Spiritual Identity Research Articles

Autonomia związków wyznaniowych jako zasada ustrojowa i prawo podmiotowe

In the existing body of literature on the autonomy of religious associations, little attention has been paid to the normative nature of the formula adopted in the Polish Constitution, including the relation of the principle of autonomy to freedom of religion and belief. In this article, it is argued that religious autonomy, as expressed in the Polish Constitution, should be understood both as a constitutional principle and as a right of religious associations. The right to autonomy is not absolute and may be subject to limitations, but the closer the connection between the area of autonomy subject to regulation and the spiritual identity of the community concerned, the narrower the scope of permissible interference. The protection of the most sensitive manifestations of religious autonomy is safeguarded by the constitutionnal prohibition of interference with the essence of freedoms and rights.

Adaptive Reuse of Traditional Architecture under the Influence of Intelligent Systems

An intelligent system is a central part of the smart building that enhances adaptable reuse in an existing building. Many researchers agreed on a set of benefits of intelligent buildings, including reducing energy consumption, improving construction efficiency, predictive maintenance, increasing user productivity, better use of resources, and protecting and maintaining security and integrity, in addition to indoor comfort. This study investigates the impact of intelligent systems on the adaptive reuse of traditional cafes in Erbil, Iraq. This is achieved by answering the two research questions: • Are the changes of traditional cafes in line with the needs of today’s customers? • To what extent can an intelligent system enhance traditional cafés in Erbil related to current and future users? Therefore, the main objective of this research was to examine the level of adaptive reuse in traditional cafes in Erbil. To enhance the existing level of adaptation reuse by an intelligent system. An inductive and qualitative research approach was adopted to achieve the defined aim of this research. These methods include an overview of the literature on traditional architecture, adaptive reuse, and intelligent buildings; the data were collected through a physical survey and observation of traditional cafes and interviews with the owners, servers, and visitors in the buffer zone of Erbil Citadel. The key findings: Through this study, we found that the traditional cafes had new themes. The first was spiritual identity through (a) a passive system and (b) spatial aesthetics. Second, there is a need for a new system. The research concluded that adding intelligent systems to traditional cafes through sensors to existing devices makes them intelligent and links them together wirelessly to provide the integration that is the basis of intelligent buildings, in other words, trying to reuse existing devices adaptively. And that traditional cafes deserve to be adaptive and reused continuously and periodically every five years. This will help users to improve the performance of conventional cafes in Erbil.

THE VALUE OF RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS: CULTURAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE KAZAKH PEOPLE AND THE ZOROASTRIANS

In our material presented to your attention, the value of religious and devotional traditions common to the Kazakh people and Zoroastrians, as well as inter-ethnic, inter-religious features and similarities of religious traditions are studied and discussed. Today, in social networks and mass media, the majority of existing Kazakh traditions in Kazakhstan are foreign to Islam, some of them are full of elements of traditions of foreign nations, as well as comments from the side of Islam that «associating partners with God is wrong.» In this article, the Zoroastrian religious and other traditions and holidays, which are closely intertwined with some Kazakh traditions, are studied and analyzed from a scientific point of view. Returning to the past, studying history, re-examining historical relics, spiritual renewal and turning to new and fresh perspectives are the demands of time. It is true that any nation has its own culture, spiritual identity, and spiritual world. In fact, just as no nation can live in isolation without individual historical, political and economic ties, culture cannot exist without mutual influence and connection.

Ubufundisi bonyana womgquba: In memoriam of Vuyani Shadrack Vellem

Vuyani Vellem was a distinguished scholar of black theology of liberation. A number of giants of black scholarship and theologians have written constructive tributes in recognition of his work, particularly in academia. He has rightly been lauded as an excellent academic, but very little has been said about his role as a churchman. Despite being an outstanding African theologian, Vellem’s ministerial formation was hewed in the context of the black-conscious minister from the African Christian missionary church enterprise. He was a trailblazer, a voice of the voiceless within the church, in South African black communities, in ecumenical relations and globally. This article reflects on the crucial role of yobufundisi bonyana womgquba or womthonyama [ministry of the son of the soil, land or earth], in which Vuyani Vellem relentlessly served the church until his untimely death at the age of 50 years on 04 December 2019. The article argues that Vellem unrelentingly loved and served the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA) with distinction as its first black general secretary at a transitional epoch in the postapartheid era where the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa came into union with the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa in 1999 to form the current UPCSA.Contribution: The scholarly contribution of this article adds value and significant tribute to the ministry of Vellem, his quest for justice and unshackling of the church. It seeks to espouse ubufundisi bakhe [his ministry] within the UPCSA, his perpetual calling in serving the needy and downtrodden. Moreover, the article contributes a practica reflectere of his spirituality, black consciousness and life identity with underprivileged black churches and communities.

THE ROLE OF URBAN SCULPTURE IN FORMING THE MEANING OF IDENTITY IN MODERN URBAN PLANNING

In order to investigate the role of urban sculpture in the formation of a sense of identity in modern urbanism, it seems necessary to study its history and prerequisites and the reasons for their appearance in the city. The emergence of an identity crisis can be a contributing factor to authentication attempts. Location is an aspect of space that is occupied by something or someone and has meaning and significance. In other words, location is where function and meaning of space interact. Thus, the form, function, location and connotation of urban sculpture can play a central role in shaping and coordinating the existing semantic identity of a city's urban planning. One of the most important functions of urban sculpture is to create a certain sense of place, evoke a certain spirit in space or enhance the sense of space. A place is a part of space that is occupied by someone or something and has a valuable meaning. Provided that there is harmony between the statue and the environment and the enhancement of the visual integrity of the environment, citizens will experience satisfaction and greater comfort and the sense of place will be enhanced. Identity is another important factor in contemporary urban studies. Identity includes a certain range. The range that an individual, using it, can recognize or distinguish a place from other places in order to find a unique personality or at least a specific personality for himself. Therefore, it can be said that the statues that use creative and artistic design can create an identity, but to achieve the principles of identity, the issues of identity and meaning should be explored more. The result of identity confirmation and authentication is the spiritual identity of the measured space from the point of view of the person and the community, and its necessity is a situation that can ensure the spiritual identity of the space. With the recognition of this condition, it is possible to direct the space affected by the identity crisis towards the desired authentication and, during the change, to preserve the identity-filled space from the identity crisis. On the other hand, it should be taken into account that identity receives its validity through the recognition of being. Therefore, the most important condition of spiritual identity is recognizable being. Keywords: urban sculpture, identity, meaning, urbanism.

ADOLESCENT IDENTITY FORMATION VERSUS SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION

AbstractSince 1950, Erik Erikson's emphasis on ego‐identity formation as the crucial task of adolescence has been the framework for almost all subsequent research and programming to empower positive adolescent development. Chatlos has recently described a “Framework of Spirituality” and contends that identity formation significantly interferes with and should occur after a spiritual transformational process for optimal and more meaningful adolescent development. This article reviews the current status of research in identity formation, including religious and spiritual identity formation contributing to his conclusion, and describes the spiritual transformational process that is proposed to be central to positive adolescent development. A possible link between systemic focus on identity formation and current social upheaval is also identified.

Communicative and ethno-pedagogical competence of future teachers in the context of poly-ethnic educational process

Today, ethnic revival is considered to be one of the leading directions in the development of mankind. Beginning of the 21st century characterized by the fact that humanity is moving from a technogenic culture to a humanitarian one, the highest values of which are man, nature, family, peace. Traditional folk culture has a positive historical experience that requires its study and implemantation in new conditions. At the same time, education has the task of preserving the native culture of peoples. The success of the transformation of society will largely depend on how much the need for the revival of the spirituality and national identity of each people will be satisfied. People want to know their native culture, their language, to feel their belonging to a certain ethnic group. The leading place in solving these problems is given to the education system built on ethno-cultural foundations, on the principle of dialectical trinity: national, international and global, which allows a person to deeply feel belonging to his people and at the same time recognize himself as a citizen of the country and a subject of world civilization. Traditional folk culture should be connected with the educational process with the educational institution. The article deals with the concept of communicative-ethnopedagogical competence and its significance in education. There are three styles of communicative-ethnopedagogical competence. Keywords: communicative-ethnopedagogical competence, ethnopedagogics, communication, competence, higher education, future teachers.

The soul words of the Ukrainian people

The article presents the main directions of the domestic psychological science development which are devoted to the psychology of the Ukrainian person and the Ukrainian people in the context of methodolohems of their self-cognition and self-affirmation. It is noted that the changeability of the meanings of the same word forms reflects the peculiarities of human thinking of each era and therefore, through the existence of the mental, determines the meaningfulness of being which in the case of the Ukrainian understanding is characterized by both the limitlessness of the human soul cognition and the importance of comprehension the common and different in the spiritual organization of other peoples. In particular, the multi-sense mosaic of the ethno-Ukrainian self-awareness of the soul existence as life, love, dream, person, part of the body and embodied desire is argued, the inexhaustibility of the meaning of the soul as a word, term, concept and psychological category is underlined, in addition, it is substantiated the thesis that the exit of feeling and understanding beyond the limits of any scientific cognition is possible in the same way that personally present life creates itself by its existence in the infinity of its own incarnations and meanings. The reaction of the Ukrainian soul to a foreign hiding of faces under the masks of “guise” and “persona” is revealed in an adequate borrowing of the protective method of salvation from insincerity, slyness and deception in the form of the modified Latin concepts of “parsuna” and “portrait”, the dichotomy of borrowed and own is clarified, which accompanies the development of the spiritual identity of Ukrainians in the dualism of the soul-for-oneself and the psyche as a general depersonalized category-for-all that exists in parallel in soul language and psychology, without crossing in its purpose and embodiment. The attention is paid to the fact that over the centuries, an established action on the meaning of the soul remains unanswered, each time acquiring different incarnations: in soulwords as a verbal expression of the soul, expression and appeal to it; in soulsalvation as the return of the soul to itself; in spiritualizing as an active comprehensiveness of mental life in its conscious, subconscious, unconscious and superconscious dimensions. And yet, despite the wide range of forms of spiritual, a soul of a living being remains immeasurable as the soul of life, which will always be the more incomprehensible, the more specific the attempts to grasp it completely and entirely become. The statement that the whole world of a person is embodied in his soul and exists as long as a personal experience continues, as well as the life of the peoples – all those born and related by its psychosocial flow – is reflected. It has been proven that the manifestations of the peoples’ life in its past and present are covered by the concept of the soul and, in a conscious expression, are embodied in interactions on a common field – in the spherical space of communication, which acquires infinite variations of speech existence. Based on this, the need to mark the essence of the soul of everyone who belongs to one of the peoples of the world is inherent in each of these peoples, although it is realized and implemented differently, including going beyond its own borders, which involves capturing as many individuals as possible by imposing your identity on them, embodied in the monopolistic form of cosmopolitanism, chauvinism, fascism, communism, internationalism, globalism or other fluctuations of the ethnic spirit that insatiable by struggle for the primacy. Under the favorable conditions of military expansion for this spirit, it expanded beyond its own phenomenal horizons, always parasitizing on the original ethnic language base – Arabic, Greek, Persian, Latin, French, German, English, Russian and many others. The need in cognition the essence of the Ukrainian soul and its defining properties is revealed, primarily in its desire for deeper self-cognition, the fundamental research basis of which is the joint work of the Ukrainian scientists’ team of the middle of the 20th century “Ukrainian soul” that reflects the main dimensions of the ultra-complex, multi-subject object of study chosen by five scientists: “Ukrainian emotionality” – Ye. Onatskiy, “Ukrainian’s perception of the world” – O. Kulchytskiy, “Family and soul of the peoples” – B. Tsymbalisty, “Soul and song” – M. Shlemkevych, “Bibliographic review” – V. Doroshenko. It is concluded that psychology of the Ukrainian person, the Ukrainian peoples needs a creation of, an adequate for psychosophical cognition-construction, methodology of discovering unknown dimensions of their own development in which the self-movement of psycho-spiritual is possible on the path of self-reflection of its own essence in the boundless vectors of human development that must find and harmonize its own sensory-intellectual soulwords.

Searching for Jewish spirituality: the narrative identity of new age Jews in Israel

ABSTRACT This paper explores the identity narratives of three former members of New Age Judaism (NAJ) communities. By conducting an ethnographic study of the communities, the paper shows that these life stories are based on an intensive search for spirituality. This search prompted the narrators to experiment with disparate forms of Jewish and non-Jewish beliefs and practices and, consequently, to negotiate, challenge, and subvert the categories of the religious and the secular. By emphasizing their choice of a Jewish spiritual identity over a secular or religious one, the narratives illustrate the gradual inward turn taking place in Israeli Jewish society over the last two decades among non-observant Jews and the creation of a new hybrid category of Jewish identity.

"Marked" Bodies, Medical Intervention, and Courageous Humility: Spiritual Identity Formation in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark offers a sharp lens through which to examine power, purity, and personal identity. Scientist and spiritual idealist, Aylmer, is obsessed with "correcting" the only flaw he perceives in his wife Georgina, the imprint of a small red hand on her pale cheek. For Alymer, this one "imperfection" reaches deep into Georgina's heart, a sign of sin, decay, and mortality. It is the natural that must be overcome with science. Drawing on Hawthorne's tragic fiction, this paper questions the influence of stigma, power dynamics, and mind-body dualism in constructing disability identity within the framework of medical and spiritual practices of care. Whether in the role of a spiritual leader, chaplain, or medical professional, people providing care must first address ableism and perceptions of normalcy in relation to their own identity and calling before offering professional advice to disabled people seeking guidance or support. It is only as professional fields adopt a posture marked by courageous humility that healing practices will promote the flourishing of all people, including those with disabilities.

More than Emotional Coping: Cultivating Resilience in Human Services Volunteering

This study examined volunteer coping and resilience processes in emotionally-taxing work. Based on the reflections of 34 client-facing volunteers with a nonprofit that supports people experiencing homelessness, survivors of human trafficking, and refugee children, we identified four primary processes of volunteer resilience: (a) preemptive support offered at an individual level, (b) promotion of periodic rest from volunteering, (c) reframing and transforming the struggle, and (d) invoking spiritual identity anchors. These findings contribute to resilience theorizing by underscoring the necessary role of both routine social support and rest from emotion work in resilience processes.

Interfaith?: A Critical Examination of the Interfaith Learning and Development (ILDT) Framework for Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Identities

In a recent volume of the Journal of College and Character, Matt Mayhew and Alyssa Rockenbach presented their frameworks by which they have designed and utilized their IDEALS study over the past several years. In this present article, the authors contend that despite their rigorous research, the researchers and measurements oftentimes have lacked recognition and acknowledgement of Christian biases and hegemony and thus have limited their results. We propose several remediations for how the data can be helpful and effective and suggest future scholarship which evaluates more critical approaches to the subject of religious, secular, and spiritual identities (RSSIs).

Incorporating Interfaith Concepts in Education on Patient-Centered Care

Context Many topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion are receiving attention in the popular media and in literature. However, religious, spiritual, and secular identities and how these relate to culturally competent patient-centered care have received considerably less attention. Objective Encourage athletic training educators to enhance their curriculum related to providing culturally competent patient-centered care by including content on interfaith patient care and offer guidance on foundational concepts and practical strategies. This paper provides a framework for providing education on quality patient care with respect to patients' religious, spiritual, and secular identities: (1) create a foundation of understanding, (2) establish a rationale for content inclusion, and (3) provide practical strategies for teaching and the provision of quality patient-centered care with respect to religious, spiritual, and secular identities. Background Religious, spiritual, and secular identities are often an important part of a patient's self-concept, and thus need to be considered when providing culturally competent patient-centered care. The Board of Certification Standards of Professional Practice and the Commission on the Accreditation of Athletic Training Education standards for professional athletic training programs both address patient care with specific language related to cultural competence. Although athletic trainers recognize the importance of considering religious, spiritual, and secular identities of patients, many athletic trainers may not feel equipped to address these identities when providing culturally competent patient-centered care. Description Students should be better prepared to provide a more complete holistic approach to culturally competent patient-centered care. Educational Advantage A framework for addressing this content in an athletic training curriculum includes providing foundational concepts and a rationale for the inclusion of this content and then offering practical strategies for considering religious, spiritual, and secular identities in patient-centered care. Conclusion(s) Athletic training educational programs should include education on religious, spiritual, and secular identities for culturally competent patient-centered care.

Czech Pagan Metal: A Short Introduction to Major Local Trends

This article offers a short introduction to Czech pagan metal. I offer a brief summary of the main trends within the local scene and analyze how Paganism is discursively constructed in the music and lyrics of three bands representing different metal sub-genres: Inferno, Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, and Žrec. I seek answers for some important questions. How do Czech bands approach Paganism? In what ways, if any, is Czech pagan metal unique? Or do Czech pagan metal bands simply copy global trends? How important is spiritual identity in the personal lives of Pagan metal band members? The main theoretical inspirations for thearticle are Robert Walser’s discursive study of heavy metal and Keith Kahn-Harris’s concept of scene. The analysis of lyrics and music is enhanced by data from ethnological and quantitative research among listeners of Czech Pagan metal music.

Home-Field-Temple as Existentials of Ukrainian Culture

Aim. To analyse the spiritual and mental existentials of Ukrainian culture, which allows identifying the immanent features of Ukrainian culture itself through the symbolic-thematic series Home-Field-Temple and examine the symbolism of the concepts “Home,” “Field,” and “Temple.” Results. The thesis that spiritual and mental existentials, in particular the Home-Field-Temple, reveal the mentality of the Ukrainian people, its spiritual and cultural identity has been further developed. Conclusion. The essence of the mentality of the Ukrainian people is revealed with the help of spiritual and mental existentials Home-Field-Temple. They play an important part in the creation of a single mental field of the Ukrainian nation, being revealed in its ideological life by certain inclinations or archetypes. The Home-Field-Temple symbol is a reference point for searching for certain archetypes of the nation. The concepts of Home-Field-Temple symbolise the trinity of one spiritual state of man, which is objectified in three guises. These concepts are so intertwined in the minds of Ukrainians that they see them as an inseparable unity – something symbolising their homeland. Home, land, and church have always been reliable support for the Ukrainian people.

Te Pā Auroa nā Te Awa Tupua: the new (but old) consciousness needed to implement Indigenous frameworks in non-Indigenous organisations

The Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017 formalised a new way to view, use and understand Te Awa Tupua—the Whanganui River. While giving legal personhood to a river is relatively recent, the paradigm shift towards a new consciousness of natural phenomena having physical and spiritual identities originates from Indigenous knowledge, values and practices. The framework that will implement this new change, Te Pā Auroa nā Te Awa Tupua, is values-based, appoints positions and governance groups, includes a whole-of-river strategy, is supported with funding and applies legal recognition to the Whanganui River and its intrinsic values. This article seeks to build a bridge of understanding to facilitate non-Indigenous engagement with implementing Te Pā Auroa nā Te Awa Tupua as an organising framework for human action and relations with human and nonhuman entities.

Gender, Civic Engagement, and the Importance of Integrating Spirituality

Spirituality is associated with a variety of positive life outcomes, and the university experience has long been regarded as a critical period of spiritual identity development. We empirically examine a model of the relationships between gender, civic engagement, and the importance of integrating spirituality into one’s life in a large sample of undergraduates. We propose that a key explanation for why gender differences exist in the importance of integrating spirituality into one’s life may be that civic engagement is intervening in the relationship between gender and spirituality. To test our hypotheses, we administered surveys to 964 first-year undergraduate students in the western United States. We found that women had higher scores for civic engagement and the importance of integrating spirituality into their lives than men. In addition, civic engagement mediated the influence of gender on the importance of integrating spirituality into one’s life. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The Experience of LGBTQ+ Identity as Spiritual Identity

Owing to widespread condemnation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ+) people among many mainstream religious and spiritual traditions, evidence suggests that many LGBTQ+ individuals face considerable conflict related to spiritual and religious identity. Some LGBTQ+ individuals manage to reconcile their LGBTQ+ and spiritual identities, while others even view their LGBTQ+ identity as a spiritual one. This qualitative research study focused on the experience of LGBTQ+ identity as spiritual identity. Ten participants were interviewed via email by the researcher, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The data were organized into three primary themes, each comprised of three to four subthemes. Findings indicated that LGBTQ+ identity as spiritual identity is experienced as a sense of connection and capacity for connection, a set of unique perspectives on various aspects of life, and a sense of having varied spiritual roles to play in the world. These findings and their limitations are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.

(Re)gaining the urban commons: everyday, collective, and identity resistance

ABSTRACT This paper examines the everyday, collective, and identity resistance mobilized by the urban poor to (re)gain their right to the commons and contest urban exclusion. Informed by the community of waste pickers at La Chureca, the city dump of Managua, Nicaragua, the paper, builds on theories of discard studies, urban commons, and Bayat’s everyday resistance. It shows, first, how deprived communities can create their own commons through quietly encroaching on public space and using such resources as waste. Second, it reveals how activating passive networks (e.g. spatial and professional solidarity, kinship) can be fundamental in commoning, by triggering intermittent collective resistance, giving rise to more permanent active networks (cooperatives and trade unions). Third, it shows how simultaneous strategies of collaboration with the state can be mobilized when necessary. Finally, it demonstrates how constructing a resistance identity becomes an important sociocultural mechanism for claiming access to the commons, on the basis of a heterogeneous configuration of territorial, environmental, professional, family, and spiritual identities. Resistance identity stems from and supports individual and collective resistance, to maintain access to the commons. We conclude that all forms of everyday, collective, and identity resistance are essential, and none alone is sufficient to (re)gain the commons.

A tree of spirituality: exploring insider knoweldges of balancing Catholic and First Nations identities using narrative practices

The Catholic church has been implicated in histories of colonisation and loss of identity for First Nations peoples. For many Aboriginal people, it is also a source of community, pastoral care and identity, and is held in complex balance with Aboriginal spirituality. This paper describes a process of seeking insider knowledges from Catholic First Nations school students about how they hold their Aboriginal spirituality with care alongside their Catholic faith identity, and how they navigate the Catholic education system. It shows how the Tree of Life process was adapted to include invitations to reflect about spirituality and religious identity. This provided space for identification of unique outcomes about what the students valued and how they hold on to what is important to them.