Conversations with the unseen : spiritual growth and adult learning in the human experience

Spiritual growth is widely attested in the literature of world religions and increasingly recognized in the business, health care, mental health, and self-help literature. However, this phenomenon is rarely addressed in the adult learning literature, especially from a perspective that attempts to understand the nature and meaning of the experience. The purpose of this study was to better understand the experience of spiritual growth and its relationship to adult learning and the theory and practice of adult education. Twelve adult volunteers participated in this study, documenting their experiences of spiritual growth over the course of a year through the qualitative methods of journal writing, reflection, and individual and group interviews. Findings show that spiritual growth is a unique form of adult learning with six fluid components including experience, bracketing, reflection, awareness, activity/relationships, and attribution. The broad range of learning experiences that were attributed to the spiritual domain suggests four distinct types of spiritual growth - practical, emotional, ideological, or essential. Because individual cognitive experiences of spiritual growth were inseparably bound to their social context, they imply a form of situated learning. Participants identified spiritual growth as a "deep" experience, associating it with the human soul, and describing it in ways that are similar to descriptions of dialogue in the literature. If the intention of adult education is to address the entire human experience of adult learning, then the findings from this study suggest the need to expand theory and practice to intentionally include spiritual approaches. Because narrow definitions of adult learning have inhibited research, spiritual growth is rarely addressed in the literature or acknowledged as an ontological reality in people's lives. Methods that foster spiritual growth such as silence, bracketing, meditation, and journal writing offer promise in expanding adult education practice. The distinctive nature of spiritual growth suggests the need for training for adult educators in this area of learning. A better understanding of spiritual growth has the potential to strengthen the dialogue between the historic traditions of spiritual growth, more current "new age" approaches, and the growing research and -literature of adult education and learning.