| Titel: | Spiritual Awakening and Human Development |
|---|---|
| Autor: | Slanina, S |
| Mediengruppe: | --- |
| Herausgeber: | --- |
| Zeitschrift: | --- |
| Jahr: | 1993 |
| Band: | --- |
| Heft: | --- |
| Seiten: | 334 |
| Sprache: | englisch |
| Abstract: | This dissertation examines the phenomenon of spiritual awakening and its relationship to human development. The research applies the Experiential Method, based on the hermeneutic phenomenology, as developed by Sunnie D. Kidd and James W. Kidd (1990). Thirty individuals were identified who experienced spiritual awakening and who agreed to participate in the research. They responded to the research statement: Please describe your experience of being in the presence of spiritual awakening. The majority of the participants experienced spiritual awakening as a transformative experience, profoundly changing their way of being and perceiving the world. This transformative development resulted in finding a new direction in life--a direction focused on development and application of spiritual principles found in the pursuit of higher Truth and higher Knowledge. The experience of spiritual awakening is reflected in the following seven themes: (1) Learning through suffering; (2) Search for meaning; (3) Connecting with the spiritual dimension of the self and the world; (4) Awakenings; (5) Divine grace manifest; (6) Self-realization; (7) Extraordinary perceptions. The above themes identified stages or aspects of the process of spiritual awakening. These were then applied to two transpersonal theories of human development: (1) A Western model based on Michael Washburn's dynamic-dialectic paradigm, and (2) An Indian model based on Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga. The concluding chapters comprised a synthesis and comparison of the two models and incorporated the author's views. |