‘All shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well’.
It was a rare treat. Listening to ‘Woman's Hour’ on the long driving back from Harrogate to Cardiff on 9 May 2023 (LR). The topic was ‘Inspirational words in tough times’, of course focusing on inspirational words from women! Amongst those discussed were ‘wise words’ from: Maya Angelou ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel’ and ‘If you don't like something change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude’; Rupi Kaur ‘since day one she's already had everything she needs within herself it's the world that convinced her she did not’. But the words that struck me most were those of Julian of Norwich (a woman) ‘All shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well’. It was rather timely that I should be listening to this the weekend of King Charles's coronation. The words having meant so much to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II; words inscribed on a stained-glass window in St James Palace London which has witnessed so many royal events over the years.
Julian of Norwich, who lived in the late fourteenth century, was a first on many fronts. She was the first woman anchorite and mystic, she was blocked up in a cell attached to a church in Norwich where she devoted the last decades of her life to contemplating a series of 16 divine revelations, or ‘showings’, she had experienced. She was the first known woman author of a book in English ‘Revelations of Divine Love’Footnote1 (which I have subsequently bought and plan to take to France on holiday) in which she describes these revelations. She was the first woman to present God as a God of love and as a mother as well as a father, challenging the male dominated church's view at that time; this fresh view emerging from her interpretation of the revelations.
But what do these words actually mean? Do they simply mean that ‘everything will work out all right in the end’? For the Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of Norwich in his ‘Festival Address’ in 2012,Footnote2 it's become one of my least favourite sayings connected with Julian. It is the rather airy and superficial dismissal of suffering (that) … … can feel like a betrayal of the intensity and depth of her own showings … … …'.
In going on to explore what ‘all right’ means in our modern world Rt Revd Graham James reflects:
Things that are all right tend to be viewed as those in which there is no suffering or pain, only pleasure and freedom. Being well in our modern world is related to the healthy body, the avoidance of debt, whether financial or indebtedness to other people, being free from dependency. You cannot be well, we imagine, when you are facing imminent death even if your pain is being controlled.
I don't think Julian would have understood very easily our present conception of what ‘all things being well’ means.
My guess is that the Lady Julian might have understood the intensity of these experiences. Her own showings of divine love neither explain suffering nor say it doesn't matter. Somehow, we come to the God in whom all things will be well through suffering, love and death.
It is true, profoundly true. But the intensity of its meaning may only be known when we admit that the way wellness is often understood today does not take us very far.
7th International Conference
Few of us are likely to have experienced revelations like Julian. Most of us, however, will relate to the fundamental human desire to make sense of our experiences (for Julian, her revelations), our personal and professional lives and the world around us. This was a strong theme running through the International Network for the Study of Spirituality's (INSS) 7th International Conference held in Waterford, Ireland, 16–18 May 2023 entitled ‘Spirituality, critical reflection and professional practice in an uncertain world’ and attended by 160 delegates from 25 countries across 5 continents. This theme is reflected in the five keynote papers.Footnote3
In her paper ‘“Doing” reflective practice and understanding spirituality as a way of being: implications for professional and transformative practice' Dr Cheryl Hunt focused on the importance of the ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who is the self that practices?’ questions. Drawing on the works of Parker Palmer's notion of ‘vocation’ and John Heron's different forms of knowledge, she argued that answers to these questions can enable development of an innate sense of ‘beingness’ which can inform our professional roles and potentially transform them.
In his paper ‘Seeking God at the world's edge: the contemporary appeal of “Celtic” spirituality’, Professor Jonathan Wooding spoke of a resurgence in interest in Celtic spirituality and its traditions, particularly in the last four decades, in offering people opportunity for reflection, a sense of community and inspiration from a rich history of art, literature and appreciation of nature.
Professor John Swinton spoke on ‘Thickening spirituality: finding depth within the spirituality and health conversation’ stressing that within the conversations around spirituality and healthcare there are many ways in which spirituality is conceptualised and understood. He contrasted thick and thin conceptualisation of spirituality underlining that ‘Concepts matter!’ because they inform understanding and practice.
Dr Niamh Brennan focused on the cosmos and the universe in her paper ‘Narrative and the task of spirituality. An investigation of “The Universe Story” and its urgent implications for understanding and practising Spirituality’ examining the role that narrative plays in the development of subjectivity, with a specific focus on the critical and challenging implications of the Universe Story for our spirituality, and in particular, its manifestation in our educational, religious, and economic institutions.
Dr Michael O'Sullivan's paper ‘Authentic subjectivity and spirituality in the university’ addressed issues of identity, integrity, objectivity, and inclusivity for spirituality as a university discipline by means of what he called the methodology of authentic subjectivity. He suggested that doing research, teaching, writing, leadership, and administration in the university according to this methodology is a contemplative and rigorous spiritual practice creating a space for the transforming spirit of authenticity.
In addition to the keynotes, there were 80 parallel sessions centred around the themes of spirituality in relation to health/wellbeing/social care, abuse, social justice, pilgrimage, art and literature, education, ecology, law, mysticism, existentialism and contemplation.
This issue
In the last editorial we reported an increase in the number of countries from which papers were derived. We are pleased to report further expansion in this issue to include papers from Australia, Colombia, Indonesia, Iran, and Pakistan.
This issue comprises of six papers, in alphabetical order, and four book reviews. Collectively these papers demonstrate the breadth, depth and universality of the study of spirituality. These papers reveal how ‘spirituality’ in its many expressions transcends disciplines, continents, cultures, conceptual and methodological approaches. These manuscripts reveal how spirituality can impact on all dimensions of everyday life and practices. They also demonstrate how spirituality influences everyday existence in all its richness and diversity.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a significant event in the twenty-first Century having a devastating impact globally. Rubina Barolia et al.'s paper offers insights from an empirical study undertaken in Karachi, Pakistan. Using a qualitative descriptive exploratory approach, they explored the roles that spirituality and faith played in lives of COVID-19 patients and their families during the quarantine period. They found that the quarantine period offered a time for reflection concluding that ‘humanity must come closer, act as one household, and extend help to each other’.
There has always been a tension or opposition in society between the religious and secular, an incompatibility between these two apparently opposing systems of belief. In his manuscript ‘The religiosity of the secular: a case for self-help’ Mehdi Davari-Torshiz highlights how this binary approach may not always be helpful especially within the context of self-help.
Art and creativity have long been associated with expressions of spirituality. In his manuscript ‘Art as a spiritual practice. The interplay between artistic creation and spiritual search in seven Colombian artists’ Carlos Gomez-Rincon explores the ways in which artistic creation and spiritual search interrelate in the life and work of seven Colombian artists who took part at the ‘Laboratory of Art and Spirituality’ project in Bogotá.
Reflection is a central tool or feature in the spirituality literature essential for fostering spiritual growth and self-awareness. We are delighted that this volume includes an article from the founding Editor in Chief of the Journal for the Study of Spirituality, Dr Cheryl Hunt. Her article is based on her keynote lecture given at INSS's 7th International Conference. ‘“Doing” reflective practice and understanding spirituality as a way of being: Implications for professional and transformative practice’ and is summarised above.
Education is considered foundational to the development of individuals and societies. Damian Ruth explores ‘How marketizing and technologizing education undermines Spirituality’ by outlining the tensions and relationships between the ‘marketizing’ and ‘technologizing’ of education stressing how this can have a detrimental impact on spirituality. Ruth concludes ‘that the contemporary pain of educators and students and dysfunctional institutions arises from the loss of spirituality and purpose and that reversing this is essential for humanity's well-being’.
Spirituality has been receiving close attention in the different ecology and the environmental debates that have emerged due to the climate crisis. In their manuscript ‘Exploring Islamic spiritual ecology in Indonesia: Perspectives from Nahdlatul Ulama's progressive intellectual’ Muhammad Yakub et al explore the ideas related to Islamic spiritual ecology in Indonesia as offered by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), with a focus on three progressive intellectual subjects from NU. The study uses Michel Foucault's concept of discourse and power and the genealogy method to examine historical statements by the three subjects to reveal what is both said and unsaid.
We would like to thank all members of the International Editorial Board Members who have kindly undertaken reviews for us, and we extend a warm word of thanks to all our guest reviewers for kindly supporting the development of this issue.
Notes
1 Julian of Norwich (1998) Revelations of Divine Love. Penguin Classics, London.
2 ‘All Shall Be Well’ 2012 Julian Festival Address. Available from https://www.orderofjulian.org/Article---All-Shall-Be-Well [Accessed 29 August 2023].
3 Adapted from the conference brochure ‘7th International Conference of INSS. Spirituality, Critical Reflection and Professional Practice in an Uncertain World’ 16–18 May 2023, Waterford, Ireland.