Spiritual prosperity and learning theory

Abstract

This article aims to provide an account of spiritual prosperity, whereby various related mental capacities may be developed through an expanded range of learning processes. This account will be secular and humanistic, thereby circumnavigating the theology of spirituality in favour of psychological models. As spirituality remains ‘a slippery concept’ (Norman 2004, 136), we start by referring to two contemporary philosophers who offer some metaphors and dimensions for modes of spirituality. A wide‐ranging model of learning, based on the perspectives of four pioneer learning theorists, is introduced. This is based on lines of development and on learning episodes, where tension is resolved through play and metaphor. The result is to balance cognition with imagination and feeling, and to provide a motivational context of sociality imperatives. We then seek to determine whether this model has the potential to promote the growth of spiritual prosperity in its multiple forms.