Spiritual Transformation Research Articles

Hoffmann traditions in Selma Lagerlöf ’s novel “Gösta Berling’s Saga”

The article focuses on the study of Hoffmann traditions in Selma Lagerlöf ’s novel “Gösta Berling’s Saga”. The features of Hoffman’s poetics in the novel are revealed by using the methodology of the “Hoffman’s complex”, which is an ideological and thematic complex of motives and stylistic techniques inherent in the works by E. T. A. Hoffman. The “Hoffmann’s complex” is manifested in the novel in the problem of the rebellion of the Romantic hero-creator in relation to faith and religion, the problem of the relationship of the Romantic hero with femininity, the opposition of secular and Christian love, the motive of mechanization of man and society in the new capitalist industrial formation. The features of Hoffmann’s poetics were manifested in the novel “Gösta Berling’s Saga” also in the interweaving of Hoffmann’s images (Don Juan (“Don Juan”), Medardus (“The Devil’s Elixirs”) and plots (a defrocked monk, who under the influence of wine as an incarnate temptation, commits crimes and experiences a split of personality (“The Devil’s Elixirs”) and a rebellious Romantic hero in search of an unattainable ideal world in which his disintegrated personality must find consolidation (“Don Juan”). The conclusion sums up that S. Lagerlöf, relying on the plot, problems and images of E. T. A. Hoffman’s works (“Don Juan”, “The Devil’s Elixirs”, “Adventure on New Year’s Eve”), creates the author’s concept of spiritual transformation of personality through Christian love and reconsiders the image of a Romantic hero, transforming it into a new type of Christian Neo-Romantic hero.

Can AI do Spiritual Research? A Zen Buddhist Perspective

This article invigorates the ongoing conversation in the MSR field on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in global consciousness and spiritual research. The author defines spiritual research in terms of basic philosophical and methodological characteristics. She then highlights specific features of Zen-informed spiritual research to illustrate what global consciousness means in Zen Buddhist ontology and why spiritual research is the type of research needed for achieving global consciousness. She suggests that AI cannot replace human agency in doing spiritual research, although AI tools may be used to augment the modeling and communication of spiritual research findings. Moreover, uncurbed application of AI tools in social sciences may perpetuate the dehumanizing tendency of functionalist research. Lastly (in an appendix), she provides a first-person narrative to demonstrate autoethnographic spiritual writing that accentuates the epistemological significance of mystical experiences, dreams and intuition, and the axiological value of human suffering and emotions as gateways to spiritual transformation.

Путь героя в ранних текстах Ф.М. Достоевского и «Преступлении и наказании»

The article proposes to consider how the early work of Fyodor Dostoevsky and the novel Crime and Punishment correlate at the level of their internal symbolic stories created by the author behind the external plots of the works. In this work, the hypothesis is put forward that Raskolnikov manages to follow the path of spiritual transformation, which the writer sought to find for his heroes of the 1840s, but then he failed to fully realize it. Despite the ongoing debate in the academic community about the role of the epilogue in Crime and Punishment, it can still be said that this novel, the only one from the Five Great Novels, shows the hero’s path from a complete fall to a directly prescribed spiritual resurrection. The article attempts to show that Raskolnikov follows the path along the “trajectory” described in the early texts, but obviously with some fundamental changes that allowed this path to be realized. The article is a description of the first steps in the development of this topic.

Feet in Hell, Spirit in Heaven: Spiritual Transformation of Chinese Travelers on the Camino de Santiago.

The study aims to understand the precursors, catalysts, and dimensions of the spiritual transformation of Chinese travelers on the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage-tourist route in Spain. This research has adopted the theoretical framework of spiritual transformation by Pargament and his colleagues in collecting the transformative experience of Chinese Camino travelers reported in 139 blogs and stories. Thematic analysis is employed in analyzing the data. The study results show that Chinese travelers underwent spiritually transformative experiences, as observed in the changes in their relationship to themselves, others, nature, and the transcendent. These four dimensions are interconnected and experienced as something integrated with Chinese cultural and spiritual traditions. This study also explores the transculturality of spiritual experience, the important role of embodied engagement, and the critical and essential qualities of liminality in the transformative process on the Camino de Santiago.

Når spiritualitet blir kroppslig

Spiritual awakening is becoming a common phenomenon in alternative spiritual communities and is no longer exclusive to a small elite of religious saints and disciples. There is limited research on spiritual experiences outside religious contexts in the Nordic countries. While relevant theological research exists on religious experiences in Christian contexts, much of the research on alternative spirituality is based on outsider perspectives that miss out on the deeper psychological phenomena experienced by “spiritual, but not religious” individuals. This article is based on three qualitative interviews with individuals in contemporary spiritual communities in Norway who have experienced spontaneous spiritual awakenings and speak openly about this. Focus is on the experience of altered states of consciousness, intense feelings of love, and physical energies in the body, which lead to permanent psychological transformation. Starting with a review of relevant Norwegian and Swedish research in the field, we apply a theoretical approach drawn from humanistic and transpersonal psychology to make sense of our interviewees’ experiences, and then discuss how these cases of embodied spiritual transformation differ from religious conversion and are better understood in terms of psychological concepts of trauma healing, self-actualization and human potential.

ALCHEMICAL SYMBOLISM OF THE NOVELLA “THE GOLDEN POT: A MODERN FAIRY TALE” BY E. T. A. HOFFMANN

The aim of this study is to analyse the symbolism of E.T.A. Hoffman’s novella “The Golden Pot” within the framework of the alchemical discourse. The researchers employed historical-genetic, structural-semantic methods and the method of motivic analysis to explore the elements of medieval alchemical symbolism in the novella, namely: the motif of the hero’s initiation and his subsequent spiritual transformation, the symbols of snake, elemental spirits (salamander and dragon), manuscripts, blood, apples, garden, four elements, palm and cypress, as well as the symbolism of colour – red, black, white, gold and bronze. Results of the research suggest that the medieval theory of alchemy corresponded to the image of achieving creative harmony and spiritual transformation in German Romanticism.

To be wounded and yet heal. How two wounded healers helped Henri Nouwen find solitude

This article explored Henri Nouwen’s well-known concept, the wounded healer. After investigating its origins, Henri Nouwen’s use of the term was examined. The article proposed that Henri Nouwen was mainly influenced by Anton Boisen and Vincent van Gogh in his use of the concept of the wounded healer. Nouwen’s interest in these persons was considered to glean how they shaped his thoughts before focusing on he used a model of pastoral analysis, the living document model to autobiographically explore his own wounds, to access them, and to offer what he learned as a means of healing for his audiences. Nouwen recognised himself as wounded and became for his readers a wounded healer. Nolte and Dreyer’s view that the wounded healer concept was a welcome corrective to prevailing models of pastoral care, and De Jong’s view that the wounded healer is a pathway to self-actualisation were used as a bridge to Nouwen’s views on personal spiritual transformation. Finally, Nouwen’s thoughts on transformation involving a movement from loneliness to solitude were investigated, showing that the outcome was a move towards a considered and deeper interaction with the world.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article contributed to scholarship in Christian spirituality by considering the work of Henri J. M. Nouwen and the sources of his concept, the wounded healer. It also considered connections with and implications for pastoral psychology and practical theology.

Философская проблема языка в романах Уокера Перси

The aim of the research is to identify the role of language and speech behavior of characters in revealing the author’s philosophical intent in the novels by Walker Percy, namely “Lancelot”, “The Second Coming” and “The Thanatos Syndrome”. The paper is original in that it is the first to substantiate the connection between Percy’s theoretical inquiries in the philosophy of language and the principles of construction of plots and characters’ images in his later novels. Percy finds that the main function of language is not in naming facts of reality or establishing abstract connections between them, but in a person’s realization of the ontological meaning of what is happening through an awareness of the social and vital significance of what is being uttered. Mechanical manipulation of clichéd expressions and the dominance of form over content in speech become indicators of the characters’ internal emptiness and their loss of human essence. The return of individual meaning to spoken words is closely linked to the internal spiritual transformation of the characters. As a result, the research demonstrates that the characters’ speech in Percy’s novels serves an important function in characterizing their existential status: changes in speech signify essential changes in the characters’ nature, their proximity or distance from the understanding of the meaning of life.

Metamorphosis of Chamber-Vocal Cycle in the Work of M. Shukh (on the Example of the Meditative Performance "Songs of spring")

The purpose of the research is to identify the poetic and intonation uniqueness of M. Shuh's "Songs of Spring" in the context of the evolutionary paths of the development of the chamber-vocal cycle in the 20th century. The methodological basis of the work is the intonation approach in musicology, as well as the historical-cultural and interdisciplinary approach, which allow to investigate the peculiarities of the evolution of the chamber-vocal cycle in postmodern culture, in particular, in "Songs of Spring" by M. Shukh. The scientific novelty of the work is due to its analytical perspective, which takes into account not only the specifics of the existence of the vocal cycle in the culture of late 20th century, but also the peculiarities of their reproduction in the "Songs of Spring", defined by the author as a "meditative action" formed at the intersection of the cultural and historical traditions of the East and the West. Conclusions. The vocal-instrumental cycle "Songs of Spring" by M. Shukh, the genre of which the composer himself defined as "meditative action", combined the spiritual teachings of Eastern and Western cultures. The first is evident in the poetic basis of the work, which appeals to ancient Chinese poetry and its oriental images-symbols ("jasper flute"), while the Western tradition is revealed in the post-modern metamorphoses of the poetics of the chamber-vocal cycle, which in this case converges with a mysterious and meditative spectacle. The marked genre synthesis of M. Shukh's cycle also determines the author's innovative approach to his performance composition, which combines a solo soprano, flute, and a number of percussion instruments into a polyphonic whole, the timbre of which reproduces the oriental (Chinese) flavour of this opus (tam-tam, bells, triangle, bongo, vibraphone, and others). This timbre-polyphonic ensemble is also complemented by the part of the chant, which clearly speaks a significant part of the poetic text. The leading idea of the work, which has a single pentatonic intonation basis, turns out to be ultimately focused also on the idea of the inner spiritual transformation of a person through the contemplation of spring and its signs, filled with deep symbolic meaning.
 Keywords: "Spring Songs" by M. Shukha, "meditative action", chamber-vocal cycle, culture of the East and the West, postmodernism.

Creative activity of students-musicians of different specialisations in the process of active transformation of sound material: questions of performance and education

The article examines the creative activity of students-musicians of various specialties studying at a modern university. The author of the article evaluates educational and creative activities in terms of the activity of all musical abilities and intellectual resources. The interdependence of the quality of education in a professional musical educational institution and the degree of resistance of musical culture is emphasised. The educational activity of musical students is the process of daily acquisition of information that must be related to the musical subject. Examples of such information are printed samples (books), paintings, sculptural samples; living natural objects and their spiritual transformations in human consciousness (emotions, feelings, sensations, experiences). The article also raises questions about the need for a functional orientation of the active creative activity of a student musician and the creation of an ideal musical and semantic construct as a result of this activity.

Fulfilling the Regenerative Potential of Higher Education: A Collaborative Auto-Ethnography

Moving towards sustainable futures in which human and natural systems increasingly flourish together asks not only for technological innovation but also for social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual transformation. Regenerative education is an upcoming strand of theory and practice seeking to understand the enabling role educational systems can fulfill in this process. This paper aims to advance the notion of regenerative education from the perspective of two regenerative principles: (1) living the question of vocation and (2) embracing emergence. To do so, we—as a teacher–researcher and a student–researcher—engage in collaborative auto-ethnography against the background of a regenerative educational experiment we participated in together, which we refer to as “Graduate with Hope”. Our collaborative auto-ethnographic process was built around the practices of journaling and diffractive letter conversation. Through it, we meditate how (1) fostering a regenerative educational experience asks for the embrace of the pedagogical paradoxes of structure, shared agency, educational space, and transformation, (2) embracing these paradoxes can be confrontational and trigger inner development, and (3) sustaining commitment in this context asks for an ongoing practice of “talking the walk”. These perspectives can inspire educational professionals to design for, engage in, and study regenerative forms of education.

Tourism, Mountain, and ‘Mystic Fire’: A Study on Spiritual Journey of a Vedic Sadhak Living in Panchasee Mountain in Central Nepal

This paper is on spiritual tourism associates: tourism, ecology, and spirituality in the specific context of Panchasee mountain in the central Nepal. It presents spiritual experiences of a Vedic sadhak, born and raised in the west, lived in Sri Aurobindo Ashram in India for forty years from his young age and now has been living in Panchasee. Its key concern is to understand his spiritual quest in the Himalayan ecology. Focused on the stage of the spiritual transformation of the sadhak’s inner journey it reveals that the sadhak is highly energized to remain close with his spiritual wisdom that he experienced in Panchasee ecology and being active as a member of a family of the mountain society. It concludes with some insights in relation to spiritual tourism. This study has adopted a special research strategy called fursad ethnography to generate data on the sadhak’s life history and his spiritual quest in the Panchasee mountain.

Science of Yoga in Bhagavad Gita: A Review

In the Indian tradition, the Moksha (Salvation) is reckoned as a super goal of life and its genuine scripture is Bhagavad Gita, but where in Yoga is the super means of all that, connecting life i.e. as a spine of the India’s mysticism. In accordance with the tradition Bhagavad Gita is known as the specific treatise of Yoga-practices along with super ethics and as its originator Lord Krishna who was become in the unknown deeper past. So the Gita is extreme holly text particularly for the Hindus communities. For the spiritual transformation of human’s life, it describes prominently two streams of Yoga- first common Path of Yoga (Indirect travelling to cosmic consciousness) and second esoteric Path of Yoga (Direct travelling to cosmic consciousness). Although the major difficulty to understand is that the Gita is codified as the formulas (Sutras), symbolic words and metaphors, so it cannot be decoded exactly by the common skill but it’s needed enlightened skill for the exact de-codification and interpretation. In order to another context, Gita discusses the “Pravitti Marga” (Path of Tantra) and along with “Nivritti Marga” (Path of Yoga) in detail. If we see the entire scenario around spirituality so the Gita has been more popular from ancient to now because of introducing the Path of devotion, Path of action and Path of knowledge. So therefore these all Yoga has discussed briefly in this review article.

The Sound of One Hand Playing: The Sonic Environment of a Zen Training Temple

Zen practice is often associated with aloof silence and introspection. However, any visitor to a Japanese Zen training temple will be surprised by the abundance and richness of the acoustic environment. In effect, every moment of the training schedule is accompanied, chronicled, and choreographed by percussions and chanting vocals. This paper will introduce this sonic environment and explain how different sounds construct the training experience. In particular, I will focus on sound instruments that coordinate daily activities, such as bells, gongs, drums, and the like, arguing that they are essential to Zen practice. The first part of the paper explains the unique characteristics of a Japanese Zen training temple, focusing on ritual sound instruments and their place within the monastic soundspace. The second part examines the meaning of these instruments as described in Zen canonical writing, focusing mainly on Baizang’s monastic regulation and different references to it by Japanese masters throughout history. The third part explores how contemporary monastics understand sound instruments and their function in regulating the body, conveying values, and evoking spiritual transformation.

The Natural Power of Music

Among the early medieval authors, Amalarius of Metz (8th–9th century) is one of those who discussed the impact of religious music and song on the body and soul. In his main work: the Liber Officialis, listening and singing liturgical music are depicted as having a corporeal effect that generates sensations of an intense sensory and emotional character. In Amalarius, living the musical religious phenomenon not only coincides with the idea that music can evoke emotions but there is something that goes further. What Amalarius emphasizes is a particular emotion: a “spiritual state” of the nakedness of the heart, almost a weakness of those who are capable of tears and sensitive to God’s voice. During the patristic era, especially in the East, “penthos” (compunction) was used to describe the experience of tears in prayer or meditation; however, Fathers of the Church described liturgical music as an obstacle to compunction. For this reason, an evolution of that compunctory doctrine emerges from the exposition of Amalarius. In this context, it is not a question of crying for one’s sins but of exploiting a natural power (vis) of music. By simply listening to music, a person would seem capable of being moved and reaching a particularly “receptive state” to welcome the Word of God and make it bear fruit. What Amalarius describes in religious music seems to be the natural experience that one feels when, just listening to a melody, a tear spontaneously falls. This physical reaction is connected to a spiritual transformation that seems to pass through the flesh (carnalia) of our humanity. The result of this singular experience, strongly connected to musical ethics, is the conversion to good action and the possibility to dispose human beings to attentive, deep, and fruitful listening.

Bermain atau Sepenuhnya Meninggalkan Musik: Dua Narasi Artis Hijrah pada Hukum Bermain Musik

This article explores two narratives of hijra celebrities regarding whether they completely abandon playing music or continue to play it under certain conditions after experiencing a spiritual transformation (hijra). The data of this article was collected through online sources such as news articles, social media posts, and videos that were relevant to the research question. The two celebrities, Mohammad Kautsar Hikmat (UKI) and Derry Sulaiman, were both previously involved in the Indonesian music industry and have now adopted differing attitudes towards music after their spiritual transformation. Uki chose to leave the music industry as he interpreted his spiritual transformation, or hijrah, as requiring him to withdraw from elements that he believed could hinder his spiritual growth such as music. He interacted with the Salafi community who promote a literal interpretation of Islam and believe music is a hindrance to spiritual growth. Derry, on the other hand, chose to continue his involvement in the music industry as he believed that music could be a tool for spreading positive messages and preaching the word of Islam without interfering with his religious duties. He interacted with a more diverse Muslim community inlcuding Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah that demonstrated how Islam can be practiced in various ways and adapt to cultural contexts. The article uses Bernard Weiner's interpersonal and intrapersonal theory to explain how the two celebrities interpreted the role of music in their religious lives. The findings show the importance of understanding both interpersonal and intrapersonal factors when exploring how celebrities interpret and apply religious principles to their lives. This article provides important insights into the complexities of the relationship between music and Islam, and how spiritual transformation can affect an individual’s view on music.

Hell and Heaven: Film Interpretations of Images in the Context of Mental Representations

The idea of applying the experience of cognitive analysis to visual works of art served as a prerequisite for studying the mental representations of hell and heaven on the basis of the most vivid cinematic images. Two films — “What Dreams May Come” (V. Ward, USA, 1998) and “Heavenly Judgement” (A. Zvantsova, Russia, 2011—2014) — were chosen as the research material. The center of scientific interest is the cognition of the “inner man” through art. The article outlines the trajectory of the development of individual and collective artistic interpretations of the afterlife within Christian culture. It is argued that the concept of hell has spread directly through objects of verbal and non-verbal creativity. This has significantly distorted the original doctrine of life as a path of spiritual transformation. By the will of man, the “infernal picture of the world” embraced the sphere of the Earth and was embodied in reality. At the turn of the 20—21 centuries, in the conditions of rapid technical evolution, there is a reassessment of metaphysical experience. A cognitive analysis of two directorial concepts — heaven and hell as a state of consciousness (V. Ward) and as a fictitious form of life (A. Zvantsova) — reveals an important qualitative change. It consists in the transformation of the concepts of the inner world in relation to the traditional vertical structure “heaven — earth — hell”. In the modern cognitive model, “hell” is located between “heaven” and “earth”. In the boundaries of the inner world (soul) hell directly intersects with or absorbs paradise, and heavenly paradise is practically absent. As a result of comprehending the screen images of heaven and hell in the context of the established mental representations, an updated picture of ideas about postmortem existence and the nature of the soul is formed.

Theology of Christian education on leading toward spiritual transformation in the frame of religious moderation in digital society context

Christian education is being challenged by the transformation of culture in a digital society and some problems that still occur due to religious diversity in Indonesia, such as intolerance, discrimination, and radicalism. Religious moderation is one of the priority programs of The Ministry of Religion Republic of Indonesia to achieve harmony and peace in society. Therefore, this research aims to explore the Theological study of Christian education in leading toward spiritual transformation based on religious moderation in a digital society. Using a qualitative research methodology with a Library-research approach, this study explored studies and literature reviews on the Theology of Christian education, spiritual transformation, and religious moderation. Based on the results of the data analysis in the literature review, This research formulates spiritual transformation in the frame of Religious moderation, such as transforming into a righteous life, loving life, and good citizenship.

Spirituality of Artistic Service

In the document Letter of his Holiness Pope John Paul II to Artists, John Paul II pointed out that artists, with their creation, perform a professional social service for the benefit of the common good through the “spirituality of artistic service”, which, through the perspective of “educational art,” contributes to the life and revival of the individual and society. Since that document does not specify what a model of such spirituality would consist of, the goal of this paper is to offer a proposal for the theoretical elaboration of its potential framework. The topic is discussed from the perspective of Christian theological aesthetics. The starting point for the development of the spirituality of the artistic service model is Christian artistic creation. The indicated theoretical framework of the spirituality of artistic service is based on three dimensions of Christian artistic creation. The first represents Christian artistic creation that points to the depths of the mystery of the sacred through Christian symbols. The second dimension of Christian artistic creation relies on the contemporary form of religious imagery in changed cultural circumstances in order to adequately present a transcendent perspective of the meaning of existence. The third dimension of Christian artistic creation awakens admiration in the recipients through artistic contemplation, thus enabling a spiritual transformation and serving as the bearer of eschatological hope. In the end, it is shown that this model of spirituality in artistic service can serve as a good theoretical framework for the implementation of three new dimensions of Christian art suitable for the contemporary cultural environment: mystagogic, existential, and contemplative.

К ВОПРОСУ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ФИЛОСОФСКИХ ОСНОВАНИЙ ДУХОВНОГО ПЕРЕФОРМАТИРОВАНИЯ ОБЩЕСТВА И ЛИЧНОСТИ

Актуальность данного исследования состоит в том, что в настоящее время, время масштабных изменений, происходящих, как в пространстве научного познания, так и в геополитическом пространстве, имеет место быть формирование новой картины мира, новой онтологии, с одной стороны, и актуализация проблем всех типов идентичности (от национально-государственной и до уровня индивида, личности, человеческой идентичности, в конечном итоге), с другой стороны. Авторы считают, что эти два процесса взаимосвязаны через новые подходы к пониманию духовности, основанному на новом понимании принципа целостности, всеобщих связях. Поскольку в основе всех типов кризисов, по мнению авторов, а также многих исследователей, лежит духовный кризис, то и духовное переформатирование общества является главной целью построения перспективных моделей будущего. По мнению авторов, «точкой отсчета» в духовной модернизации общества должна стать, в первую очередь, личность как духовно-телесная целостность, реализующая себя, утверждающая себя через феномен интерсубъективности в пространстве культуры. Цель и новизна данного исследования заключается в том, что подобная философская экспликация понятия «личность» как точки отсчета духовной трансформации общества не должна осуществляться на основе постмодернистского индивидуалистического либертализма в противовес новой формирующейся онтологии с ее новым подходом к феномену духовности как практической необходимости, основанному на новом понимании принципа целостности, значении всеобщих связей и единого происхождения объекта и окружающего мира.