Good, Evil, and Etymology in Health Research

I have been reading some books on religion that have me fascinated.  God is Not One and Religious Illiteracy, by Stephen Prothero.  I have always found the topic of religion interesting and important, especially as regards health.  Indeed, it seems to me like many religious rules resemble guidelines for healthful living that we have ‘discovered’ though research.  For example, many religions emphasize both psychical and physical purity; modern medicine emphasizes hygiene.  Some emphasize certain moral or ethical aspects, like being nice to others; we in behavioral research are continually floored over how much good social support does.  The principle of being generally satisfied with what you have seems to come up a lot in religion; and we keep telling people to reduce the stress in their lives.

You might argue that this is just a matter of interpretation, and maybe it is, but consider the following. 

Let’s look at some etymology. (Thanks to Online Etymology Dictionary.)

Evil (adj.) 

O.E. yfel (Kentish evel) "bad, vicious, ill, wicked," from P.Gmc. *ubilaz (cf. O.Saxon ubil, O.Fris., M.Du. evel, Du. euvel, O.H.G. ubil, Ger. übel, Goth. ubils), from PIE *upelo-, from base *wap- (cf. Hittite huwapp- "evil"). The noun is O.E. yfel. "In OE., as in all the other early Teut. langs., exc. Scandinavian, this word is the most comprehensive adjectival expression of disapproval, dislike or disparagement" [OED]. Evil was the word the Anglo-Saxons used where we would use bad, cruel, unskillful, defective (adj.), or harm, crime, misfortune, disease. The meaning "extreme moral wickedness" was in O.E., but did not become the main sense until 18c.

Isn’t this interesting?

One of the things I like about what I study is that it has such a spiritual dimension.  The words for good and evil or health and illness, show that.  In French, the word for evil is ‘mal’ and the word for illness is ‘maladie’.  As the link above shows, in English the words illness, ill, and evil are all related.

Now what if we look up the etymology of the word health?

Health

O.E. hælþ "wholeness, a being whole, sound or well," from P.Gmc. *hailitho, from PIE *kailo- "whole, uninjured, of good omen" (cf. O.E. hal "hale, whole;" O.N. heill "healthy;" O.E. halig, O.N. helge "holy, sacred;" O.E. hælan "to heal"). Of physical health in M.E., but also "prosperity, happiness, welfare; preservation, safety."

So there’s a suggestion that health = holy.  In French the connection exists too.  Health, or ‘santé’ is related to the word ‘sain’, which means holy .

But the importance of spirituality in life tends to be ignored in modern science and research.  In general, I don’t think this is a bad thing.  After all, we don’t all agree on the sticky topic that is spirituality and religion, so if we can stay with the ‘facts’ that we CAN all agree on (or mostly all agree on) then we can have meaningful dialogue and progress.  And I like dialogue and progress.  (Seriously.  Just in case you were worried, I don't mean to proselytize.  Except that I believe people should be able to think/ believe whatever they want, so I can do the same.)

But the importance of the spiritual in health can’t be ignored.  Lifestyles, so often informed if not governed by culture and religion, are the basis of a lot of healthful and unhealthy practices.  The presence or absence of a community we can rely on makes a huge difference both in terms of the development and progression of mental and physical health disorders.  When we talk about behavioral health, we are talking about what people do to stay healthy.  And why.  That is, what are the motivations to good health? 

What if by overlooking spirituality and religion in health research and its important effects on motivation and behaviors in health research we are in some ways missing the point?

But then if that's true then how do we develop the language to talk about these things in a health setting?  How can a therapist talk to a client of a different faith (or of no faith) about spirituality in a way that doesn’t make somebody feel left out or misunderstood or pressured?  How can a researcher study spirituality in a country of population that doesn't have a homogeneous set of beliefs or that doesn't want to talk about them? 

It may be too big a challenge.  But it is worth thinking about.