R/S
I was just reading Spirituality and religion in oncology (Peteet, J. R., & Balboni, M. J.(2013). CA: a cancer journal for clinicians.), which quantifies the positive effects of going beyond the physiology of cancer to the person enduring the disease, especially at the end of their life. Here’s a part that struck me:
Recognizing the broad relevance of existential concerns in oncology, physicians and nurses interested in providing spiritual care can begin by assessing the spiritual dimension of their patients’ responses to questions that address these in the domains of:
identity/worth (“What is my place in the world?”)
hope (“What can I hope for?”)
meaning/purpose (“What is most important in life?”)
relatedness (“Who can I count on?”)
I was thinking, though, shouldn’t those questions be ones we ask our entire lives? It would sort of be like trying to figure out at the last bite of dessert why you were eating dinner — was it just so you wouldn’t feel hungry or were you celebrating with people you love?
Comments
Mat +1
Those answers can change when the chips are down. Not everyone has those figured out, and post-diagnosis can be strenuous.
Alexander Micek
Thanks for the comment, Mat — it is very very true that even basic existential questions become moving targets when someone confronts a concrete, numbered countdown of their remaining days, accustomed as we all are to mortality being simply a nebulous, abstract idea. And I should clarify, I’m really excited to see things like this being discussed in the primary literature, especially in a cancer journal! To live a good life, I do think existential concerns are best addressed throughout our time here, and that means thinking about them now and in the future.