The phenomenon of presence in spiritual care: a tapestry of themes

Abstract

Abstract This paper is an invitation to contemplate the phenomenon of presence. This is inherently important, in the bigger picture and broader conversation concerning presence and more especially the art of presence as spiritual care. Experience centred narratives are ‘texts’ which bring stories of personal experience into being. The self-narrative (autoethnography) and three additional narratives – co-participants who expressed a willingness to tell their story – is the chosen approach to enable the expression of first-person experience in all its richness, complexity and multiplicity. The essence of presence is portrayed with particular focus on the manifestation, mystery, meaning, movement and ministry dimensions and dynamics of the concept. The patterns and meanings of the lived experience of presence, in the four narratives, emerge beyond the narrative realms of writing, extending into the symbolic realms of art, poetry and music as engaged by the co-informants. This essay is the story of presence in the presence of story – a co-creation of the nature and experience of presence, a tapestry woven on and of the fabric of life.