Though the schism of valuing spirituality with respect to social
work practice has lessened over the years, there continues to be a
gap in our understanding as to exactly what spirituality is and how
one might incorporate it within social work practice? It is my
contention that social workers should not only be incorporating
spirituality within their practice, but also, they should become
spiritual exemplars themselves.
"Fruit of the Spirit: A Primer for Spiritually-minded Social
Workers" provides some provocative notions that will spur the
reader forward on his/her spiritual development. It introduces to
the reader the notion of spiritual differentiation from the
animalistic notion of self (which I describe as the
"indifferent-heart realm"), to the development of humanistic
principles ("craving-heart realm") to the ultimate experience of
our purposeful journey of being fully cognizant of our spiritual
selves ("pure-heart realm"). This process is exemplified with a
gardening metaphor, which the reader can progress from "seeding"
(awareness of one's spiritual self and the sowing of spiritual
seeds), "weeding" (the structure and care of developing our
spiritual selves) and the "harvesting" (the ingesting and granting
of spiritual "fruits" that has been produced).
Traditional knowledge of social work practice helps to
elucidate the student; whereas, embracing spiritual principles is
about transforming and transcending the student to higher levels.
The "fruits" that are gathered are the attributes of God (e.g.,
love, peace, goodness, etc.). There are exercises at the end of
each chapter that will assist the reader in developing his/her
spirituality.
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