The most interesting source I have found so far is the book titled Spirit, Science, and Health: How the Spiritual Mind Fuels Physical Wellness by Plante and Thoresen. It explores spirituality from a scientific and religious viewpoint. It elaborates on how spirituality affects one's physical health with spiritual healing. It also goes over the religious aspects of medication and how spirituality can affect diseases like HIV and cancer. It assess the relationship between meditation and spiritual well being.

My research has not changed my question. I still view it the same and will continue to consider multiple viewpoints. I do think that as my research takes me deeper into my topic, my understanding of my inquiry will further develop and so will the points of view through which I assess it.

My main challenge is staying on the right topic in my research.

First Blog Post

I chose the inquiry question "How does spirituality affect one's health?" for my research project. The topic interests me because I have been very spiritual for the majority of my life and I believe that researching this topic will help me become more educated about and stronger in my own spirituality. This is important to our time because most people and religions view spirituality as a source of stability and guidance. Both of which are important traits to have in a world the seems to be falling apart.

I expect to find that people who are more spiritual than others will be more emotionally stable. This is more from personal experience since there have been times when I feel like I would have broken down had it not been for my faith. I am not sure what to expect when I research the physical aspect of health and spirituality, but I am quite curious to see what results I can find.

I do wonder how the health of people like atheists is affected by not having spirituality. Are they negatively affected or positively? And if positively, then what makes up for the lack of spirituality? Seeing as I have only seen this topic from my viewpoint, these inquiries will certainly open my eyes to a new field of viewpoints.