The Revelation of Beauty in Nursing

Nursing Science

Nursing science is a patterned body of nursing knowledge that manifests a diversity of nursing theories essential for the wellbecoming of humankind and the environment (Phillips, 2019). Each nursing theory contributes its energyspirit manifestations to the wholeness of nursing science, a unitary energyspirit science. There is only one nursing science identified by the integrality of all the nursing theories where each nursing theory has its specific perspective of nursing and its nursing art for ministering to people. Generally speaking there is a depiction in some form to illustrate the relations of the concepts of each nursing theory that is useful for designing nursing education, practice, and research.

Each nursing theory is unique in its focus of nursing, usually indicated in its title. The diversity of the early nursing theories include Imogene King’s conceptual system, Betty Neuman’s systems model, Margaret Newman’s theory of health as expanding consciousness, Dorothea Orem’s self-care framework, Rosemarie Rizzo Parse’s theory of humanbecoming, Martha Rogers’ science of unitary human beings (SUHB), Callista Roy’s adaptation model, and Jean Watson’s theory of human caring. The unity of nursing science is in the diversity of its nursing theories.

Some of the newer documents listed as nursing theories in the nursology.com website appear to be not as substantive nor as complete as the extant nursing theories. They just give elucidation to a small body of inquiry. Since space is limited, details and analysis of the substantive extant nursing theories can be found in a recent article by Walker (2020) and Smith’s (2020) book on nursing theory.

Nursing theories are not ranked according to goodness of fit with nursing science since all were designed with the intent of the best of nursing care for people. The theoretical approach of each theory emerges from the philosophical beliefs and theoretical perspectives each nurse theorist holds about life and living, which are applicable to nursing. This makes it possible for the diversity of the theories to be similar and dissimilar in aspects of the content of each theory. Yet each nursing theory is a whole unto itself.

However, there are differences of opinions about the paradigms of nursing and their views of human beings. Parse (1987) presented two nursing paradigms to depict the philosophical and scientific bases of nursing theories. The totality paradigm views human beings in a causal relation with their environment. Human beings are seen as composed of parts, and once a malfunctioning part is corrected a sense of well-being can be experienced. In contrast, in the simultaneity paradigm a human being is a unitary phenomenon with pattern manifestations of their unitary nature in mutual process with the environment where people participate knowingly in their healthcare. These paradigms fostered a higher level of thinking and insight into nursing science with its explication of new knowledge.

Newman, Sime, and Corcoran-Perry (1991) thought some of the nursing theories did not logically fit into just one of Parse’s two paradigms since there was crossover of content in the theories. Newman created three paradigms of unitary transformative, the interactive integrative, and the particulate deterministic where the primary foci are indicated in the titles. In 2008, Newman revisited her 1991 article giving an in-depth presentation of the changes that had occurred in the focus of the discipline (Newman, Smith, Pharris, & Jones, 2008). The revisit makes explicit what had been implicit in her original thinking. In 2014, Parse presented three paradigms of nursing: a revision of her totality paradigm and her simultaneity paradigm and added Parse’s humanbecoming paradigm.

All of the newer paradigms give further explication of the philosophical and theoretical content of nursing theories that gives additional clarity to nurses’ thinking about the scientific utility of nursing theories to advance nursing science. This assisted nurses’ ability to choose a particular nursing theory congruent with their beliefs about nursing and the meaning of life.

Today, it is a sad commentary for nursing and nursing science where some schools of nursing no longer teach or have a nursing theory as the framework for their curricula since a nursing theory is no longer mandated by the nursing accreditation body. In fact, some students are unaware of the extant nursing theories and cannot identify the nursing theory of their nursing curriculum if there is one. As food for thought, Rogers stated on many occasions that some baccalaureate nursing programs were just glorified diploma nursing programs.

COVID-19 and Nursing Theory

What are the healthcare and nursing perspectives being used in the care of persons who are manifesting COVID-19? The author has no direct knowledge of this care but uses knowledge of the guidelines and mandates of the federal, state, and local governments; publications; TV news; print materials; and knowledge of nursing theories to make a brief analysis of persons receiving COVID-19 healthcare. Keep in mind healthcare providers are our heroes.

Current care of persons with COVID-19 appears to be primarily physiological with concern about its cause and effects. The ultimate goal is to have a vaccine that gives immunity to the coronavirus. Similarly, as with some of the content of nursing theories, COVID-19 studies show other phenomena besides physiological ones are related to persons with COVID-19, such as age, gender, race, socioeconomic, other health issues, and environmental factors, which contribute to evolution of the coronavirus in a person.

There seems to be an adding of such factors individually. At other times, consideration is given to the interaction of these factors, possibly from the perspective of holism where persons with COVID-19 are seen as more than the sum of their parts. When one observes these patients upon discharge from the hospital and hears stories of their experiences, one can infer they participated to some degree in their healing process. These brief observations imply some aspects of nursing theories were used in the care of these persons.

Dissension is present between and among public members about the spread of the coronavirus. Some persons obey and adhere to guidelines and mandates while other persons reject them, as a hoax. Some officials play the political game of one-upmanship. An important reason for disagreements is lack of firm knowledge about the illusive virus among leaders and scientists. The virus has many unknown characteristics, and all persons, even the scientists working closely with it, disagree and are often unsure of its ramifications. One can say that diverse knowledge and divisive behaviors hinder optimum care of persons with COVID-19.

Some findings from in-depth nursing interviews and research reveal descriptions and explication of hidden knowledge for the enrichment of nursing theories for nursing science. It is interesting to note art work depicting the coronavirus is well-designed while its effects are devastating to one’s wellbecoming.

Descriptions and Explications of Perceptions-Experiences

People have diverse feelings from their perceptions-experiences. These feelings are manifestations of the resonating flow of the mutual human-environment energyspirit process as related to such things as joy-sorrow-challenges of life. Most of the time these feelings are understandable, since they relate to usual patterns of living. However, when people observe the same phenomenon, their perceptions-experiences and their feelings may not be the same since each person has differences in their philosophical and theoretical perspectives.

This awareness is significant for nurses who may be using different nursing theories. The heart and soul of each nurse theorist are manifest in the nursing theory they created, which provides for differences of perceptions-experiences for nurses who are using different nursing theories. Such knowledge is significant to their perceptions-experiences of the feelings of clients in their ministrations.

Challenges to nursing science and art arise when feelings are inexplicable, meaning “incapable of being explained, interpreted, or accounted for” (Merriam-Webster, 2020). Research of such feelings is important since knowledge of them contributes to the advancement of nursing science and its art. An initial examination of these feelings can identify which nursing theory is the most feasible one to provide insight into these inexplicable feelings.

Aspects of the arts, humanities, and contemporary science are important dimensions in the meaning of living quality of life. These bodies of knowledge are expressions of energyspirit of the universe and people whereby other people can perceive-experience the thoughts and feelings of individuals such as artists, writers, musicians, and scientists. These creative people use materials such as wood, bronze, canvas, porcelain, words on paper, and notations and scores for dance and music.

Each of these materials possesses its own energyspirit. When one of these materials is used by a person to create an art object, it is imbued with energyspirit of the person who created it, giving a unitary feeling that can be perceived-experienced by people. Understanding these thoughts and feelings is applicable to the art of nursing in caring for people.

Perception-Experience of Personal Art Objects

Many years of pleasure and time were spent at auctions, thrift stores, bookstores, and art galleries searching for art objects that were unusual in many ways, essentially those that “spoke” to the author. These feelings were in many instances indescribable, which fostered yearnings for further understanding. Some people might call these feelings as warm fuzzies, touchy-feely, or mystical. Such feelings are little different from those feelings nurses have while assessing and caring for people.

Many of the art objects were purchased from the perspective of “love at first sight,” an instantaneous attraction to a particular thing, which supposedly goes through the eyes to the spirit of the person. In other words, the energyspirit of the art object is integral with the energyspirit of a person, the beginning of a deeper understanding of the feelings of “why I must buy this art object.”

The fruits of “love at first sight” can be seen through brief presentations of selected objects of art. Keep in mind the difficulty to express in words what is sometimes indescribable. The first art object is a head to shoulder oil painting of a young woman. It was seen leaning against a wall at a flea market. The countenance of her face exuded a diversity of feelings such as pausing and reflecting, intense thinking, forlornness, meditativeness, aloneness, and where do I go from here. This is similar to nurses’ perceptions-experiences in caring for clients. The use of only black, gray, and white oils enhanced the intensity of feelings. The art of this artist is described as figurative mood paintings of raw emotions of the human soul that engage the viewer.

Flipping through a rack of paintings at an auction house, the head to shoulder oil painting of a smiling young woman suddenly appeared. The face was full of joy, happiness, and life. At the same time, one felt she was saying there’s more to me than what you see—the ideal gift of wonderment. The artist is noted for his ability to create a deeper sense of commitment through expressions of the human condition.

Recently, an artist was asked, “What is the meaning of the painting just bought from you?” Her reply was “whatever you want it to be.” It was felt the artist may not have been able to express the full meaning herself. One should not be discouraged with difficulty in expressing one’s understanding and feelings when looking at art and caring for clients. Seek ways to understand your feelings when looking at art and in other types of perceptions-experiences such as observations of nursing clients. One can elucidate their feelings through use of nursing theories and theories from other bodies of knowledge. Keep in mind that one of the world’s most famous paintings—the Mona Lisa—remains an enigma to people, including the best art experts and critics.

A prized art object is a slightly elongated figure of Jesus on the cross with His Mother sitting and touching His feet. The image is etched on a tall half-round piece of crystal. One is overwhelmed with feelings of agony, anguish, and love of Mary for her Son. The elongated abstractness enhances the pathos of the scene. When the sun shines on it, the sacred meaning becomes more intense. One has profound feelings that are indescribable. Nurses perceive-experience similar feelings while caring for clients, especially in acute care settings, including persons with COVID-19.

Mention must be made of a tall porcelain figure of a student nurse holding a book in a traditional student nurse’s uniform and cap. Her head is turned slightly to one side with an air of contemplation: “There’s so much to learn and know, how will today’s practice go, what does it mean to be a nurse?” Such feelings continue throughout a nurse’s career.

When one stills the mind, panoply of thoughts emerge from the depths of one’s energyspirit relative to current issues of life. In this stillness, a question arose as to the real meaning for buying all the art objects. A pang of sadness occurred when I realized I will probably never see again the art objects in boxes recently placed in storage. Suddenly the word “beauty” zoomed through my vision without any explanation.

With all the riots and protests, Walt Whitman’s name came into awareness, one of America’s greatest poets, who wrote memorable poems of the Civil War (Danh & Schultz, 2019). Whitman nursed soldiers during the war, giving them comfort, solace, and care during their pain and agony, creating a strong bond with them. Whitman was present as they transcended to new dimensions of living in their wellbecoming. The sudden appearance of the word beauty in my visual field seemed to be inappropriate to understand the received images.

A haunting set of portraits of Civil War soldiers is in the Library of Congress (Danh & Schultz, 2019). All of the soldiers look directly into the camera; none are smiling. A sense of sadness emanated from their faces. A few have a slight shaping of their mouth that suggests, “I’m pleased you are taking my picture.” One wonders what the soldiers were thinking and wished to express. Some of the portraits are of black soldiers, which reminded me of John Lewis and the moving emotional tribute upon his death. Lewis fought for equality, equity, and racial justice for the Black race throughout his life. He withstood episodes of brutality in the early years of his life, and verbal abuses, even from his colleagues, were showered on him in the years before his death. Why is the word beauty persistently flashing again?

Perspectives of Beauty

What role does beauty play in the stillness of one’s thinking that involves visionary, wishful creation of the imagination, what some people might call daydreaming (Merriam-Webster, 2020)? Does the appearance of the word beauty indicate the need to know something about the earlier discussion of art objects? What about the meaning and definition of beauty? How is beauty related to nursing science and its theories?

The concept of beauty plays an important role in the history of humankind. There were Roman and Greek goddesses (Aphrodite and Venus) and gods (Apollo and Phoebus) of beauty. The early philosophers expounded on the attributes of beauty, eliciting different perspectives (Sartwell, 2012/2017).

The beauty of sacred objects plays an important role in the rites of religion, and the Bible mentions the ineffable beauty of Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit, which transcends the physical. Think of the beauty of the Pieta by Michelangelo. The universe is the largest piece of art ever created. Everything in the universe is imbued with beauty. Concern with the meaning of beauty continues today.

A definition of beauty awakens one out of the doldrums of routine thinking and provides ways to answer such questions about life and nursing. Beauty is “the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit” (Merriam-Webster, 2020). Thanks Martha for the persistent little bolts of lightning that contribute to the enlightenment of beauty.

Imagine one’s feelings of astonishment after reading the definition of beauty with an emphasis on the exaltation of mind or spirit. An immediate relation to the concept of energyspirit is formed in one’s mind, spirit to spirit, a spiritual unity. Beauty provides insight into previous discussion where explicit and implicit questions were raised about nursing science and its paradigms and theories, one’s perceptions-experiences and feelings in relation to art objects, and caring for people in their wellbecoming.

One hears people say he/she has a beautiful soul/spirit or a beautiful mind. Einstein’s theories were seen as elegant, beautiful. The preacher at my mother’s funeral said she was a quiet spirit. One can say Rogers is a guiding spirit still participating in the changing beauty of nursing and the universe. Other manifestations of inner beauty can be experienced while watching a group of young boys of diverse races having a joyful time playing who have not been tainted by racism in our society. Consider how face-wrinkles of elderly persons exalt our mind as beauty manifestations of their living.

The following quote (New International Version Bible, 1978/2011) provides a transition from an outer perspective to an inner perspective of beauty. Outer perspective of beauty is conveyed usually by the idiom “beauty is only skin deep.”

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (1 Peter 3:3-4).

In the outer view of beauty, people possess a physical perspective of the body and use various means to enhance this view. Women and men adorn their physical bodies with stylish clothes and use cosmetics to create certain attractiveness beyond their natural beauty. Adornments with jewelry give distinctiveness to the characteristics they wish to present to the public. Other numerous ways are used to embellish what they consider to be beautiful, such as tattoos and body piercings.

The COVID-19 virus is participating in changing views of beauty. Women and men were unable to go to hair salons, which were important to their perception of beauty. Wellington (2020) quotes Joseph Hancock: “Vanity is going to become more about feeling good than looking good” and “We will stop trying to conform to the socialized norm of what is attractive” (p. 2).

One’s perceptions-experiences of beauty can change quickly from outer to inner as indicated in the discussion of art objects. Years ago while concentrating on washing the grime of the street from the body of a homeless man, he started quoting Shakespeare. A quick change of thinking occurred from the physical aspects of outer to inner aspects of beauty. Who is this man? Needless to say, the focus of the art of nursing changed in his care.

One may conjecture outer views of beauty, which deal mainly with the physical, may be the less important aspects of beauty in contrast with inner beauty, especially when purpose and meaning of life are considered in one’s quality living. Is this an important area for nursing research to see how various nursing theories in the nursing paradigms relate to people’s perceptions of beauty and their relation to mind and spirit? It is interesting to note Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, “a place of pristine or abundant natural beauty” (Merriam-Webster, 2020).

The idiom “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” raises additional ideas about the process of perception-experience of beauty. What is seen as beauty changed over time, differs from culture to culture, and differs from person to person. The perception of beauty is subjective in the minds of people in relation to their energyspirit pattern. Purpose and meaning in life may relate to one’s search for beauty in one’s life.

Beauty is a personal experience, and people have different opinions about beauty. One person may perceive-experience a phenomenon as beautiful, while another person may see it as unattractive. For example, one nurse may see a client as not good-looking by focusing on the outer physical body. Another nurse may see the same client as beautiful by focusing on the perceived inner feelings as manifestations of energyspirit.

One can ask, Are there differences in the perception-experience of beauty in the different nursing theories? Explication of beauty in nursing theories can contribute to further illumination of the paradigms of nursing and nursing science.

Beauty and Nursing Theories

Nursing science thrives on its diversity of nursing theories in its quest for the wellbecoming of people and the universe. The beauty of nursing science comes from the integrality of its diversity of theories. Beauty is present in all nursing theories even if it is invisible to the eye. The beauty of the nursing theories is different from each other.

According to “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” the perception and experience of beauty in each nursing theory are different for each nurse. Some nurses may be aware primarily of outer beauty while other nurses are aware of both outer and inner beauty of a particular theory. Most likely those nurses who do not believe in the same particular theory may have minimal perceptions of beauty of the theory. Atheoretical nurses may even suppress the beauty of nursing theories by words and actions.

A question might be, Can one research the beauty of nursing theories? Potential for research might be, Does depth of knowledge of a particular theory relate to perception of beauty? How does one enhance the perception and experience of feelings of beauty of nursing theories?

It is known that people choose a school of nursing from knowledge of its faculty members and the school’s reputation and from the beauty of its curriculum. Yes, one can perceive and experience beauty through feelings gained from information from the school of nursing literature but more importantly from in-person interviews. For example, my choice of the doctoral program at New York University evolved from an interview with Martha Rogers and knowledge of the theoretical perspectives of the program. I was impressed with the feelings of beauty manifested from her energyspirit during our conversation.

Each of the paradigms of nursing possesses its own beauty, which can be obtained from knowledge of the description and one’s exploration of each paradigm. People have mentioned which nursing theories go into each of the paradigms. However, no one has chosen to put into print which theories go into each of the paradigms, possibly realizing their categorization of theories for each paradigm may not be acceptable by the theorists or other nurses.

The beauty of nursing theories can be enhanced through the use of art, diagrams, and charts to portray the relation and meaning of the primary concepts of the theory. The cover art with an explanation of it for Parse’s (2014) book The Humanbecoming Paradigm: A Transformational Worldview sets the stage to understand her book. A similar piece of art is on the cover of the Nursing Science Quarterly journal.

Rogers (1970) in her book An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing presents on the two opening pages a magnificent painting that depicts major ideas of her science and events in the history of humankind. Three slinkies move their way through the sky. There are four cogent written statements: “The Spiral of Life is Four Dimensional, Human Existence is a unified Phenomenon . . . The Continuum of Life, The Spiral Continues in Spite of Itself.” The painting has both outer and inner aspects of beauty. A picture of a slinky is on the front of the book. Rogers used the slinky as a theoretical and teaching instrument. When appropriate, she would bring a slinky to class to demonstrate some aspect of her science. She would stretch the slinky and fold the slinky over itself for certain concepts.

Beauty of Rogers and Science of Unitary Human Beings

Since Rogers is the creator of SUHB, her energyspirit is manifest in the energyspirit of her science. The beauty of Rogers cannot be separate from the beauty of her science.

Beauty of Rogers

Knowledge of Rogers’ beauty manifestations enhances comprehension of the beauty of her science. Personal knowledge of Rogers relates mainly to her inner beauty rather than her outer beauty since she was not overly concerned with it, similar to people’s perceptions of Einstein. It was his beautiful mind that inspired people, so it is with Rogers.

Rogers was an avid and voracious reader of all forms of printed materials, including science fiction. Her nursing books give evidence of her wide range of reading by the numerous citations from different fields of study to support her creative and innovative ideas about nursing. Rogers presented relevant handouts and current scientific and contemporary ideas in her classes, such as recent discoveries and emerging new ideas in the community of science, arts, and humanities. Once Rogers suggested a book to read; my reply indicated lack of knowledge to understand all the technical terms and formulas. Rogers’ reply was “don’t worry about that, just read for the ideas.” Thinking today, Rogers was asking to read for the beauty of the ideas to exalt my mind and spirit—essentially the beauty of reading we advocate for children.

Rogers was a maverick since she did not always agree with the traditional views of nursing held by some nurses and members of the public. Privately in an autograph in one of her books to a dean of nursing, Rogers wrote, “From one rebel to another.” In the words of John Lewis, Rogers had the knack to get into “good trouble.” Rogers’ good trouble included her outspokenness for the education of nurses in institutions of higher learning and nurses’ independent practice. Rogers was adamant that nurses had to be the leaders of the nursing profession with no control by any other groups such as medicine.

Rogers (1970) as a free spirit used her intelligence in original, creative, imaginative, and abstract ways to create her book An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing. The profession of nursing was changed by the beauty of her book, known as the purple book. Rogers was essentially the mother of the concept of unitary in nursing as indicated in her early writings. Rogers was instrumental in enhancing the mind and spirit of students and people. Can Rogers be seen as the Mona Lisa of nursing?

At times one wondered if Rogers had a third eye to detect students who were underperforming to their intellectual abilities. Needless to say I was “shocked” when I received a D- on my first paper in her class—with a note to see her to discuss what my problems were. Once when her classes were being video-taped for commercial distribution, it had been agreed for her to stop her presentation at a specific time so the tapes could be changed. She did not stop teaching and never saw the waving of our hands. She seemed to be communing with a higher form of knowledge and spirit. These qualities of Rogers among many other ones in homage to her beauty illustrate how they exalted her mind and spirit as well as the minds and spirit of nurses throughout the world. Rogers’ theoretical dreams became a reality.

Beauty of Rogers’ Science

Phillips (1997) in the publication addressing the evolution of Rogers’ SUHB discussed its structure and concepts but made no mention of the concept of beauty. Beauty is not discussed in other nursing theories, and specific aspects of beauty are not taught in nurse education. Yet beauty is present in nursing science and its theories as well as in nurses, and it needs to be made explicit.

Rogers manifests qualities of beauty, and they are evident in her SUHB. It will be shown how the explication of beauty in her science exalts the mind and spirit. The structure of Rogers’ SUHB can be seen as the outer manifestation of its beauty. The structure consists of the postulates, manifestations of field patterning, principles of homeodynamics, and her derived theories.

The postulates specific to Rogers’ SUHB are energy field, pandimensionality, openness, and pattern. These postulates are integral and are not seen as parts of a human being. The content of the postulates are involved in the inner aspects of beauty manifestations. Each human being is an energy field; not he has an energy field. Rogers’ mind transcends the view of a human being as a physical body with various parts. Contemporary science indicates the mind is not confined to the brain.

This beauty quality of Rogers exalted Phillips’ (2010) thinking to perceive the energy field and spirit as integral and created the word energyspirit, which applies to everything in the universe. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon him. Jesus as an energy field and spirit is seen as One—energyspirit. This is consistent with the perspective that the universe is energyspirit in all of its manifestations.

Pandimensionality is one of the more abstract postulates. Imagine exalting the mind from three-dimensional, four-dimensional, and multidimensional to pandimensional, which is “a non-linear domain without spatial and temporal attributes” (Rogers, 1992, p. 29). Phillips (2010) used the beauty of Rogers’ thinking and created the idea of pandimensional awareness as a way to perceive-experience the universe.

Since this is year 2020, why can’t humans have pandimensional vision that transcends 20/20 vision—what one sees with physical eyes? Pandimensional vision transcends 20/20 vision, as a student once described herself in class “I close my eyes to see.” There is four-dimensional art. What would be the beauty qualities of pandimensional art? Could the beauty astronauts perceive and experience in outer space be pandimensional art?

Openness is an interesting exaltation of Rogers’ mind. A person and the environment are always open with each other and participate in changes that occur in a mutual process. Cause and effect no longer exist in her SUHB.

Pattern is equally as abstract as the other postulates. Each person as an energyspirit has a pattern that distinguishes who they are by their manifestations as change occurs. The pattern cannot be seen; only its manifestations are seen. The pattern is not the same as a pattern used to make things such as a dress.

All of Rogers’ postulates are involved in her Manifestations of Field Patterning in Unitary Human Beings. This perspective makes explicit what Rogers (1992) inferred about the relations of the concepts of her science. These manifestations are concerned with the mutual process of change in the life process that is acausal, where cause and effect are no longer present. Rogers began with a long list of manifestations of field patterning. With changes in the exaltation of her mind, some of the manifestations were deleted since they were deemed inconsistent with the evolving changes in her science. The remaining manifestations of change were more in line with her principles of homeodynamics.

The principles of homeodynamics are principle of resonancy, principle of helicy, and principle of integrality, which together are concerned with the nature and process of change. All of the postulates, manifestations of field patterning, and principles of homeodynamics are involved in understanding changes in the life process and the derivation of theories, which signify the changing beauty of her SUHB.

The theories Rogers mentions in her writings are the theory of accelerating change and theory of the paranormal. The beauty of Rogers’ SUHB has exalted the mind and spirit of many doctoral students and nurse researchers to create a theoretical basis for their research.

Teachers of Rogers’ SUHB learn to “go with the flow” and use different processes for teaching, which emerged from their understanding of the inner beauty of Rogers’ science. They learn to use pandimensional awareness and pandimensional vision so they do not flounder in their own ignorance and learn death is a physiological process, not death of energyspirit.

With COVID-19, people who are on confinement are learning how to be “close” spiritually, use of human field images, human field hugs, and integral presence that do not require physical presence. Integral presence can occur anywhere in the universe (Phillips, 2019). These new ways emerged from an understanding of the beauty of Rogers’ mind and spirit and are evident in her SUHB.

The beauty of Rogers’ SUHB gives students the freedom to ask to do alternate things to meet the requirements of a written paper that is seen as too traditional. Such requests that came from individual students include dancing before the class to show changes that occur in the aging process, writing a song with music and singing the song while playing the guitar before the class to demonstrate understanding of Rogers’ SUHB, and a student’s creation of an art box filled with created art objects to represent understanding of Rogerian concepts. There is the “aha” paper that represents insights as one learns Rogers’ SUHB. These creative endeavors demonstrate an exaltation of students’ mind and spirit gained from understanding the beauty of Rogers and her SUHB.

An Illation of Beauty in Nursing

The revelation of beauty in nursing is one manifestation of the infinite, pandimensional beauty of the energyspirit of the universe that is in all things. Rogers’ science indicates beauty can be perceived-experienced through integral presence with pandimensional awareness and pandimensional vision that is nonlocal. One can “see” what is invisible to the physical eyes.

Let us be baptized in Rogers’ energyspirit and its beauty where nursing is an adventure in creating knowledge to advance nursing science. The diversity of nursing theories can bring beauty to all people, helping them to reveal the beauty of their energyspirit. Life is full of beauty. Let’s reveal it in caring for people.

What can be better than a gift of beauty as people journey in their life process achieving new dimensions of living, even transcending to a different nonphysical living?

The future belongs

to those who

believe in the beauty

of their dreams

—Eleanor Roosevelt (n.d.)