Transpersonal Caring Relationships

Transpersonal caring relationships are the foundation of the work; transpersonal conveys a concern for the inner life world and subjective meaning of another who is fully embodied, but transpersonal also goes beyond the ego self and beyond the given moment, reaching to the deeper connections to spirit and with the broader universe. Thus transpersonal caring relationship moves beyond ego-self and radiates to spiritual, even cosmic concerns and connections that tap into healing possibilities and potentials. Transpersonal caring seeks to connect with and embrace the spirit or soul of the other through the processes of caring and healing and being in authentic relation, in the moment.

Such a transpersonal relation is influenced by the caring consciousness and intentionality of the nurse as she or he enters into the life space or phenomenal field of another person, and is able to detect the other person’s condition of being (at the soul, spirit level). It implies a focus on the uniqueness of self and other and the uniqueness of the moment, wherein the coming together is mutual and reciprocal, each fully embodied in the moment, while paradoxically capable of transcending the moment, open to new possibilities.

Transpersonal caring calls for an authenticity of being and becoming, an ability to be present to self and other in a reflective frame; the transpersonal nurse has the ability to center consciousness and intentionality on caring, healing, and wholeness, rather than on disease, illness and pathology.

Transpersonal caring competencies are related to ontological development of the nurse’s human competencies and ways of being and becoming; thus "ontological caring competencies" become as critical in this model as "technological curing competencies" were in the conventional modern, Western nursing-medicine model, now coming to an end.

Within the model of transpersonal caring, clinical caritas consciousness is engaged at a foundational ethical level for entry into this framework. The nurse attempts to enter into and stay within the other’s frame of reference for connecting with the inner life world of meaning and spirit of the other; together they join in a mutual search for meaning and wholeness of being and becoming to potentiate comfort measures, pain control, a sense of well-being, wholeness, or even spiritual transcendence of suffering. The person is viewed as whole and complete, regardless of illness or disease. (Watson, 1996, Blueprint: p. 153).  For a visual representation, click here.

Assumptions of Transpersonal Caring Relationships

Moral commitment, intentionality and caritas consciousness by the nurse protects, enhances and potentiates human dignity, wholeness and healing whereby allowing a person to create or co-create his/her own meaning for existence. The conscious will of the nurse affirms the subjective and spiritual significance of the patient while seeking to sustain caring in the midst of threat and despair, biological, institutional or otherwise. The result is an honoring of an I-Thou Relationship rather than an I-It Relationship.

The nurse seeks to recognize, accurately detect, and connect with the inner condition of spirit of another through genuine presencing and being centered in the caring moment; actions, words, behaviors, cognition, body language, feelings, intuition, thought, senses, the energy field, and so on, all contribute to transpersonal caring connection. The nurse’s ability to connect with another at this transpersonal spirit- to- spirit level is translated via movements, gestures, facial expressions, procedures, information, touch, sound, verbal expressions and other scientific, technical, aesthetic, and human means of communication, into nursing human art/acts or intentional caring-healing modalities.

The caring-healing modalities within the context of transpersonal caring/caritas consciousness potentiate harmony, wholeness, unity of being by releasing some of the disharmony, the blocked energy that interferes with the natural healing processes; thus the nurse helps another through this process to access the healer within, in the fullest sense of Nightingale’s view of nursing.

On-going personal and professional development and spiritual growth, and personal spiritual practice assist the nurse in entering into this deeper level of professional healing practice, allowing for awakening to a transpersonal condition of world and  more fully actualizing the "ontological competencies" necessary for this level of advanced practice of nursing. The nurse’s own life history, previous experiences, opportunities for focused studies, having lived through or experienced various human conditions, or of having imagined others’ feelings in various circumstances, are valuable teachers for this work; to some degree the necessary knowledge and consciousness can be gained through work with other cultures, study of the humanities (art, drama, literature, personal story, narratives of illness journeys, etc.) along with an exploration of one’s own values, deep beliefs, and relationship with self, others, and one’s world.

Other facilitators are personal growth experiences such as psychotherapy, transpersonal psychology, meditation, bio-energetics work, and other models for spiritual awakening. Continuous growth is on-going for developing and maturing within a transpersonal caring model. The notion of health professionals as wounded healers is acknowledged as part of the necessary growth and compassion called forth within this theory/philosophy.

Caring Moments, Caring Occasions

A caring occasion occurs whenever the nurse and another come together with their unique life histories and phenomenal fields in a human-to-human transaction. The coming together in a given moment becomes a focal point in space and time. It becomes transcendent whereby experience and perception take place, but the actual caring occasion has a greater field of its own in a given moment. The process goes beyond itself, yet arises from aspects of itself that become part of the life history of each person, as well as part of some larger, more complex pattern of life. (Watson, 1985/1988, p. 59; 1996 p.157 reprinted).

A caring moment involves an action and choice by both the nurse and the other. The moment of coming together presents them with the opportunity to decide how to be in the moment and in the relationship as where as what to do with and during the moment. If the caring moment is transpersonal, each feels a connection with the other at the spirit level, thus it transcends time and space, opening up new possibilities for healing and human connection at a deeper level than physical interaction. I quote:

….we learn from one another how to be human by identifying ourselves with others, finding their dilemmas in ourselves. What we all learn from it is self-knowledge. The self we learn about …is every self. IT is universal - the human self. We learn to recognize ourselves in others…(it) keeps alive our common humanity and avoids reducing self or other to the moral status of object.

(Watson, 1985/1988, pp. 59-60).

Caring (Healing) Consciousness

The dynamic of transpersonal caring (healing) within a caring moment is manifest in a field of consciousness. The transpersonal dimensions of a caring moment are affected by the nurse’s consciousness in the caring moment, which in turn affects the field of the whole. The role of consciousness with respect to a holographic view of science have been discussed in earlier writings (Watson, 1992, p. 148) and include the following points: