Integrating Soul Knowledge
Matthew Frederick, Doctor of Osteopathy, Clinical Instructor of Surgery, Duke University
Western medicine is thoroughly disenchanted. It is deeply rooted in evidence based practice and outcome analysis, successful outcomes measured by plotting points against population curves. The empirical approach has yielded staggering advancements in the treatment of disease and promises more miracles in the future. This data dependent ethos is an outcome of a well entrenched philosophy of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, i.e. empiricism. Every industry, every organization, and every individual has been deeply impacted by the post scientific revolution understanding of what constitutes knowledge. Knowledge as understood by empiricism is provable, demonstrable, and objectively verifiable. While this may be a comprehensive definition when building an airplane, engineering a vaccine, or discovering sub atomic particles; it does not adequately describe the full human experience.
Further complicating this dilemma is the eroding ability of the American church to re-integrate science and soul. Evangelical movements such as literalism and fundamentalism have created a challenging landscape for an open dialogue between faith and science. This has in many circumstances created a false dichotomy between soul knowledge and empirical knowledge. The reality is that the practice of medicine operates in the liminal area between these two realms. Suffering, death, grieving, and illness are all both physical and metaphysical phenomena. Unfortunately there are few faith organizations and even fewer medical institutions attempting to synthesize these two components of medicine. Therefore physicians routinely struggle with burnout and compassion fatigue as their humanity is dis-integrated from there professional calling. This cognitive dissonance is unresolvable by attending a conference on compassion fatigue or viewing a webinar on burnout. The solution lies in an appreciation of an alternate, less mechanistic understanding of human nature and the soul that operates in conversation with the stark empiricism of the medical construct.
Christianity shares a rich tradition of contemplative thought with most other faith traditions. For millennia practitioners of Islamic Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Christian mysticism have developed methods of fostering a deeper understanding of their own souls by meditative and contemplative practice. In the Christian tradition, one ancient practice with a modern expression is centering prayer. Centering prayer practitioners claim it increases compassion through deepening the understanding of every person’s interconnectedness with each other and with God. As a central symptom of burnout, compassion fatigue plagues many in the healthcare industry and is a direct threat to the well being of both the patient and the provider. This paper seeks to explore the value centering prayer may have for the health care practitioner in their practice of medicine by increasing resiliency, well being, and compassion. In addition, consideration will be given to the way in which Christian mystical practices as discussed in the works of modern Christian contemplatives Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating, and Richard Rohr may be valuable in creating an integrated theology of health, wellness, life, death, and suffering that incorporates both empirical and non-empirical knowledge.
Western medicine is thoroughly disenchanted. It is deeply rooted in evidence based practice and outcome analysis, successful outcomes measured by plotting points against population curves. The empirical approach has yielded staggering advancements in the treatment of disease and promises more miracles in the future. This data dependent ethos is an outcome of a well entrenched philosophy of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, i.e. empiricism. Every industry, every organization, and every individual has been deeply impacted by the post scientific revolution understanding of what constitutes knowledge. Knowledge as understood by empiricism is provable, demonstrable, and objectively verifiable. While this may be a comprehensive definition when building an airplane, engineering a vaccine, or discovering sub atomic particles; it does not adequately describe the full human experience.
Further complicating this dilemma is the eroding ability of the American church to re-integrate science and soul. Evangelical movements such as literalism and fundamentalism have created a challenging landscape for an open dialogue between faith and science. This has in many circumstances created a false dichotomy between soul knowledge and empirical knowledge. The reality is that the practice of medicine operates in the liminal area between these two realms. Suffering, death, grieving, and illness are all both physical and metaphysical phenomena. Unfortunately there are few faith organizations and even fewer medical institutions attempting to synthesize these two components of medicine. Therefore physicians routinely struggle with burnout and compassion fatigue as their humanity is dis-integrated from there professional calling. This cognitive dissonance is unresolvable by attending a conference on compassion fatigue or viewing a webinar on burnout. The solution lies in an appreciation of an alternate, less mechanistic understanding of human nature and the soul that operates in conversation with the stark empiricism of the medical construct.
Christianity shares a rich tradition of contemplative thought with most other faith traditions. For millennia practitioners of Islamic Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Christian mysticism have developed methods of fostering a deeper understanding of their own souls by meditative and contemplative practice. In the Christian tradition, one ancient practice with a modern expression is centering prayer. Centering prayer practitioners claim it increases compassion through deepening the understanding of every person’s interconnectedness with each other and with God. As a central symptom of burnout, compassion fatigue plagues many in the healthcare industry and is a direct threat to the well being of both the patient and the provider. This paper seeks to explore the value centering prayer may have for the health care practitioner in their practice of medicine by increasing resiliency, well being, and compassion. In addition, consideration will be given to the way in which Christian mystical practices as discussed in the works of modern Christian contemplatives Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating, and Richard Rohr may be valuable in creating an integrated theology of health, wellness, life, death, and suffering that incorporates both empirical and non-empirical knowledge.