Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-2001

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Howard R. Pollio

Committee Members

Jack Barlow, Sandra Thomas, Wesley Morgan, Ralph Hood

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the phenomenon of spiritual experience in the lives of contemporary persons. Using phenomenological interview procedures, twelve participants were asked to describe when they were aware of or felt spiritual. Results of the present study indicate that spiritual experiences are located within the realm of everyday human experience, involving the existential grounds of others, world, body, and time. The present thematic descriptions are based on a rigorous hermeneutical analysis of phenomenological interviews covering this topic without a priori assumptions. Data were analyzed within the dialogic process of a phenomenological research group in addition to the researcher's individual work. The thematic structure derived from the data describes the experiential themes of spirituality and their inter relationships. Participant narratives revealed that connection was the ground against which the each of the various themes emerged: around which they revolve and are interrelated. The major themes emerging against this ground were: (1) awe and Wonder, (2) knowing, and (3) possibility. Findings indicate that spiritual experiences occur in the realm of human experience that Heidegger termed everydayness. Such experiences are profoundly relational and are described in terms of relationships with other people and the world around them. The majority of the spiritual experiences described did not involve descriptions of transcendence or God, suggesting that psychological analyses using such concepts have adopted unnecessary theological presuppositions about spiritual experience. Contemporary spiritual experience is connection to other people and the world that evokes a sense of awe and wonder that is powerful and peaceful, engenders awareness that brings about knowing that is not arrived at by cognitive means and cannot be adequately described by language. These experiences provide possibilities for persons to be open to new ideas and ways of behavior, and permits them to make significant changes in their lives. As such the results have something significant to tell the clinical psychologist about the importance of spiritual experience as therapeutic and potentially curative.

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