ABSTRACT
One of the ironies of writing about spirituality is that it means putting into words something that by its nature defies definition. Sometimes too, it feels as if there is a danger of trying too hard to capture what spirituality is: will it then lose the quality that makes it meaningful? This book will work from the basis that spirituality is that which gives life meaning; including a sense of something beyond or greater than the self. Clearly this suggests that spirituality may be experienced and expressed in a multitude of ways, including religious experience. A key question for practitioners working with clients needs to be: what really matters for this person? This question is often lost in the maze of organisational demands and expectations. A hospital may assume, for example, that what someone wants is treatment and cure when the person may simply want to be allowed to die at home peacefully.
