Letter from Acting President August 2023

I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.

— CS Lewis

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Dear Reader,

When describing the work of the Institute, I sometimes note that the two central words in our name, “spirituality” and “health,” mean something different to everyone. The flexibility of these words can be helpful because it means they are adaptable and widely embraced, with people across different belief systems, times, geographies, and cultures harnessing their power to describe central aspects of the human experience. These words and others like them are an essential ingredient in meaning-making because they are broad enough to get at things that are difficult to describe or even beyond words, but they are specific enough to weave a common thread through some of the most profound parts of life. This is the magic of terms such as “spirituality” and “health,” as well as those like “love,” “hope,” and “joy,” just to name a few.

Of course, flexibility can also mean ambiguity, and ambiguity can lead to misunderstanding. Sometimes I wonder if when someone is speaking about health, for example, they are talking about the same kind of health as their audience. Or, when I hear people say things like “I am not a person of faith,” whether they are referring to the same type of faith that I have in mind when I use the term. In this way, these big, powerful words often require us to dig a little deeper than normal, getting curious about how they are being used.

Despite the risks of ambiguity, I am proud that the name of this institute features not one but two of these powerful words. Their presence fosters an incredible amount of connectivity to our mission, acting as a wide doorway to learn more about what we do. Usually, when people hear our name, they say something like, “Wow, it makes sense to put those things together.” At the Institute, we welcome a wide variety of perspectives and find that the more people we welcome through out doors the deeper our understanding becomes. And, once inside, people find a whole array of impactful programs to participate in. Whether “spirituality” and “health” mean something more clinical, as it may in our work with medical and nursing students, something more personal, as it does in our work with self-care and mind-body skills, or even something more community based, as it does in our work with faith communities, they are potent when we put them in conversation.

So, what do “spirituality” and “health” mean to you? Feel free to send us your answers HERE, and we may feature them in an upcoming newsletter.

With Peace,

Stuart

Stuart C. Nelson

Acting President