Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

World Suffering and Quality of LifeHealing Suffering: The Evolution of Caring Practices

World Suffering and Quality of Life: Healing Suffering: The Evolution of Caring Practices [Suffering raises deep and disquieting questions about the very meaning of our existence. Most frequently addressed in the literature at the level of individual identity, suffering is also social. It can be found in oppressive political structures. Suffering involves alienation, introduces self-conflict, and signals the breakdown of meaning. Familiar landmarks fade from view and are replaced with the specter of inhospitable, desert territory. Those involved in healing suffering—their own and others’—aim to transform dystopian landscape so that it might be free to be populated by new and liberating meanings, possibilities, and action. This chapter traces evolutionary developments in caring perspectives and their implications for reclaiming and transforming the terrain of suffering. Developments include critiques of the biological approach; new understandings of the self as a self-in-relation capable of healing and transcending through commitment to others; suffering as potential gift and site for the cultivation of compassion and altruism. By overturning misperceptions of the self as isolated, the wound as flaw, and suffering as irremediable loss, evolutionary developments offer alternative, more hopeful views. They also represent an exciting new trend for the future, including the confluence of spiritual and scientific thought in developing new approaches and therapies to address suffering, which may have benefits for individuals and communities.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

World Suffering and Quality of LifeHealing Suffering: The Evolution of Caring Practices

Part of the Social Indicators Research Series Book Series (volume 56)
Editors: Anderson, Ronald E.
Johnston, Nancy E.
World Suffering and Quality of Life — Jan 7, 2014
Download PDF
12 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/world-suffering-and-quality-of-life-healing-suffering-the-evolution-of-LA3RfVjFl4

References (34)

Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Copyright
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
ISBN
978-94-017-9669-9
Pages
101 –113
DOI
10.1007/978-94-017-9670-5_8
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Suffering raises deep and disquieting questions about the very meaning of our existence. Most frequently addressed in the literature at the level of individual identity, suffering is also social. It can be found in oppressive political structures. Suffering involves alienation, introduces self-conflict, and signals the breakdown of meaning. Familiar landmarks fade from view and are replaced with the specter of inhospitable, desert territory. Those involved in healing suffering—their own and others’—aim to transform dystopian landscape so that it might be free to be populated by new and liberating meanings, possibilities, and action. This chapter traces evolutionary developments in caring perspectives and their implications for reclaiming and transforming the terrain of suffering. Developments include critiques of the biological approach; new understandings of the self as a self-in-relation capable of healing and transcending through commitment to others; suffering as potential gift and site for the cultivation of compassion and altruism. By overturning misperceptions of the self as isolated, the wound as flaw, and suffering as irremediable loss, evolutionary developments offer alternative, more hopeful views. They also represent an exciting new trend for the future, including the confluence of spiritual and scientific thought in developing new approaches and therapies to address suffering, which may have benefits for individuals and communities.]

Published: Jan 7, 2014

Keywords: Suffering; Healing; Caring; Gift of suffering; Compassion; Mindfulness; Altruism; Wound; Self; Relational; Transcending

There are no references for this article.