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Spirituality in humanist chaplaincy: Theoretical and empirical perspectives

Carmen Schuhmann & Joanna Wojtkowiak

Consultation ENHCC June 2018

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Questions I had as former humanist chaplain in a Dutch prison

• What is the ‘pastoral’ aspect of my work?
• What do I represent as a humanist chaplain?

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‘Roots’

“Can there be a ‘secular spirituality’?”

“Can resolutely secular people – including self-described atheists – be thought of as spiritual? This is a pertinent question given the increasing number of atheists and secular people in the West. Are any of these people ‘spiritual’?“

(A. Singleton (2016), In: de Souza, Bone, & Watson (Eds.), Spirituality across disciplines: Research and practice) Spirituality in humanist chaplaincy | 3

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Sources of my personal spiritual (humanist, secular) inspiration

Humanist practice in the Netherlands: a ‘long’ tradition

Jaap van Praag (1911-1981) (Co-)founder of the Humanist League in 1946 àHumanism as a world view (meaning frame providing orientation in situations of tragedy or dehumanization) à Humanist chaplaincy (since 50’s) in prisons, the military, healthcare institutions

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“not expecting anything, hoping for everything” “fully aware of the mysteriousness of life” à Cultivate a sense of hope and of mystery

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“In our religious lives we are responding to a transcendent reality. We all have a sense of this, which emerges in our identifying and recognizing some mode of what I have called fullness, and seeking to attain it” (Taylor, 2007) Human beings are “spiritual creatures, attracted by excellence and made for the Good” (Murdoch, 1970)

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Spirituality as a dimension of human existence

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An inclusive ‘rationale’/language for chaplaincy

• Need to develop an inclusive understanding: “… there is need for a discourse on

chaplaincy which preserves its core value but speaks to people of all religions and none” (Kevern & McSherry, 2015, p. 49)

• What about ‘spiritual care’? No religious connotation, but focus on personal meaning
• making. However: different professionals work in the domain of spirituality too

(nurses, social workers, therapists).

• What, then, is the role of spirituality in an inclusive understanding of chaplaincy?

Charles Taylor: Orientation in life

Human existence: Search for orientation in moral space (the space of existential questions or ‘questions about the good’) When we manage to orient we ‘make sense of our lives spiritually’. Orienting systems: (culturally rooted) visions of an ‘ultimately good’ life that are believable to us in our actual life situation

(Taylor, Sources of the Self, 1989; Schuhmann & van der Geugten, PastoralPsychology, 2017; Schuhmann & Damen, Representing the Good, 2018 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11089-018-0826-0) Spirituality in humanist chaplaincy | 9

Chaplaincy: supporting orientation processes in moral space

Healthcare chaplains meet with people in severely disorienting situations:

• Illness
• Loss and death
• Birth, marriage

“I feel lost” “I feel I am wandering in the dark” “I do not know how to go on from here”

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What is the ‘typically pastoral’ quality of supporting orientation in life?

“Chaplains . . . represent and manifest claims about the nature of reality” (Cobb, Swift, & Todd, 2015) Religious traditions: Represent (the possibility of connecting to) God, even in desperate situations In a secular age? Murdoch (1970): On God and Good Connect “a clear-eyed contemplation of the misery and evil of the world with a sense of uncorrupted good”

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Exchange program on Humanist chaplaincy (Nov. 2015) 34 participants from9 European countries

Humanist chaplains across Europe: What does ‘humanist’ mean?

Humanists as believers… “Believer that morality is founded upon a shared concern for the experience of conscious creatures” (m, 22) Humanist chaplain “believes that client is capable of finding his/her own solutions within him/herself” (f, 51) “based on the belief that there is no transcendent power” (m, 46)

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Humanist chaplains across Europe: chaplaincy as a ‘calling’

“Being a humanist and the moral code that it gives are the motivators for seeking to promote welfare and well-being

• f any person who appears to need help. It gives the

‘calling’ that religious chaplains would get from their notion of god/gods” (m, 39) “If humans could stop for a moment in this crazy world & think of their humanity and show it to everyone, then the world would be a better place” (f, 72) “caring for all humans in a positive, ethical way & taking consideration of our environment” (f, 40)

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Humanist chaplains across Europe: Sources of inspiration

“People who have achieved progress in the face of adversity, e.g. discrimination – Darwin, Rosalind Franklin, Alan Turing” (f, 34) “Meditation on compassion and mindfulness” (m, 22) “Nature (walks in the countryside); contemplation; mindfulness” (f, 51) “The good in people” (m, 64)

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Iris Murdoch on Good and transcendence

Transcendent visions of the good (‘the Good’) as focus of moral life involve:

• Turning attention away from the “fat, relentless ego”

à move from selfishness to unselfishness

• Realism(“as a moralachievement”): Compassionately

looking at reality, particularly at other people, suffering and evil

• Mysteriousness: they are orientation points that

always remain distant, beyond

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Chaplaincy: Representing transcendent visions of the good

• NOT: Imposing visions of the good (transcendent goods

as mysterious; ‘fragility of goodness’ – Nussbaum, 2001)

• Representing faith that some good remains believable

in ultimate situations (Capps, 1995: “agents of hope”) Intended as (a step towards) a shared understanding of chaplaincy that makes sense in various religions and worldviews; In which spirituality & transcendence are central notions.

(Schuhmann & Damen, 2018, PastoralPsychology Schuhmann & Damen, Representing the Good, 2018 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11089-018-0826-0)

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Nurturing spirituality in chaplaincy would then mean:

• Seek knowledge of various traditions of the good that

are of importance to our clients

• Keep exploring our own position with respect to these

traditions

• Keep fostering a living relationship with transcendent

goods (involves an acute awareness of ‘the fragility of goodness’)

• Keep developing insight in our egocentric inclinations,

limitations in attentively, compassionately and lovingly look at reality (others, suffering, evil, …)

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Representing the Good in chaplaincy practice

• Recognizing the mysteriousness of the client as Other

(Levinas, Butler);

• Apply ‘recognizing mysteriousness of the Other’ to

‘others’ in clients’ story (not: ‘anything goes’ stance) – “’Spirituality’ is not a synonym for ‘goodness’” (Pargament, 2007)

• Address political question which visions of the good are

visible/available to whom (in organizations, in society at large) à social justice

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The relevance of chaplaincy in the 21st century

There is “no ultimately believable framework” (Taylor, 1989) that guides us through moral space In a globalizing world:

• “myriad traditions of the good” (Gergen, 2009,

Ammerman, 2010)

• Complexity of “the search for moral truth” (Gilligan,

2014) Disorientation in moral space: a condition of our time? Chaplaincy as practice of supporting ‘search for moral truth’: existential, spiritual, ethical and political work.

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Thank you for your attention!

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Literature

• Ammerman, N. T. (2010). The challenges of pluralism: Locating religion in a world of diversity. Social Compass, 57(2), 154-167.

doi: 10.1177/0037768610362406

• Capps, D. (1995). Agents of hope: A pastoral psychology. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
• Gergen, K. J. (2009). Relational being: Beyond self and community. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Gilligan, C. (2014). Moral injury and the ethic of care: Reframing the conversation about differences. Journal of Social Philosophy,

45, 1, 89-106. doi: 10.1111/josp.12050

• Kevern, P. & McSherry, W. (2015). The study of chaplaincy: Methods and materials. In C. Swift, M. Cobb, & A. Todd, A handbook
• f chaplaincy studies: Understanding spiritual care in public places (pp. 47-62). Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
• Murdoch, I. (1970). The sovereignty of good. London, UK: Routledge.
• Nussbaum, M. C. (2001). The fragility of goodness: Luck and ethics in Greek tragedy and philosophy (Rev. ed.). Cambridge, UK:

Cambridge University Press.

• Schuhmann, C. & van der Geugten, W. (2017). Believable visions of the good: An exploration of the role of pastoral counselors in

promoting resilience. Pastoral Psychology doi: 10.1007/s11089-017-0759-z

• Schuhmann, C., & Damen, A. (2018). Representing the Good: Pastoral care in a secular age. Pastoral Psychology. doi:

10.1007/s11089-018-0826-0 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11089-018-0826-0

• de Souza, M., Bone, J., & Watson, J. (Eds.) (2016), Spirituality across disciplines: Research and practice. Springer.
• Taylor (1989). Sources of the self: The making of the modern identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Taylor, C. (2007). A secular age. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.
• Wojtkowiak, J. Knibbe, R. & Goossensen, A. (2018). Emerging ritual practices: A comparison of six European Celebrant Training

Programs.Journal for the Study of Spirituality