Second, personal spirituality provides a source of meaning and understanding about the significance of being human. Third, personal spirituality often contains habits, rituals, gestures, and symbols that provide ways in which the person can interpret and manage existence. Some physicians and others become quite nervous during any discussion of spirituality in medicine. They might fear that spirituality means enforcing particular religious beliefs. However, spirituality and religion are not synonymous.
Religious belief is one very important way in which many people express their spirituality.
But a person can be spiritual without explicit religious belief. And it is not uncommon to discover a poem, or a piece of music or a good meal in the company of friends can provide a context by which one can grow, endure, or, even accept diminishment. Personal spirituality frequently is expressed by forms of religious practice. Faith provides a variety of personal and communal resources to handle serious illness. Serious illness causes believers and non-believers alike to face loss, fears, grief, personal mortality and questions of meaning.