Temple in Tokyo

We are accustomed to seeing Eastern countries as places where spirituality has an important role, unlike our ungodly country. Part of this is exoticism, of course, the peace and beauty of this Tokyo temple has many resonances with the peace and beauty of many Christian churches and Islamic mosques. However, the conference we attended in Japan was markedly professional and health and social care oriented.

I wish we could learn more about different cultural arenas of thought and debate. But then, perhaps we do not really know enough about how Christianity and Western cultures see death and dying in the 21st century. How far is spiritual care from social and psychological care? They are clearly all related, but if we say (the simplification we often use) that spirituality is about meaning, what about social meaning and psychological meaning – equally important concepts in those areas of study.