD1ABC