Student Chaplain L

The chaplains' interview narratives witness practices which insist on experiencing "present moments" in life (Stern 2004)—both inside and outside the pastoral care room. Drawing from the interviews, the occupation with the presence here and now in the pastoral care work and in relation to the world outside the pastoral care room seems crucial.

The second step in a psychological repertoire is that the chaplain provides the impression that he or she genuinely seeks to understand the student's perspective—this helps enable the student to listen and hear for themselves (Fonagy et al. 2017; Bateman and Fonagy 2019). Actually, the chaplain models this for the student; she demonstrates it by engaging in mentalizing. The pastoral caregiver seeks to make sense of the way the student behaves—and of the way the pastoral caregiver is behaving too. The chaplain looks at the student and looks at herself, asking: "I wonder what the student is doing?", "I wonder what I am doing myself?", "I wonder why you said and did that?", and "I wonder why I said and did that?". The chaplain explores the intentions of what is being said. The chaplain is curious about what she does not know. Then the chaplain and student begin to wonder together why they did as they did—preferably involving some use of delicate humor.

In McFague's model of the Second Person in the Trinity, God as Lover, she points to the act of salvation. This represents a certain approach to the loved one, assuming that the loved one is not bad but that they only love improperly—by loving the self instead of God in the body of the world (McFague 1987, p. 144). This action assumes that the work towards healing the body is the revelation that we are loved deeply and passionately by the force whose love pulses through the universe. This may be a revelation which we are not able to imagine on our own. This knowledge performs what a lover's declaration of love to the loved one can do: to stir up an answer of the same kind. The loved one feels valuable and wishes to repay the love, which is to be closely connected with the other. Interpreted as an image, the Lover, in a climate context, is the world in its many material and non-material forms and shapes, rather than one specific individual (cf. ibid., p. 145).

When we mentalize, we attempt to feel clearly (Allen and Fonagy 2006). Our emotions are then better able to attune us to our surroundings. They enable us to quickly see things precisely as they are so as to be able to react appropriately; our emotions make it possible for us to "get it right" (ibid.). When the chaplain sees a facial expression, the chaplain may create stories about why such a feeling arises (rather than just jumping to a conclusion about the feeling involved). Thus, the chaplain makes use of wondering and imagination without jumping to immediate answers. With this sort of "playing", we can enter into—ideally, at least—an intersubjective community and see ourselves, others, and the world in more nuanced ways.

Connecting mentalizing to the model of God as Lover, salvation is here to be connected with a sense of what is valuable in life and, by extension, with a longing after all kinds of life and creation. Healing, viewed as a way to perceive salvation, emphasizes our opposition to the suffering and destruction of all of creation. This is done by identifying with it (McFague 1987, p. 153). God as Lover says: "You are exceedingly valuable" (ibid., p. 128). Incorporating pastoral care practice into McFague's model, the act of mentalizing can be understood as enabling a feeling of community which connects all life on a deep level. This is by virtue of the powers of imagination that make it possible for us to empathize with all creation despite our differences (ibid., p. 153).

These mentalizing movements create an open and trusting social situation, which can nourish a better understanding of and connection to one's own actions and others. This has the potential to open the student's sense of being related to in a sensitive way by the pastoral caregiver through interpersonal communication. Herein, the student's own ability to mentalize re-emerges. It is a (re-)ignition of the student's wishes to learn about the world.
