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A Response to Grypma & Commentary on BY BARBARA MONTGOMERY DOSSEY

“MYSTICISM ...IS NOT AN OPINION: IT IS NOT A PHILOSOPHY. It has nothing in common with the pursuit of knowledge.On the one hand,it is not merely the power of contemplating Eter- nity: on the other, it is not to be identified with any kind of religious queerness. It is the name of that organic process which involves the perfect consummation of the Love of God: the achieve- ment here and now of the immortal heritage of man.Or,if you like it better—for this means exactly the same thing—it is the art of establishing his conscious relation with the .”1 E VELYN U NDERHILL,MYSTICISM, 1911

extend my thanks to Dr. founder3 of modern secular nursing. nitions and criteria according to which Grypma2 and the Journal of However, there are many issues on Nightingale qualifies as a full-fledged, Christian Nursing for atten- which Dr. Grypma and I disagree in nineteenth-century “practical mystic.” tion to Florence Nightin- our analysis of Nightingale.We seem to What does Dr. Grypma consider a gale (1820-1910), the be far apart on the essential meanings mystic to be? I am left wondering.This philosophical and practical of terms such as “mystic,”“mysticism” does not prevent her, however, from and “”—yet it is difficult to suggesting that the classification of

■ Barbara Montgomery know for certain because Dr. Grypma Nightingale as a mystic is a “New Age” Dossey, PhD, FAAN, RN, is nowhere defines explicitly what she and “postmodern” move. [See note 1] I director of Holistic Nursing Consultants in Santa Fe, means by these terms. The view that Nightingale is a mys- New Mexico, and is a widely-published author. In my book Florence Nightingale: tic is hardly postmodern. In fact,“post- She is International Co- Mystic,Visionary,Healer4 and in my modern mystic” is an oxymoron, in Director of the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health recent co-authored Florence Nightingale view of the timeless, perennial mystical (NIGH).A major focus of 5 her work currently is holis- Today: Healing, Leadership,Global Action, tradition that I discussed in my books, a tic and integral nursing, reviewed by Kathy Schoonover- view that is drawn from much of the compassionate care of the 6

dying, and virtual education. Shoffner in JCN, I provided the defi- scholarly writing in this area. [See note Photographer unknown

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2.] I was not the first to describe of mysticism,“All mystics speak the York,as a result of the activities of the Nightingale as a mystic. Others, such as same language, for they come from the celebrated Fox sisters, who claimed the (1875-1941), the same country.”9 He might have added ability to contact and communicate British authority on the Christian mys- that all mystics live at the same time, so messages from the spirits of the dead.12 tical tradition, did so nearly a century to speak, because the mystical vision David J. Hufford, professor of ago.7 To establish Nightingale as a nine- transcends not only space but also time. humanities at Penn State College of teenth-century mystic, I used Under- Therefore, it is inconceivable to me Medicine, has described the confusion hill’s criteria and five phases of mystical that the consideration of Nightingale as that exists between “spirituality and spiritual development.Thus, my pri- a mystic could be regarded as New Age “spiritualism,”and the widespread, mary historical research required read- or postmodern when the spiritual tra- reckless ways in which these terms are ing Nightingale’s letters and correspon- ditions in which she was rooted are interchanged.13 Spirituality has as much dence of her sustained spiritual devel- utterly ancient, spanning millennia. relationship with spiritualism as Jesus opment and action over her lifetime. Dr. Grypma conflates “spirituality” Christ has with Harry Houdini. Con- fusing spirituality with spiritualism stigmatizes the former, and influences people unwittingly to reject the term spirituality for bogus reasons. Having mingled these terms, no wonder Dr. Grypma is dubious of Nightingale’s stature as a role model for nurses. Through over a decade of both pri- mary and secondary historical research of Nightingale’s life and work, I have encountered widespread resistance within organized religions and profes- My conclusions were not based mainly with what she calls “mystical spiritual- sional nursing toward her. Nearly on Nightingale’s Suggestions for Thought ism.”This is a disastrous confusion. always the objections are vaguely artic- (1860, three volumes, 829 pages), as Dr. Spirituality has nothing to do with ulated and often based on hearsay and Grypma stated.8 They are congruent spiritualism. In Definitions and Standards innuendo, such as the oft-heard blatant with the assertions of Underhill and in Healing Research, spirituality is falsehoods that she was an atheist and other authorities—that a mystic is one defined as “the feelings,thoughts, expe- died of venereal disease. [See note 3 who has attained the status of union riences, and behaviors that arise from a and note 4.] I have tried to understand with the Absolute, however named, or search for that which is generally con- why Nightingale rankles many Chris- who fervently believes that such a sidered sacred or holy.Spirituality is tians. Here are four of the most com- union is possible.As a result of my own usually,though not universally,consid- mon reasons I have discovered: research of Nightingale’s richly docu- ered to involve a sense of connection (1) Oneness with God. The central mented life, I am confident that she with an absolute, imminent, or tran- premise of mysticism—that it is possi- easily qualifies as a mystic on these scendental spiritual force, however ble to achieve unity with the terms. named, as well as the conviction that Absolute—has always made many The fact that scholars have viewed meaning, value, direction, and purpose Christians nervous because they con- Nightingale as a mystic for nearly a are valid aspects of the universe.”10 sider it blasphemy: man becoming century defies Grypma’s contention Spiritualism, in contrast,“is the practice God. It has long been so. Consider the that this characterization is a recent of systematically communicating with ’s trial of Meister Eck- tactic. Nightingale was being consid- the spirits of deceased persons, often hart during fourteenth-century Ger- ered a mystic long before the terms through mediums, [and] is found and many.Today,Eckhart is widely recog- “New Age” and “postmodern” were highly valued in many cultures nized, along with Hildegard of Bingen, invented.The Christian mystic Louis throughout the world.”11 It is also the as perhaps the greatest Christian mystic Claude de Saint-Martin two centuries name given to a social movement that Germany ever produced, yet in his life- ago said, emphasizing the universality sprang up in 1848 in upstate New time he evoked the Church’s wrath for

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preaching essentially what Nightingale would say five centuries later: that God dwells within, and that one can achieve We seem to be far apartt on the esential union and oneness with the Almighty. The Church almost certainly would meanings of terms. have burned Eckhart at the stake had he not died before his trial was com- pleted.14 Crucifixion and burning are out of style today,but they still come in different flavors, such as indicting Nightingale as “increasingly unbal- mauled by bears because they made “spirituality.”Many contemporary anced,”a “fiend” or “vindictive” (terms fun of his baldness (2 Kings 2:23-24). Christians embrace these terms and repeated from others in Dr. Grypma’s The apostle Paul struck a sorcerer tem- find strength and fulfillment in actual- articles), or as an “avenging angel,”a porarily blind (Acts 13:11).And even izing them in their lives, while others term in the title of a recent book on Jesus blasted an apparently innocent fig find them objectionable, repellent, Nightingale.15 tree for not bearing fruit (Mt 21:19; “New Age,”“postmodern,”blasphe- Nightingale asked,“Where shall I Mk 11:13-14, 20-22). Nice behaviors? mous or satanic. It does Christian nurs- find God? In myself.That is the true You decide. But as ing no service to shoehorn it into a Mystical Doctrine. But then I myself proclaimed,“God never tied man’s sal- single belief structure. I know many must be in a state for Him to come and vation to any pattern of life . . . . So one devout Christian nurses who are dwell in me.This is the whole aim of must be permeated with the divine attracted to the relationship of oneness the Mystical Life; and all Mystical Presence.”19 To require mystics always with God espoused by Eckhart, Hilde- Rules in all times and countries have to demonstrate the meeker virtues is to gard,Teresa, Nightingale and other been laid down for putting the strip them of their humanness and sur- Christian mystics; I know others who into such a state.”16 Again, this view is round them with a celestial halo, which run in the other direction. anchored squarely in the Christian they consistently reject. Perhaps the (4) Religious tolerance. Two of mystical tradition. For instance, Eckhart mystics see a kind of complexity in the Nightingale’s favorite books were the said,“The eye with which I see God is Divine, having merged with it, that is Holy Bible and the Bhagavad Gita, the the same as that with which he sees not obvious to the rest of us.They real- sacred Hindu text, which many Chris- me. My eye and the eye of God are one ize there is room in the Absolute for all tians consider to be “pagan.”Nightin- eye, one knowledge, and one love.”17 qualities (otherwise the Absolute gale, like mystics in general, valued And as St. Catherine of Genoa exulted, would not be absolute).They see the many spiritual paths, saying,“To know “My me is God, nor do I know my literal truth in Isaiah 45:5-7 (KJV):“I God we must study him in the Pagan selfhood save in Him.”18 am the LORD, and there is none else. . . and Jewish dispensations as in the (2) Nightingale’s behavior. Dr. I form the light, and create darkness: I Christian . . . this gives unity to the Grypma implies that Nightingale’s pat- make peace, and create evil: I the LORD whole—one continuous thread of terns of behavior may render her unfit do all these things.” interest to all these pearls.”20 Some as a role model for nurses. Nowhere in (3) Christian diversity. What does it Christians believe this gives not unity the abundant literature on mysticism is mean when Dr. Grypma questions but heresy to the whole, and they con- there any claim that genuine mystics whether or not Nightingale can be sider this sufficient reason to banish are always “nice.”Many have indeed considered “a model for Christian Nightingale from the playing field of been considered petulant, deranged, thinking in nursing”? Whose Christian Christianity.Yet this unambiguous call heretical or even cruel. In the lives of thinking? Who speaks for Christian to tolerance is not unique to Nightin- many genuine mystics, compassion nurses? Christians cannot be put in a gale, but can be found in many Christ- seems to alternate with less noble qual- box; there have always been uncount- ian saints and mystics who preceded ities.All this is largely beside the point, able veins and strata of thought within her, such as, again, the exemplary Eck- a lesson woven into the fabric of the Christianity.This is especially obvious hart, who said “All paths lead to God Judeo-Christian tradition.The prophet when one surveys how Christians and he is on them all evenly,to him Elisha caused forty-two children to be interpret “mystic,”“mysticism” and who knows. . . . God responds to all

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techniques evenly to a knowing man. gale’s life;and, not least, a recognition of the mystic's activity in the Western tra- Such and such may be the way,but it is the similarities between Nightingale’s dition may be gained by considering not God.”21 Raymond B. Blakney,the spiritual views and those of many of more in detail the biblical passage, scholarly authority on Meister Eckhart, the greatest Christian saints and mystics Matthew 7:20 (KJV), which has might have been speaking about who have ever lived. become a verity in our language:“By Nightingale when he said,“To go In 2000, the Episcopal Church of their fruits ye shall know them.”For the where Eckhart went is to come close the United States of America officially life of a practical mystic is not the to Lao Tzu and Buddha,and certainly recognized the exemplary Christian medieval notion that some may have of to Jesus Christ.”22 So, the mystics in life, the extraordinary achievements, an individual's withdrawal from the general remind us that to be open to and the spiritual worthiness of Florence world for contemplation alone—the the mystical view is to honor Jesus Nightingale, thereby affirming the bib- in his cell, the nun in her cloister. Christ, not dishonor him, and to be tol- lical assertion that “by their fruits ye Mystics in the Western tradition are erant of other paths, other faiths. shall know them.”[See note 5.] men and women of action, some of I am perplexed how Dr. Grypma whose names are well known to us, but can state that Nightingale “never . . . NOTES whose divine motivation and real made declarative statements about her Note 1: Premodern era is the period to accomplishments may be obscured by views of religion or spirituality.”In the 17th century that fused arts, values the psychological and perceptual biases fact, her relationship with God was and science with the Church; modern of our secular culture. extraordinarily intimate, and she recorded that God spoke to her three Spirituality has nothing to do with times in her life. Her writing is pep- pered with her views on the nature of spiritualism. God and her relationship to him, as we have seen. Her religious and spiritual views recur through some 10,000 let- era is associated with the 17th to 20th Perhaps lesser known is the fact that ters, the largest collection of private century empirical knowledge and a singular religious institution born of correspondence in the ; mindset characterized by science, tech- the mystical tradition endures today.The 4,000 letters to family and friends at nology,rationality,objectivity and a lin- Quaker movement, with its belief in an the Wellcome Library,London; and in ear cause-and-effect, physical-material “Inward Light,”was an outbreak of over a hundred published papers and world and explanations; fixed interpre- genuine mysticism. George Fox (1624- books.The interested reader can now tation of universal principles and stable 1690), founder of the Quakers, was a read most of these letters in The Col- laws; physical reality seen as the ulti- “great active” of the first rank (Under- lected Works of Florence Nightingale that mate explanation and reality of con- hill, 1911; 1961b). In a different vein, makes available for the first time all the sciousness; postmodern refers to late 20th Dante's Divine Comedy is regarded as accessible surviving writing of Florence century and beginning of the 21st cen- one of the two greatest mystical works Nightingale.23 tury that engages art and science as a in the Italian language. Dr. Grypma says that labeling new intellectual, dynamic, artistic and The modern and serious under- Nightingale a modern mystic says intuitive period; boundaries are fluid standing of this activist element of the more about those doing the labeling and ever-changing, as one searches for Western mystic tradition may be said to than it does about the woman herself. I new interdisciplinary explanations and have been initiated by Dean W.R. would express it this way: rejecting experiences of wholeness, meanings Inge's Bampton Lectures on “Christian Nightingale’s connections with the tra- and purposes; honors multiple interpre- Mysticism” (1899), followed by William ditions of says a lot tations about caring, healing and being- James's The Varieties of Religious Experi- about individuals who take this view. ness; engages and accepts non-linear ence (1902). James's inquiry into mysti- This position begs for clarification of thinking and multiple constructed real- cism originated from a psychological terms such as mystic, mysticism and ities, truths and possibilities; postmod- viewpoint, and he investigated its rela- spirituality; attention to the crucial dis- ern era refers to the end of the modern tionship to other forms of conscious- tinctions between spirituality and spiri- period.24 ness. One of the most influential works tualism; historical accuracy of Nightin- Note 2: Perhaps a clearer picture of that followed was Von Hügel's Mystical

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1Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness (New York:E. P. Dutton & Co., 1911/1961): 81. The view that Nightingale is a mystic is 2Sonja Grypma,“Florence Nightingale’s Changing Image? Part 1: Nightingale the Feminist, Statistician & Nurse,” JCN 22, no. 3 (Summer 2005): 22-28 and “Florence Nightin- hardly postmodern. gale’s Changing Image? Part 2: From Saint to Fiend to Modern Mystic,” JCN 22, no. 4 (Fall 2005): 6-13. 3Louise Selanders,“Nightingale’s Foundational Philosophy,” in Barbara Montgomery Dossey,Louise C. Selanders, Deva- Marie Beck, and Alex Attewell, Florence Nightingale Today: Element of Religion and Eternal Life type reveals she was an INTJ (Intro- Healing, Leadership,Global Action (Silver Spring, MD: nurse- books.org, 2005): 65-74. (1908). Shortly thereafter appeared Eve- verted, Intuition,Thinking, Judging). 4Barbara Montgomery Dossey, Florence Nightingale: Mystic, ® Visionary,Healer (Philadelphia: Lippincott,Williams & lyn Underhill's Mysticism:A Study in the The merit of using the MBTI instru- Wilkins, 2000). Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual ment is that it allows us to more clearly 5Barbara Montgomery Dossey,Louise C. Selanders, Deva- Marie Beck and Alex Attewell, Florence Nightingale Today: Consciousness (1911), which has proven understand major areas of Nightingale's Healing, Leadership,Global Action (Silver Spring, MD: nurse- to be the most lasting and accessible life that have been partially unacknowl- books.org, 2005). 6Kathy Schoonover-Shoffner,“Florence Nightingale Today” work on the subject. In America, edged or misunderstood: her spiritual JCN 22, no. 4 (Fall 2005): 45-46. William Ernest Hocking's Meaning of development as a practicing mystic; how 7Evelyn Underhill, Practical Mysticism (New York:E. P.Dut- ton & Co. Inc., 1915/ 1943): 102. God in Human Experience (1922) has she managed her chronic illness in order 8Grypma, Part 2: 10. been one of the most important contri- to maintain her prodigious work out- 9Underhill, 80. 10Larry Dossey,“Samueli Conference on Definitions and butions, along with his other works.25 put; and the strategies she chose to Standards in Healing Research:Working Definitions and Terms,”in Wayne B. Jonas and Ronald A. Chez, eds.,“Defi- Note 3: Florence Nightingale’s transform her visionary ideas into new nitions and Standards in Healing Research,” Alternative Ther- Crimean fever, contracted in May 1855 health care and social realities.27 apies in Health and Medicine 9, no. 3 (Special Supplement 2003):A10-A12. while in the Crimea, is recognized Note 5: The Reverend Ted 11David J. Hufford,“Mapping Spiritual Care,”in Ronald A. today as Malta or Mediterranean fever Karpf, Partnerships Officer, Department Chez and Wayne B. Jonas, eds., Spiritual Transformation Through the Life Cycle (Alexandria,VA: Samueli Institute for and is included under the generic name of HIV/AIDS, HIV/TB/Malaria Clus- Information Biology,2003): 1-21. brucellosis. Following her acute illness, ter,World Health Organization, 12“The Fox Sisters,” Wikipedia.Accessed January 19, 2006, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_sisters. she had to be hospitalized five months Geneva, Switzerland, and former 13Hufford, 1-21. later with sciatica, and had another HIV/AIDS Coordinator of the world- 14Raymond B. Blakney, Meister Eckhart (Translation),(New York,NY: Harper & Row,1941). severe fever episode in 1857, at which wide Anglican Communion and 15Hugh Small, Florence Nightingale:Avenging Angel (New York:St. Martin’s Press, 1999). time she and her family felt she might Provincial Canon for HIV/AIDS in the 16Florence Nightingale, Notes from Devotional Authors of the die. Her debilitating, chronic symptoms Anglican Church of the Diocese of Middle Ages, Collected, Chosen, and Freely Translated by Florence Nightingale (1872) BL Add. MSS 45841: ff11-28. [Note: over a thirty-two year period are com- Washington,provided support to Bar- Only the preface for this book was completed. It was to patible with the specific form of bara M. Dossey and Louise C. Selanders include the following mystics: Blessed Angela of Foligno, Madame Jane de Chantal, St. , St. Francis chronic brucellosis, both epidemiologi- during 1997-2000.This support Xavier, St. , St. Peter of Alcantara, Father cally and clinically.Understanding the resulted in the formal proposal and suc- Rigoleuc, St.Teresa of Avila, and Father Surin.] 17Andrew Harvey and Anne Baring, The Mystic Vision (New symptoms of chronic brucellosis helps cessful reconsideration by the Episcopal York:HarperCollins, 1995): June 14 reading. us to more clearly understand Nightin- Church General Convention of 18Underhill, 127. 19Blakney,17. gale's symptoms and behaviors during Florence Nightingale’s name for inclu- 20Sir Edward Cook, The Life of Florence Nightingale (London: Macmillan and Co., Limited 1913, vol. I): 74. the period 1855-1887; it also sheds new sion in the Episcopal Church's Liturgi- 21Blakney,250. light on how she managed her severe cal Calendar, Lesser Feasts and Fasts 22Ibid., 14. 23To learn more about The Collected Works of Florence symptoms. Her death certificate states (2004) that is now included in the Nightingale, go to http://www.sociology.uoguelph. that she died of old age and heart failure Book of Common Prayer (2004).The ca/fnightingale/. 24Jean Watson, Postmodern Nursing and Beyond (Edinburgh: at the age of ninety years and three Inaugural Florence Nightingale Service Churchill Livingstone, 1999); Ken Wilber, Integral Psychol- months.26 was held at the Washington National ogy: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology,Therapy (Boston: Shamb- hala, 2000): 158-73. Note 4: New and refreshing light Cathedral,Washington,D.C., on August 25Barbara Montgomery Dossey,"Florence Nightingale:A can be cast on Florence Nightingale's 12, 2001, followed by the Florence Nineteenth-Century Mystic," Journal of Holistic Nursing 16, no. 2 (1998): 115-16. life and work by examining her person- Nightingale Service on May 9, 2004. 26Barbara Montgomery Dossey,“Florence Nightingale’s Crimean Fever and Chronic Illness,” Journal of Holistic Nurs- ality type. Using the theory-based The next Nightingale service will be ing 16, no. 2 (1998): 168-96. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI® held at a date to be determined in 2007. 27Barbara Montgomery Dossey,“Florence Nightingale: Her Personality Type,” Journal of Holistic Nursing 16, no. 2 (1998): ■ instrument), Nightingale’s personality JCN 202-22.

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