Category Archives for Spirituality

Pew Survey takes a look at America’s view of spirituality 

Published in RINewsToday on December 25, 2023

The late Ray Whitman, a former economist who taught at the University of the District of Columbia, didn’t really consider himself spiritual or begin his spiritual quest until his late 30s. Ray’s desire to understand his spirituality was a long, complicated and somewhat painful process, he told me, noting that a mid-life crisis at age 39 forced him to reevaluate his personal life, goals and religious beliefs, including his ties to the Episcopal Church.

Whitman’s personal crisis would lead him to exploring spiritual beliefs and activities.  During his search, he learned how to cast astrology and numerology charts, attended metaphysical church services, practiced yoga, became a Life Spring graduate and even sought advice from psychics and the counsel of gurus, even traveling to Brazil to see John of God, a self-proclaimed medium and psychic surgeon.

For years, the Rockville, Maryland economist studied the teachings and meditation practices of Guru Mayi Chidvilasananda, the current head of the Siddha Lineage of gurus.  

At the end of his life, Whitman, who passed away on Aug. 26, 2021, at the age of 85, like many Americans who described themselves as spiritual in a recent Pew Research Center report, he described himself as being spiritual and not religious and being tied to mainstream religious beliefs.

Being Religious, Spiritual, or both

Just weeks before Christmas, the Pew Research Center released a report, “Spirituality Among Americans,” that shows that belief in spirits or a spiritual realm beyond this world is widespread, even among those who don’t consider themselves religious.  Seven in 10 adults (70%) describe themselves as spiritual in some way, however, many of these individuals also view themselves as religious.  Still, 22% indicated that they consider themselves spiritual, and not religious.

According to the results of Pew’s survey, 83% of all U.S. adults believe people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body. Eighty-one percent of the respondents believe there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we cannot see it.  Almost three-fourths of the respondents say that there are somethings that science cannot possibly explain while 45% noted that they had a sudden feeling of connection with something from beyond this world.  And 30% say that they have personally encountered a spirit or unseen spiritual force. 

Overall, the survey findings, conducted July 31-Aug. 6, 2023 among a nationally representative sample of 11,201 members of Pew’s American Trends Panel, and released on December 7, 2023, found that 70% of U.S. adults can be considered “spiritual” in some way, because they think of themselves as spiritual people, or say spirituality is very important in their lives. 

As to spiritual beliefs, the survey’s findings indicated that half of all Americans believe that spirits can inhabit burial places, such as graveyards, cemeteries or other memorial sites.  Forty-eight percent believe that parts of mountains, rivers or trees can have spirits or spiritual energy.

And respondents believed in an afterlife.  Fifty-seven percent believe that people definitely or probably can reunite with loved ones who also have  died.  About four-in-ten also accept that dead people definitely, or probably, assist, protect and guide the living (46%), be aware of what’s going on among the living (44%) or even communicate with them (42%).

As to spiritual practices, 77% of U.S. adults say they spend time in nature, usually a few times a month, and 26% note they do so to feel connected with something bigger than themselves or with their “true self.” 

When asked to describe what ‘spiritual’ means to them in their own words, one respondent said, “To me, spiritual means to be in touch with nature, see the beauty in everything, feel the love of Mother Nature, to know that there is something out there that is greater than me, that loves me, that looks out for me. I find that mostly in nature – the sun, the moon, trees, flowers, wild bunnies running through my yard, the deer standing stoically as if posing for me to enjoy their beauty. In addition, I try to follow the teaching of Jesus, because he had some pretty good advice.”

Another said, “Spiritual means to discover your own self by deep meditation and contemplation. Love everyone, hate no one.”

Thirty-eight percent of U.S. adults reported meditating at least a few times a month, including 22% who meditate mainly to connect with their “true self” or with something bigger than themselves.

Finally,  the survey’s findings reveal that for spiritual purposes more than one-third of U.S. adults say they wear a cross, and 15% say they maintain a meditation shrine, altar or icon in their home.  Twelve percent have crystals for spiritual purposes and 9% have a tattoo or piercing for spiritual purposes.

Are Spiritual beliefs superseding traditional Religious Beliefs?

The researchers say that previous research has shown a decline in traditional religious beliefs and practices, including those who say they believe in God with absolute certainty, regularly attend religious services, and pray daily.

Like Whitman, articles appear in newspapers noting that Americans are turning away from organized religion and replacing it with their “own mix of spiritual elements” drawn from Hindu, Buddhism, Native American shamanism, and New Age beliefs.

While the Pew Research Center’s survey attempts to ask questions about spiritual beliefs and practices, researchers say it’s difficult to determine if considering oneself spiritual is more or less common today.

Previous Pew Research Center surveys say it’s difficult to determine if religion is being replaced by one being spiritual because it’s difficult to define and separate those concepts.

Researchers say that this survey is intended to “fill the gap.”  These results will be used as a baseline and the re-asking of questions about spiritual and religious practices can indicate whether there is an increase or decease in one’s turning away from organized religion and just considering oneself spiritual.

Stay tuned…

To read Pew Research Center’s Spirituality report, go to:

https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/religion/

Seniors say they hesitate to mix healthcare and matters of faith

Published in RINewsToday on December 26, 2022

When it comes to matters of one’s personal beliefs, most seniors choose to keep their health care and their spiritual or religious lives separate, a new University of Michigan poll finds. But they do see a role for their health care providers in assisting them to cope with illness by looking for meaning or hope.

The National Poll on Healthy Aging (NPHA) is based at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI) and supported by AARP and Michigan Medicine, U-M’s academic medical center.

For this new NPHA report, the poll team worked with Adam Marks, M.D., M.P.H., a hospice and palliative care physician at Michigan Medicine, and L.J. Brazier, M.Div., a chaplain at Michigan Medicine’s Department of Spiritual Care.

The poll report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for IHPI and administered online and via phone in July 2022 among 2,163 adults, aged 50 to 80. The sample was subsequently weighted to reflect the U.S. population. 

Religious and Spiritual Beliefs and Health Care Decisions

According to new data from the National Poll on Healthy Aging (NPHA), released on Dec. 12, 84% of people between the ages of 50 and 80 say that they have religious and/or spiritual beliefs that are somewhat, or very important to them, including 71% who cited religious beliefs and 80% who cited spiritual beliefs.  About 40% of these older adults say those beliefs have gotten more important to them as they grow older. 

NPHA’s poll findings indicate that women were more likely than men (63% vs. 46%) to report that religious or spiritual believes were important, as those living in the South and Midwest (61% and 59%) compared to those in the West and Northeast (51% and 43%).

In addition, the researchers found that older adults with lower levels of education were also more likely to report religious and spiritual believes as being very important (61% high school or less, 56% some college, 47% bachelor’s degree or higher), as were those with annual household incomes less than $100,000 compared to those with $100,000 or more (59% vs. 43%).

Among older adults with religious or spiritual beliefs that are important to them, 19% say their beliefs have influenced their health care decisions, and 28% say they want health care providers to ask them about their beliefs, note the researchers.

Meanwhile, 77% of all older adults, regardless of beliefs, say health care providers should keep their own personal beliefs separate from how they deliver care.

“While 45% of older adults say their religious beliefs are very important to them, and 50% say that about their spiritual beliefs, even this group largely wants to keep this aspect of their lives separate from their health care,” says Marks, an associate professor of geriatric and palliative medicine, in a Dec. 12 statement announcing the poll’s findings.

“But a sizable majority of all older adults – whether or not they say belief is important to them – reported that they’d turn to health care workers to help them find deeper meaning in their illness, and 78% believe health care workers will help them find hope when they’re having a health-related challenge,” he adds.

According to Brazier, many health care systems have a way to record the religious affiliation of patients in their electronic medical records, and that medical students and others training for health professions are told to ask their patients about any beliefs that might affect their future care.  Having this information available can help providers ensure that patients with strongly held beliefs or specific religious affiliations receive everything from appropriate hospital food to visits with chaplains of a specific faith tradition when they’re having a health crisis or nearing the end of life. 

But for those who do not follow a faith tradition or have strongly held beliefs, having that information available to health providers can also be helpful, says Brazier.

“Being a religious or spiritual person, or not following a faith tradition or spiritual practices, is a highly personal matter,” notes poll director Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., an associate professor of internal medicine at Michigan Medicine and physician and researcher at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. “So perhaps it’s not surprising that only about a quarter of all people in this age range say they’ve talked about their beliefs with a health care provider, though this rose to about one-third of those who say their religious or spiritual beliefs are very important to them.”  In all, 70% of those who say their beliefs are somewhat or very important to them reported feeling comfortable discussing their beliefs with their health care providers, he says.

Researchers say that even if patients don’t want to discuss their beliefs with their health providers at a typical appointment, it’s important for providers to know if patients with significant health needs, or those experiencing a health crisis, are connected to a faith community that can help provide support. 

In all, 65% of the older adults whose religious or spiritual beliefs are important to them said they belong to a community of people who share their beliefs. 

My Say…

Kathryne Fassbender, Founder and Executive Director of the Hem of Christ: A Dementia Care Ministry, notes that she has never met anyone in her 15 years of work in the field of aging who has wanted to keep their health care and spiritual/religious life separate as the NPHA study states. “What I have found is hesitancy to bring up faith with health care professionals both in physical and mental health care,” she says.

“As Catholics, our health care is woven into how we live our faith, and we wish to have the care we receive be in line with the teachings of the Church. In all honesty, it is increasingly difficult to find doctors who will respect that wish, which opens up a much broader topic of discussion,” she notes. “This hesitancy is across generations, so even care partners for older adults are not always as forthcoming with information regarding faith and health for fear of losing a current healthcare team,” Fassbender observes.

“While the number of doctors who would dismiss someone as a patient because of one’s wishes to keep with the teachings of the Catholic faith in the care they receive is small, the fear is there and it does happen,” says Fassbender, noting that the current medical and social landscape magnifies this fear. “The hostility toward religion and in particular the Catholic Church has a greater impact than I think we understand sometimes,” she warns.

Fassbender says that while it can be helpful to know the personal beliefs of our care providers, it is more important that the doctor, nurse, and therapist, respect our faith. “I know some great care providers who are deeply atheist, yet when they work with their clients of deep faith, they don’t allow their personal beliefs to influence care in any way. They instead assist their client in living out their faith traditions,” she says, stressing that this is what we all seek.

“While I may question some of the findings of this research, I see the findings as a call for care providers to increase seeking to help people of all ages, and all beliefs to live their purpose until their final breath,” says Fassbender.

Fassbender adds: “We must never dismiss one’s faith, regardless of their physical or neuro-cognitive abilities, and most certainly one’s age. I see this study as an invitation to crack open this conversation and allow the hostility, misunderstandings, and fears regarding faith and health to be overcome by the pursuit of care for the human person, fully who they are, what they seek, and how they wish to live life until the final breath.”  

The Hem of Christ started when the time was taken to pause and hear that still, small voice. After years of witnessing how a person’s faith can be diminished simply because of a dementia diagnosis or because someone put their life on hold to care for a loved one, Kate decided that it was time to formalize the small ministry work she had been doing for almost a decade.  Kate answered the call to formalize and set a path for others to walk down, reaching for the hem of Christ. 

NPHA Poll Puts Spotlight on Health Care and Aging Issues

The National Poll on Healthy Aging (NPHA) is a recurring, nationally representative household survey. By understanding the perspectives of older adults, the NPHA provides information to the public, health care providers, policymakers, and aging advocates on issues related to health, health care and health policy affecting U.S. adults ages 50 to 80 and their families.

Launched in spring 2017, the NPHA grew out of a strong interest in aging-related issues among members of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI) bringing together more than 600 faculty members  who study health, health care and the impacts of health policy. In addition to IHPI, the poll receives support from AARP and Michigan Medicine, AARP and U-M’s academic medical center.

The NPHA results can put a spotlight on future research needs and to create an informed national dialogue on poll issues examined. 

Butterflies Bring Comfort in Time of Grieving

Published in the Pawtucket Times on February 18, 2019

Susan feels “joy in her heart and complete happiness” whenever she sees a butterfly. A butterfly came into her life as she mourned her brother’s death in 1990. Before he died, she remembers her brother saying that he would come back as a butterfly. The 62-year-old Pawtucket resident says “he meant it” and she believes he has sent messages to her through butterflies each year for over 30 years.

She believes that butterflies that play in the garden during the late spring and summer every year could possibly be other family members (deceased husband and father) and friends that have since departed. “Most of them knew the story of the butterfly and perhaps they too wished to come back as a beautiful butterfly. I know I would love to come back as a beautiful butterfly if I had the chance,” she says.

Significance of Butterflies Brings Sign from Beyond

Looking back, Susan remembers meeting her future husband, Stephen, after the death of her first husband. She was introduced to him by her close friend, Jackie. As the three dined at an outdoor restaurant in Tiverton, Jackie quickly pointed at a beautiful monarch butterfly sitting on a purple butterfly bush not far from their table. As they gazed at the lovely sight, a text message came into Susan’s cell phone from her next-door neighbor who had sent a photo of a monarch butterfly sitting on a purple butterfly bush in Susan’s backyard in Pawtucket. Both sightings of the monarch butterfly were at the same time of day, both directed to Susan- one in Pawtucket and one in Tiverton.

“I knew what was happening here. My brother, maybe my husband and my Dad (both deceased) were telling me that Stephen is the man for me. That’s why I married him! Well, besides he’s a good man too,” said Susan.

Like Susan, Phyllis Calvey,68, a writer, speaker, educator, and storyteller, sees the significance of the butterfly and how it can bring comfort in one’s darkest hours after the death of a loved one. “It’s a book that people can pass onto someone they know who has lost a loved one,” she says.

In “The Butterfly Club: “Is That You?”’ the Bellingham, Massachusetts writer shares her inspirational true-life stories of how God can, and does, use signs to communicate His presence to “those in need.”

“My book has brought comfort to many who had not yet found the closure they were hoping for. And still, for some, the age-old question persists, “Was it a sign or just a coincidence?” Their underlying need bleeds through – I need more proof! I believe I have found “more proof” in the Butterfly Phenomenon,” she says.

When Calvey began hearing from others who crossed her path about how God used the sign of a butterfly to comfort those grieving the loss of a loved one, she began to explore these occurrences, becoming more aware of their frequency of happening. Calvey began to hear about other “sign stories”– red cardinals, dragon flies, feathers, music, flowers, and even a “divine fortune cookie,” to name a few.

The 136-page nonfiction book of inspirational stories detailing the butterfly phenomenon, brings the age-old debate up for discussion, ‘Are these signs or merely coincidences or an incidental occurrence?’ For Calvey they are not coincidental.

As a caregiver for four parents who were allowed to die in their own homes, there is always “great matters of life and death,” to deal with, says Calvey in writing her book. “Two people in the equation – one wondering if their loved one will be okay, along with the finality of facing if they truly believe there is an afterlife. And one soon to be on the other side wondering the same. Both hoping to somehow be able to communicate that answer. The Butterfly Club is the communication of their answer,” she says.

Calvey recounts a story told her by Jackie, her cousin, who attended the wake of her brother. She had met a man wearing a butterfly pin on his lapel. In conversation, he mentioned that his daughter, AnneMarie, had died of leukemia in 1997. It seems that the 17-year-old had clearly found a way to send a signal to her father that she was okay, through a butterfly. When asked about the lapel pin, he smiled and said, “Welcome to the Butterfly Club,” and then walked away.

“There wasn’t a name for this experience, but in talking to people, you learn just how many people share it,” Calvey said, thus- naming her tome “Welcome to the Butterfly Club.”

Calvey herself had shared in a butterfly encounter many years before she wrote The Butterfly Club when Danny, an 18 year-old outgoing, charismatic, loved by everyone, boy from her church community was killed by a hit-and-run driver after leaving for college only three weeks earlier. “His mother was at a point where she felt she couldn’t bear to go on,” Calvey explained. “She took a walk in the woods and sat on a fallen log wanting to bury herself in her grief, when a monarch butterfly alighted on a small stick near her feet. Danny’s mother bent down to pick it up and sensed that the butterfly would not fly away. She looked at it in her hands and described this feeling to me, that it was as if her son were speaking the words to her himself, “Mom, it’s okay. I’m alright.” “The transformation I saw in her and the healing that followed was no less than miraculous,” Calvey said. “Now, when people ask her if they could have real proof that a butterfly can be a sign from God or a loved one, she tells them people like Nancy are all the real proof I need!”

Fortune Cookies Bring Messages, Too

At a Cranston book signing event, Calvey told this writer a story from her book, describing a divine sign that came through a message from a fortune cookie, delivered in perfect timing, one that brought comfort to her and was an “undeniable message” from her deceased father that he “was okay, and with God.”

As her father was dying Calvey sensed his fear of dying and the unknown and sought to comfort him by saying “you do know that you are going to heaven.” She stressed that he had lived his whole life as an example of the Good Samaritan in the parable that Jesus told. Calling him a “Good Samaritan” she recounted all the people throughout his life that he had helped. The day after he died, Chinese food was brought in and Calvey’s mother opened a fortune cookie, receiving this message, “The Good Samaritan did not get his name through good intentions.” “The sign of the fortune cookie could not have been a more perfect communication to deliver the message to our family that our father was indeed in heaven,” Calvey explained.

Calvey has heard from readers from all over the world who found comfort in reading her book and closure by knowing a loved one can still communicate through signs across the veil by reading her book. Their shared experience is the key for those who haven’t seen their sign as of yet and, perhaps will help them learn how to recognize their own encounter.

“A sign is undeniable. It’s making the connection of the perfect timing of a loved one delivering a message to you, that constitutes the difference,” adds Calvey. “But through the years, I’ve found it never works to ask God for a sign. Signs come to you only in God’s perfect timing,” she says.

Calvey’s book details stories of people who experience universal signs. “They don’t know they are part of a club,” she says. “But they are.”

Readers can share their views or tell their own “sign story” or purchase, “The Butterfly Club: “Is That You?”’ by going to http://www.butterflyclubbook.com.

To order, go to pcalvey@hotmail.com. Or call (617) 869-2576.