ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author aims to provide an example of practitioner based research that is a critique, a challenge, and a feasible alternative to the dominant contemporary discourse on the spiritual dimension of nursing care. The spiritual dimension of nursing care and the surrounding discourse is no stranger to all of the dynamics already discussed in respect of traditional intellectuals—text-based imperatives, the politics of evidence, and the theory and research gaps. In contrast to the traditional intellectual the organic intellectual is one who is engaged in the messy complexity of social life, one who actively participates in that social life. From the perspective of the organic intellectual, legitimacy originates from involvement—participation must be open first of all and in principle to those who are directly affected by a problem. To illustrate the disparity and tension between the dominant discourse and the reality of practice, the author offers some significant paradoxes.
