What enlivens you? What connects you to a sense of awe or gratitude? What pursuits give you a sense of greater energy than you thought you had, or – alternately – a feeling of deep peace and connective warmth? These are spiritual questions – and they are questions that may arise as part of your journey with cancer. Religion and spirituality, while often considered to be interconnected, are not necessarily the same. Religion, derived from its Latin origin religare, meaning “to reconnect,” has been defined by Mary Vachon in Seminars in Oncology Nursing as “an organized system of beliefs, practices, rituals, and symbols designed to facilitate closeness to the sacred or transcendent God, higher power, or ultimate truth or reality.” Much like a ligament that connects bone to joint in the body, religion can bind individuals through various rituals, sacraments, rites of passage, and communities of worship.
Spirituality, alternatively, derived from its Latin origin spiritus, meaning “breath,” has been defined by Vachon as “that which allows a person to experience transcendent meaning in life. This is often expressed as relationship with God, but it can be about nature, art, music, family, or community – whatever beliefs and values give a person a sense of meaning and purpose in life.” She also states that “It may emerge from religious belief or it may have no relationship at all to organized religion.”
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