But recently we found religious peo

But recently we found religious people protesting that their spiritual needs are not met by their religion,nor by anything in ethics or psychology, and nonreligious people raising questions about issues they call "spiritual." Not long ago in these pages, in fact, John Hardwig challenged bioethicists to look more closely at spiritual care.' At life's end, he observed, the dying usually return to long-neglected questions about what really counts in life. Many see little meaning in their narrowed and shortened future as they are forced to deal with friends and family in new and embarrassing ways. Where formerly diey helped to lift burdens fromthe shoulders of others, they have now become a burden.They feel betrayed by their own bodies. They picture themselves as cast out from the society of the healthy. They can be overwhelmed by their feelings of
isolation and abandonment, even self-hatred, fear, and anger.