Spiritual Goals Research Articles

Consuming the afterlife: spirituality, neo-spiritualism and continuity of the self

Late-modern consumer society materially supports the self’s spiritual goals. Yet the lack of fulfilment in consumption has produced ambivalence in these goals. A consideration of the continuation and intensification of afterlife beliefs suggests that these goals have not been shaped solely by consumptive trends but are implicitly tied to a deep concern with death and the quest for the inner self. Popular fascination with psychics and mediums, after-death communication and the near-death experience attests to the emergence of a new spiritualism that reaffirms the philosophy of the afterlife as a type of late-modern didacticism on self-continuity. At the same time, the rise of spirituality as a de-traditionalised and inner-directed approach to self-exploration suggests a convergence with neo-spiritualism in the attempt to gauge the transcendental-future of the self. Although this convergence provides a convenient platform for the marketability of afterlife beliefs, the late-modern preoccupation with the self may eventually redirect mystified consumption into personalised projects of self-discovery.

Interview with Julie Viveros, RN, Director of Nursing, Charlotte Rescue Mission, Rebound men's program. Interview by Joan Kub.

The Charlotte Rescue Mission is a 90-day residential program that serves approximately 530 men and 365 women experiencing the disease of addiction annually. It has a long rich history and has been serving the Charlotte community for over 75 years for men and almost 25 years for women. "The men's program provides a five-fold, client-centered treatment approach addressing spiritual, mental, physical, social, and vocational needs to battle addiction. The objective is to help individuals fighting addiction and homelessness to accomplish spiritual, mental, physical, social, and vocational goals and be free of addiction." "Dove's Nest, Charlotte Rescue Mission's women's recovery program, opened its doors in 1992. The program provides a structured, yet loving and stable living environment, with a dedicated staff aimed at helping women understand and deal with the core issues of addiction as a disease". (Web site: http:// charlotterescuemission.org/). I had the privilege of interviewing Julie Viveros, RN, the Director of Nursing for the Rebound men's program, about her unique role at the Rescue Mission.

A Good Story: Using Future Life Narratives to Predict Present Well-Being

The present research examined the predictive and nomological validity of a narrative method for assessing goals. College students (N = 337, 158 women, Mage = 19.08) from a large, public university wrote short narratives about their best possible selves in the future, imagining that they had realized all of their life dreams. Narratives were coded in terms of the number of statements reflecting each of fourteen types of goals. Intercoder reliability was strong. With regard to predictive validity, intrinsic goals, particularly spiritual and intimacy goals were positively related to well-being. Extrinsic goals, power goals in particular, tended to be negatively related to well-being. With regard to nomological validity, the spiritual goals-well-being relationship was mediated by frequency of religious service attendance and self-report measures of religiosity. Interestingly, intrinsic goals were negatively related to life satisfaction. Results are discussed in the context of self-determination theory and the internalization of extrinsic motivations.

Foucault on the Care of the Self as an Ethical Project and a Spiritual Goal

In this paper, I examine Foucault’s ideas concerning the care of the self. What exactly is this ideal that Foucault describes in his last two books? Do these books represent a break or a continuation with the earlier writings on knowledge and power? Most important, I consider whether the care of the self could ever be a significant ethical ideal given some of the objections that have been raised against Foucault’s position. I also look at the care of the self as the focus of Foucault’s own views on spiritual life. I argue that Foucault’s later work offers the basis for a secular or non-theistic spirituality which is especially relevant today.

The Pathways of Salvation: Spatiality and Devotion in the Bute Psalter

AbstractAs recent studies emphasize, the theological sophistication inherent in the pictorial programs of many luxury thirteenth- and fourteenth-century devotional manuscripts points to surprisingly ambitious intellectual and spiritual goals of elite lay patrons and recipients. The iconographic content of the late thirteenth-century Bute Psalter (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 46), likely made for a northeastern French or Flemish noblewoman, speaks to such aspirations. The manuscript is one of only six “fully illustrated” French Psalters of the thirteenth century. The majority of subjects found in the decorated initials of these Psalters can be traced to established exegetical traditions. Yet unlike most of its peer manuscripts, the Bute Psalter lacks the important textual apparatus of the rubrics designating the subjects of the Psalms and canticles, an element arguably indispensable for the reader-viewer’s interpretation and appreciation of the manuscript’s more unusual pictorial subjects. Despite...

Spiritual Striving and Seeking the Sacred: Religion as Meaningful Goal-Directed Behavior

Hood, Hill, and Spilka (2009), among others, present the need for meaning as a central organizing framework for understanding the psychological functions of religion. A plethora of research findings in the psychology of religion have been integrated into this overarching structure, but scholars have not systematically addressed the diverse ways goal theories fit into the need for meaning framework of religion. Thus, the personal strivings approach to understanding spiritual goals, or ultimate concerns, is introduced, and the processes by which spiritual and sanctified strivings provide meaning, significance, and agency are articulated through a description of their motivational, cognitive, and social functions. The literature shows a positive relation between the sanctification of strivings and well-being, which may be mediated by increased meaning.

Moksha and the Hindu Worldview

The Hindu worldview presents artha, kama, dharma and moksha as the four major goals of human life. While artha and kama represent physical and psychological goals, dharma and moksha represent moral and spiritual goals, respectively. This article examines the relevance of the concept of moksha in the life of Indians and its potential for addressing the problem of individual and group relationships. It describes the way in which the concept of moksha and other similar concepts are discussed in traditional Hindu scriptures and other religious traditions. Finally, it tries to capture the way in which moksha is defined and understood by people at the present time. The article also examines some of the widely held misconceptions and dilemmas associated with moksha. It is argued that instead of being an ‘otherworldly’ reality, moksha is concerned with the present world, that it incorporates everything related to human life, and that the pursuit of this goal is helpful not only in achieving success in personal and professional domains of life, but also in developing positive interpersonal and inter-group relationships. Problems associated with transmission of moksha as a valued goal in the present-day society are discussed.

Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do About It by Mike Comins (review)

Reviewed by: Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do About It by Mike Comins Dan Ornstein (bio) Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do About It, by Mike Comins. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2010. Many books about t’fillah (Jewish prayer) try to inspire the reader to a life of prayer through explanations about the history of the siddur, the structure of the liturgy, and brief explanations of individual t’fillot. Rabbi Mike Comins’s [End Page 94] book, Making Prayer Real, begins with the premise that a meaningful life of t’fillah can only be achieved when we identify why it is so personally difficult for so many people, and when we each then take complete responsibility for our own prayer lives. Comins is a Reform rabbi and Jewish wilderness spirituality teacher who lived in Israel for many years and who has learned in traditional yeshivot as well. His book is a primer for a largely non-Orthodox readership that is unfamiliar with Hebrew and liturgy, put off by the unfamiliarity of synagogue services, and unwilling to accept the idea of a personal, commanding God who literally listens and responds to obligatory prayer. The first two chapters examine, from Comins’s perspective, contemporary Jews’ stumbling blocks in traditional prayer: the liturgy is too wordy and long; we pray with our minds, neglecting to engage our bodies or emotions; we rely too much on the keva, the words of the siddur, instead of cultivating the kavvanah, the intention of our personal prayer voices; we are unsure of the efficacy of t’fillah; too many synagogues treat t’fillah as a social and communal experience more than as a ladder to reach God. Comins then undertakes to show the individual worshipper how to become a “prayer-person,” someone who is constantly developing a sense of the divine presence within him or herself and within the world. His approach is uniquely multivocal: he draws upon the insights of more than fifty Jewish spiritual leaders, mostly rabbis, of all denominations. Rather than simply edit a series of fifty-plus consecutive essays—a technique that is used fairly extensively in books published by Jewish Lights—Comins introduces a topic, then inserts brief comments from these teachers which he intersperses with his own ideas and teachings. What results is a somewhat cacophonous but lively conversation among these teachers and practitioners of t’fillah. This allows the editor to move to the background and give space to a variety of opinions and experiences around Jewish spiritual practice and formal prayer, in the energetic manner of a page of Talmud. Comins also includes a number of essays on topics in contemporary t’fillah and spirituality for those (like me) who process full-length comments by individual writers more easily than we process snippets of writing. Equally enriching in Making Prayer Real is the actual variety of topics, concerns, and spiritual goals that are addressed by him and his fellow teachers. The five parts of the book describe in detail personal experiences and counsel for developing a life of t’fillah. These focus on the spiritual dynamics of prayer; how to begin to pray; growing and healing through prayer in the realms of loss, grief, and t’shuvah (repentance); and how the individual can begin to enter the world of traditional Jewish prayer meaningfully. (This last point is a major goal of this book and of Jewish religious education in general.) The book ends with an extensive section of spiritual practices and exercises that show the reader, step-by-step, how to personalize what he or she has been learning in the first four parts. This “how-to” section does not purport [End Page 95] to show the reader how to acquire ritual skills or chant prayers, but rather the means by which to make one’s prayer life with God a daily reality. I was particularly moved or intrigued by the chapters that deal with the efficacy of prayer, developing an “attitude of gratitude,” using prayer to grow in t’shuvah, and the value of addressing God personally...

Reading Booth in Beirut: Is Hizbollah an Emancipatory Actor?

The concept of Emancipation has become increasingly important in security studies in recent years but how well does the idea travel outside of the Western context in which it was conceived and into the Middle East? This article examines Hizbollah's four main identities: religious, resistance, socioeconomic, and as allies/proxies of Iran and asks to what extent this key regional non-state actor sees itself as an emancipatory agent in its own terms and how this differs from the Emancipatory ideal of Critical Security Studies (CSS). Does Hizbollah's current makeup offer enough scope to pursue Emancipation in line with the CSS project? Since the precept of Jihad offers Muslims a theological justification to engage in a holy struggle for a moral, spiritual, or political goal, seemingly Hizbollah is uniquely positioned to offer the prospect of Emancipation for the traditionally downtrodden Shi’a citizens of Lebanon, but does their Islamic faith and their aim of adherence to the Islamic way of life which they interpret from the Qur’an and Sunnah proscribe their credentials as truly Emancipatory actors? The article uses this analysis to examine the extent to which the commitment to universal Emancipation, found in CSS, is reconcilable with its Western-orientated foundation when applied in a Middle Eastern context.

Pedagogių nerimo sutrikimus ir depresiškumą skatinančių veiksnių analizė ir psichoedukacijos galimybės

Objective. To evaluate factors able to strengthen symptoms of the anxiety disorders and depression and to show possibilities of psycho-education Methods. Qualitative research.10 women ill with anxiety disorders or depression were involved into the psycho-education program. Two groups were organized in Psychiatric department.Each group had 6 meeting during 3 weeks. Having purpose to disclose patients’ personal meanings poetry reading was used in eve-ry group. Poetry served as a source of free associations and helped to develop dialog on various topics important for group members. Existential knowledge and information of the disease mechanism were given during group discussion. Creative artistic methods were used with purpose to express emotions and thoughts in more authentic way. All thoughts were written down and analysed in phenomenological and hermeneutic- interpretative way.Results. Somatic symptoms were more stronger when perception of self identity was lower. Somatic symptoms became stronger when conversation reached question of professional experience. By words of the informants “strong will to do good works and many efforts put to help other people” brought to weakness and exhaustion of psychic energy. A lack of external world impressions and smaller palette of emotions were noticed when the perception of self identity was smaller. Some informants were afraid to understand inner experiences and to disclose qualities of own personality, other had difficulties trying to apply psycho-logical knowledge into management of personal life. They used psychological knowledge to defend their rules associated with their emotional limits. Other had a fear to be wrong trying to dis-close qualities of their personality, and disclosed only negative qualities only or only positive. They confessed that they try to ignore negative emotions and weakness. Rationally they wanted to leave pedagogical practice, but emotional ambiguity was noticed. Low self evaluation blocked will to share the best professional practice with other and lead to low self evaluation, lack of spiritual goals and life meaning. The program improved their ability to communicate in the group, to express inner experiences verbally, give a hope.Conclusion. Somatic symptoms in case of anxiety disorder are stronger when perception of self identity is smaller; when is a lack of openness to impressions of external world and smaller variety of emotions. Professional work gives negative emotions, but trying to escape an experience of these emotions lead to lower self evaluation, spiritual goals disappear and life meaning is lost. Psycho-education reached with creative artistic methods helps to reduce somatic symptoms in case of anxiety disorders, and to reduce symptoms of depression in case of depression or anxiety disorder; bring hope, promotes the skills of verbal and social communication.

The Meaning of Social Activism to Older Adults in Ireland

There has been an upsurge of social activism amongst older adults in Ireland, which was particularly evident during the ‘medical card’ protests in Dublin in October 2008. This study used phenomenological interviews to explore the occupational meaning of social activism to seven older adults in Ireland. Social activism was found to be an occupation that firstly, is meaningful, valued and embedded in a wider pattern of leisure and social interests; secondly, develops over a lifetime and is chosen for a multitude of personal, social and political reasons; thirdly, is defined differently by participants, but is unanimously reported to be a vital component of how one sees oneself in the world and finally; is a complex occupation that has many benefits including improved well-being, a more powerful and respected status in society, fulfilment of spiritual goals, development of skills and providing a life of busyness and purpose in retirement. The study contributes to the understanding of the occupational participation of older adults and expands the study of occupation by exploring the meanings, benefits and challenges of social activism for these participants.

Heir to one’s Karma

Buddhist and Jain texts contain many stories that trace a person’s biography through multiple lives, illustrating karmic consequences, progress towards spiritual goals, and the preservation or deconstruction of relationships across several births. These stories can be seen as a form of genealogy, since they explain a person’s identity and form an alternative lineage to the family. This paper explores the ways in which karmic genealogies are constructed in some early Buddhist and Jain narratives, and how these interact with other forms of lineage, namely the family and networks of significant religious figures.

Spiritual Identity: Personal Narratives for Faith and Spiritual Living

In this article we outline a theoretical and methodological framework for spiritual identity as meaning in folk psychology. Identity is associated with psychological elements of personality that help people manage a time-bound existence. This discussion is extended on anthropological grounds, noting that spiritual goals are reinforced when they become symbolically self-important, often through religious ritual. This makes religious tradition and culture of monotheist exemplars centrally important to understanding idiosyncratic folk narratives like spiritual success.

The Politicisation of Mothering in Hindu Missions

This article compares and contrasts the religious discourses of three large trans-national Hindu organisations: the Ramakrishna Mission, the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, and Guru Mata Amritanandamayi Mission. It argues that despite the centrality of a spiritual message each organisation pursues a less obvious political and gender shaped vision of the world. The study combines a review of literature with fieldwork conducted in the centres based in Pune, Maharashtra between November 2008 and October 2009.The fieldwork and analysis of the organisations' religious discourses reveals how broad, open-ended religious concepts such as love and compassion are projected through and conflated with notions of women as mothers. The gendered ideologies pursued by each organisation are politicised in that they entail rigorous pursuit of a specific vision of how India and the world should be. However, as this article shows, despite the outward pursuit of similar spiritual goals the political objectives of each organisation differ revealing three competing visions of the world.

Faith-Based Social Services: Saving the Body or the Soul? A Research Note

Faith-based organizations might be ideal social service providers, claiming to transform clients' lives with holistic support while meeting immediate needs. While organizations have such goals, their success is impacted by constituencies with differing goals for the organization. Clients with goals not commensurate with an organization's may compromise its ability to attain its goals. Three questions are examined here: What are the goals of faith-based service providers? When asked what they think about the services, do clients share the organizational goals? Are organizations likely to meet either set of goals? Homeless persons patronizing faith-based soup kitchens were interviewed; service activities of organizations were observed. Clients' goals focused on survival in their current situation. Organizations' goals ranged from meeting clients' immediate needs to transforming clients through spiritual restoration. Congregations studied met clients' immediate needs. However, clients' accommodational goals were potentially problematic for organizations with spiritual goals.

What nurses need to know about Buddhist perspectives of end-of-life care and dying

Palliative care professionals, particularly nurses, understand that it is crucial to deliver culturally and religiously appropriate care to the dying while attending to their physical needs. This article provides a brief overview of the different types of Buddhism and the major beliefs of Buddhists, particularly around suffering and death. It explores the impact of some of the current practices of end-of-life care from the Buddhist perspective, with an emphasis on Buddhist goals, beliefs, and practices at the time of death. It outlines the importance of advanced care planning, particularly with respect to the use of analgesia, palliative sedation, and any special dietary requirements. It notes that regardless of advanced care planning, nurses should continue to assess the needs of the patient, and in discussion with family, titrate medication and provide an environment that helps the Buddhist reach his/her spiritual goals. It outlines the importance of the environment in achieving this goal, particularly as the Buddhist practitioner will wish to use non-medication practices, such as meditation and chanting, to finish the last meditation before death. The paper provides guidance on how nurses can ensure a good death for the dying Buddhist, and their family or loved ones, especially in the area of choice in terminal pain management and palliative sedation therapy.

Approaching Emptiness: Subjective, Objective and Existential Dimensions

Clinicians have lacked a coherent approach to emptiness, which is both a pervasive metaphor for loss, deficiency, or alienation and a frequently cited spiritual goal. We suggest a framework for approaching emptiness that distinguishes among its subjective, objective, and existential dimensions. Clinicians can use psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral approaches to clarify schemas that distort patients' perceptions of others and of themselves, behavioral and relational approaches to help them deal with real deficiency and loss, and spiritually oriented approaches to put these into a larger context.

Exploring spirituality among youth in foster care: findings from the Casey Field Office Mental Health Study.

This study examined spiritual coping mechanisms, beliefs about spirituality and participation in spiritual activities and in other positive activities among adolescents in foster care. A multidimensional measure of spirituality was developed for face-to-face interviews with 188 youth (ages 14-17) from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds in the United States. Findings revealed 95% of youth believe in God, over 70% believe God is 'creator' and God is 'love', and 79% considered prayer a spiritual practice. Most youth said love and forgiveness help them heal. Two-thirds (67%) reported responding to 'bad or tragic things happening' by spending time alone, and over half responded by praying (59%) or sharing the problem with someone else (56%). Youth's top three spiritual goals were to follow God's plan for them, become a better person, and know their purpose in life. Based on the value youth ascribed to spiritual coping mechanisms, recommendations for policy and practice focus on the integration of spirituality into practice and caregiving for youth in foster care.

An Existential Model of Flourishing Subsequent to Treatment for Addiction: The Importance of Living a Meaningful and Spiritual Life

This study examined recovering alcoholics who were struggling to rebuild their lives 2 years after completing a professional treatment program for addiction. Sixty-eight British adults provided data describing whether or not their personal, interpersonal, and community (civic) functioning had improved from the period of maximum suffering before treatment to a point 2 years after being discharged. Results showed the magnitude of overall Quality of Life (QoL) improvement was significantly and positively correlated with the amount of meaning that respondents perceived to be present in their life at the point of 2 year follow-up. In general, the total QoL scale score was not related to whether or not respondents indicated they were striving for spiritual goals. Spiritual striving, however, was found to moderate the strength of the association between meaning making and the community/societal sphere of QoL. When a sub-sample of 26 spiritual strivers was examined, greater meaning making was found to be related to better personal well-being, interpersonal well-being, and (civic) functioning in society. However, among the 26 individuals who did not see themselves as spiritual seekers, greater meaning making was only related to QoL assessed at the personal and interpersonal levels of analysis. These findings are consistent with Viktor Frankl's notion that suffering can be a catalyst for a more fulfilling way of being—provided that people are able to see meaning and purpose in their suffering. The apparent adaptive consequences of perceiving self-transcendent meaning were particularly broad in scope within the spiritual seeking sub group, who may have experienced a sanctified sense of meaning in their life. A Broad Spectrum Model of QoL is proposed to describe the more generalized salutary effects of sacred (as opposed to secular) meaning.

Sanctification in Milton's Academy: Reassessing the Purposes in Of Education and the Pedagogy of Paradise Lost

Sanctification in Milton's Academy: Reassessing the Purposes in <i>Of Education</i> and the Pedagogy of <i>Paradise Lost</i>