University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

A phenomenological inquiry into the essential meanings of the most intense experience of religiosity and spirituality

(USC Thesis Other)

A phenomenological inquiry into the essential meanings of the most intense experience of religiosity and spirituality

PDF

Download

Open document

Flip pages

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY INTO THE ESSENTIAL MEANINGS
OF THE MOST INTENSE EXPERIENCE OF
RELIGIOSITY AND SPIRITUALITY
By
Scott Charles Ottemess
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial
Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
EDUCATION
(COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY)
August 2005
Copyright 2005 Scott Charles Ottemess
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
UMI Number: 3196867
Copyright 2005 by
Otterness, Scott Charles
All rights reserved.
INFORMATION TO USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy
submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and
photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper
alignment can adversely affect reproduction.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized
copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.
®
UMI
UMI Microform 3196867
Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
ProQuest Information and Learning Company
300 North Zeeb Road
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
DEDICATION
To Chelsea, Rachel, and Claire
“ pure gift, pure sweetness, pure now! ”
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
“We learn only when it is too late...
that the marvel is the passing moment. ”
Francois M\tXemn&-spoken to a
frien d shortly before his death
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work has taken much time to finish and would not have been possible
without the combined effort of many people. Some have profoundly influenced
my life, my ideas, and my perspective on scientific investigation, while others
have been an integral part of the web of vital relationships that directly sustain my
life. All of whom I am deeply appreciative.
A special thanks to Michelle Pesut Ottemess, my life partner, who has
always been present with gentle but steadfast support to ease the burden when it
became difficult to “multi-task”—especially when in the midst of looming
deadlines. Thanks for taking such an interest in this project. Your careful and
insightful comments were always helpful. I am grateful to be able to call you my
best friend and my wife.
To the numerous people who helped with a business that took care of
those pesky, but very real economic pressures of life. This allowed me to address
my graduate studies purely for the sake of learning. I could go down the paths that
interested me deeply without having to ponder future career ramifications.
Especially to Monica White, who was the glue that held the business together. To
John Luke for your patience while I spent much time away working on this
project. To each company employee who remarkably contributed to make a
business not just survive, but grow and thrive.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
V
To Ruben Hernandez, for the friendship that has transcended distance to
last a lifetime. It is not by accident that my library is full of the authors that you
have recommended over the past 25 years. Thanks for taking the time to read the
manuscript and provide your usual insightful comments.
To my mission brothers: those who are living: Bob Harris, Robert
Morgan, Ernest Tibbe, James Walker, Harvey Davis, and Max Kaminski. And
those who have passed on: Nelson Escalante Rivas, Charlie Andrews, Humberto
Hernandez, and David Garcia. All that you have given to me far exceeds
anything that I could have hoped to give to you.
To those who have been mentors and counselors over the years:
Vincencia Rooney and Claire Sullivan for your acceptance, empathy, and
wisdom. And to Norman Grubb for instilling an openness to mystery.
To my mother, Nadine, the passionate spirit, and my father, Bob, the
gentle one. Thanks for your unwavering love and heartfelt belief in me.
And last but not least, thanks to each of my committee members. My
advisor, Dr. Donald Polkinghome, who listened well enough to be able to create
an atmosphere that allowed me to explore my deepest interests. Thanks for your
guidance during this project. To Dr. Dallas Willard for your expression of
disponibilite. You are a remarkable example of someone who lives what he
teaches. And Dr. Richard Clark for your kindness and willingness to help
whenever called upon.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
vi
During my graduate studies I had the great fortune to experience the
birth of my three daughters, Chelsea, Rachel, and Claire. From the moment that
my wife and I learned that they were conceived, our lives changed in many ways.
From the uncertainties and excitement during pregnancy to the very moment that
they entered the world and I cut their umbilical cords. Being with each of them as
infants, babies, toddlers, and young children has taught me immense life lessons.
Each of these experiences was unique and unforgettable. Integrating fatherhood
with my studies had a way keeping me grounded in the real world. The joys and
sorrows, the hopes and the fears, the bliss and the turmoil always kept me from
getting lost in the comfort of a purely intellectual world.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION........................................................................................................................................ II
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................................... IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................................................VII
LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................................ IX
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................................X
CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................1
CHAPTER TWO - REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE................................................................. 8
R e l ig io s it y ................................................................................................................................................................................8
Religiosity in the History o f P sychology.......................................................................................................................9
Religiosity in Current Empirical Research.................................................................................................................. 17
S p ir it u a l it y ............................................................................................................................................................................32
Spirituality in P sychology.................................................................................................................................................34
Spirituality in the Theoretical Literature......................................................................................................................35
Recent Separation o f Spirituality from R eligiosity..................................................................................................49
C o n c l u s i o n ............................................................................................................................................................................55
CHAPTER THREE - METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS........................................58
Q u a n t it a t iv e M e t h o d o l o g ie s..................................................................................................................................58
Q u a l it a t iv e M e t h o d o l o g ie s.................................................................................................................................... 59
CHAPTER FOUR - METHOD.......................................................................................................... 61
In t r o d u c t io n ........................................................................................................................................................................61
T h e B e s t E x p e r ie n t ia l D a t a f o r t h is S t u d y .................................................................................................62
P h e n o m e n o l o g ic a l M e t h o d ......................................................................................................................................67
D a t a C o l l e c t io n ............................................................................................................................................................... 7 0
D a t a A n a l y s i s .....................................................................................................................................................................77
P r e s e n t a t io n o f R e s u l t s ............................................................................................................................................ 83
S ig n if ic a n c e o f S t u d y ................................................................................................................................................... 83
L im it a t io n s a n d A s s u m p t io n s o f t h is S t u d y .................................................................................................85
CHAPTER FIVE - RESULTS............................................................................................................ 88
In t r o d u c t io n ........................................................................................................................................................................88
P r e se n t a t io n o f R e s u l t s ............................................................................................................................................ 90
C o g n it io n B e fo r e t h e M y s t ic a l E x p e r ie n c e ............................................................................................... 93
Conditioned Consciousness.............................................................................................................................................93
P r e p a r a t io n f o r t h e M y s t ic a l E x p e r ie n c e ....................................................................................................95
Mystical Experience not Directly Pursued..................................................................................................................96
Content o f Consciousness is N oticed............................................................................................................................97
Mind is Disciplined with Effort and Concentration................................................................................................ 98
Attention is Redirected....................................................................................................................................................105
Visceral Experience Takes Priority over T hought.................................................................................................107
THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE.........................................................................................................................................109
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Experience o f Unitary C onsciousness........................................................................................................................109
Unitary K now ledge.......................................................................................................................................................... 118
Experience o f the Infinite Presence.............................................................................................................................122
T h e E f f e c t s o f t h e M y s t i c a l E x p e r i e n c e ...........................................................................................................1 3 0
Feeling States Without Thoughts................................................................................................................................ 130
The N ew S e lf..................................................................................................................................................................... 134
Selfless A ction................................................................................................................................... 141
T r a n s - s i t u a t i o n a l D e s c r ip t i o n o f t h e P h e n o m e n o l o g y o f M y s t i c a l E x p e r i e n c e 1 5 0
Preparation.......................................................................................................................................................................... 150
The M ystical E xperience............................................................................................................................................... 150
Effects o f the Mystical E xperience.............................................................................................................................150
CHAPTER SIX - DISCUSSION, ANALYSIS, & APPLICATIONS........................................152
C o n v e r g e n t F i n d i n g s .......................................................................................................................................................... 16 3
Im p l ic a t io n s o f t h e C o n v e r g e n t C o n t i n u u m ................................................................................................ 1 8 5
C l in i c a l A p p l i c a t i o n s .........................................................................................................................................................1 9 7
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................204
APPENDIX...........................................................................................................................................220
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
ix
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Preparation for the mystical experience. 96
Table 2: The categories of the mystical experience. 109
Table 3: The categories of the effects of the mystical experience. 130
Table 4: Sections within the reviewed literature. 152
Table 5: Results from current study in experiential groups that include
Thoughts, Feelings, Knowledge, Identity and Behavior. 156
Table 6: Traditional Research Design dimensions in the experiential
groups. 158
Table 7: Hamilton and Jackson’s results in experiential groups. 164
Table 8: Themes from current study that involve the experience of
transcendence. 166
Table 9: Gould’s results in experiential groups. 170
Table 10: Phillip’s results in experiential groups. 175
Table 11: Elkins research in experiential groups. 183
Table 12: Elkins theory of levels of spirituality. 185
Table 13: Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Thoughts. 187
Table 14: Four stages of Religious/Spiritual Feelings. 188
Table 15: Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Knowledge Process. 189
Table 16: Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Knowledge Content. 190
Table 17: Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Identity. 191
Table 18: Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Behavior. 192
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
X
ABSTRACT
The following study analyzes and explicates the most intense experience of
religiosity and spirituality. There are many current research studies in the
discipline of psychology that use these two concepts in order to determine their
relationship to important mental health variables. However, within this body of
research there is no agreed upon understanding of the primary concepts of
“religiosity” and “spirituality.” Instead, these two concepts are used by
researchers in confusing and inconsistent ways. This study demonstrates that
much of the confusion is due to quantitative methodological procedures that alter,
ignore, or fail to elaborate important conceptions of religiosity and spirituality.
The narrowly defined approach to these two concepts fits more easily and
efficiently into the quantitative research framework. Some recent qualitative
studies have begun to take holistic and contextual lived experiences into account.
These qualitative studies have offered descriptions of spirituality. Although this
is a good place to start, two problems remain. First, these qualitative studies do
not take into account recent theoretical research that proposes that experiences of
religiosity and spirituality occur on a continuum based on low, average, and high
levels of intensity. None of the qualitative studies to date focus on the highest
level of intensity. The second problem is that while the qualitative research
focuses on spirituality, it does not take into account the concept of religiosity.
These two problems are addressed by phenomenologically investigating mystical
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
xi
experiences as reported in historical religious texts. Mystical experiences have
been called high intensity experiences of spirituality and religiosity. The
phenomenological structures of this experience are explicated in order to reveal
the essential meanings of the mystical experience. These high intensity structures
are linked to the existing less intense experiences found in the qualitative
research. The data compiled in this study is used to formulate a four stage model
of religiosity and spirituality. This model helps to bring a greater understanding
of the essential meanings of religiosity and spirituality.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
1
CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION
According to Gallup Polls, there is an overwhelming majority of people in
the United States who report that they are religious. In a 2003 poll, 86% of
Americans reported that religion is either “important” or “fairly important” in
their lives. Another poll taken in 2003 revealed that 58% of respondents believe
that, “religion can answer all or most of today’s problems” (Gallup, 2003, p. 2).
Although many people claim to be religious, there are a growing number
of questions about what people mean when they make this assertion. In recent
years, the practice of religion has been evolving toward an expanded emphasis on
religion’s spiritual elements. There are also an increasing number of people who
now indicate alternative ways to practice spirituality outside of religion. The
meanings of religiosity and spirituality are unclear.
The confusion surrounding the meaning of these two concepts is occurring
in the midst of a surge of interest in religious issues in the discipline of
psychology. The swell of attention can be seen across the spectrum of recent
psychological literature. Miller & Thoresen (2003) called the study of the
relationship of religiosity and spirituality to mental health a “true frontier” for
psychology (p. 24). According to Emmons & Paloutzian (2003) religiosity and
spirituality have emerged as a “full-force, leading-edge research area that
contributes new knowledge, data, and professional activity to the rest of
psychology” (p. 379).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
2
Due to this increased attention, these two concepts have now come under
greater scrutiny. There is a growing acknowledgement that there needs to be a
better understanding of the meaning of religiosity and spirituality (Emmons &
Paloutzian, 2003; Hill et ah, 2000; MacDonald & Holland, 2003; Mahoney &
Graci, 1999; K.I. Pargament, Sullivan, Balzer, Van Haitsma, & Raymark, 1995;
B.J. Zinnbauer, Pargament, & Scott, 1999).
For the discipline of psychology, a more comprehensive understanding of
these two concepts has broad implications for the future of relevant and coherent
research. Emmons & Paloutzian (2003) asserted that the progress of research in
this important area is dependent upon the ability of the discipline to achieve a
greater understanding concerning the meaning of these concepts.
In the following study, I directly addressed the problem of discerning the
meaning of the concepts of religiosity and spirituality. The focus of my study was
to bring greater clarity to the concepts of religiosity and spirituality. My goal in
doing this study was to produce a more comprehensive understanding of these
two concepts.
In Chapter Two, I took the first step toward accomplishing this objective
by reviewing the psychological literature concerning these two concepts. In this
chapter, I cover both the historical aspects of religiosity and spirituality as well as
the specific ways in which they are understood today in theoretical and empirical
research studies.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
3
In my investigation of the literature, I explain how the dominant
quantitative approach to religiosity and spirituality has focused on defining the
concepts in a manner heavily influenced by traditional empirical research
methodology. One outcome of the traditional methodology has been the
simplification or modification of these two concepts so that they can be easily
operationalized for research studies.
In the past decade, qualitative research methodology has emerged as a
viable alternative to quantitative research in the field of psychology. In recent
years, there have been a few qualitative studies on spirituality. The studies that
have been published to date have presented descriptions of spiritual experience.
In Chapter Three, I critique both qualitative and quantitative
methodologies. I present the positivistic assumptions of traditional quantitative
methodology and reason that they are incompatible with experiences indicative of
religiosity and spirituality. In contrast, I show that qualitative methodologies give
primacy to lived experience, take into consideration the totality of experience, and
give emphasis to contextual experiential patterns.
In general, the qualitative literature on spirituality has attempted to go
beyond the quantitative terminological argument. These studies have
accomplished this by shifting the discussion away from a focus on defining the
terms. The qualitative conversation involves moving toward an understanding of
the meaning of the concepts based on holistic experiences. This is one of the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
4
reasons that I argue that qualitative methodology is superior when research is
performed on religiosity and spirituality.
In Chapter Four, I discuss problems still remaining within the existing
literature and propose a way to resolve them. I explain that by taking a more
holistic approach with the inclusion of contextual experiences, the qualitative
studies have begun to bring greater depth to the understanding of spirituality.
These qualitative findings, however, are not the last word on the search for a full
and comprehensive understanding of the meaning of the concepts of religiosity
and spirituality.
In addition to the qualitative studies on spirituality, other information
concerning a comprehensive understanding of religiosity and spirituality is
provided by Ellwood’s (1999) investigation of the nature of religious and spiritual
experience. Ellwood postulated that the experiences of religiosity and spirituality
occur on a continuum based on levels of intensity. Continuing with this theme,
Elkins (2000) proposed that there are three levels of intensity: low, average, and
high. Based on Elkins’ levels of intensity model, rich descriptions of all three
levels of intensity will create a more comprehensive picture of the essential nature
of the experience of religiosity and spirituality.
Within the current qualitative research on spirituality, participants have
provided general descriptions of spiritual experiences. Although these
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
5
descriptions are a good beginning, there are two ways that this research can be
improved in order to contribute to a more comprehensive description of religiosity
and spirituality.
First, both of the concepts, religiosity and spirituality need to be taken into
consideration. The qualitative research, thus far, does not include religiosity. I
contend that it is premature to eliminate the concept of religiosity. The most
obvious reason is because, historically, most of the experiences that are spiritual
in nature have come within a religious context. Contemporary accounts of
spiritual experience are also found primarily within a religious framework.
Second, the participants in the qualitative studies have come from the
general population. The focus of the qualitative research has been to provide a
general description of spirituality. There are no studies thus far that have focused
on the most intense experience of religiosity and spirituality. I argue that by
examining the most intense experience, a more complete understanding of the
overall concepts of religiosity and spirituality can be attained.
In order to identify the most intense experience, I provide information
concerning various levels of religious experience. I make an argument that the
most intense experiences of religiosity and spirituality can be found in the
historical mystical literature from the major world religions.
Mystical experience has been described as the core or foundation of
religiosity (James, 1902; von Hugel, 1908; Buber, 1909; Underhill, 1911;
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
6
Maslow, 1964; McGinn, 1991). Mystical experience has also been described as
the most intense experience of religiosity (Ellwood, 1999) as well as the most
intense experience of spirituality (Elkins, 2000).
Since mystical experience represents the high intensity experiential
structures of both religiosity and spirituality, understanding these experiences can
shed light on the essential nature of the overall experience. In addition, it is
reasoned that if these high intensity experiences can be linked to the less intense
experiences found within the qualitative studies, a more comprehensive model of
religiosity and spirituality can be developed.
Chapter Four concludes with a presentation of the tools that I use in order
to achieve the goals of this study. I offer reasons why the phenomenological
method is the best way to collect and analyze mystical experiences. I show how it
provides a way to determine the nature of the experience and the conditions in
which the experience occurs. The phenomenological method also takes into
account the origination of the frames of reference of the experience. This method
is therefore able to explicate the essential meanings of the most intense
experiences of spirituality within a religious context.
Chapter Five presents the results of the study. The results are based on
data that are compiled from written mystical accounts. These data are first put into
themes of similar information. These themes are then integrated into categories
for the intention of creating a general picture of experience. The categories and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
7
themes are the basis to narratives that are developed. The narratives are broken
into three sections: preparation for the mystical experience, the mystical
experience, and the effects of the mystical experience.
In Chapter Six, I analyze the results of the study and present some clinical
applications. In order to analyze the results, I convert the narrative results from
Chapter Five into the experiential groups of Thoughts, Feelings, Identity,
Knowledge, and Behavior. I put the themes of my study into these experiential
groups in order to seek the points of convergence and/or divergence with other
studies, both quantitative and qualitative. The comparative analysis of these
experiential groups is then used to create a four stage model of religiosity and
spirituality. The model that is developed helps to bring a more comprehensive
understanding of these concepts.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
8
CHAPTER TWO - REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Religiosity
The word religiosity is derived from the Latin noun religion, which
denotes a bond between a human and an unseen other than human Being (Hill et
al., 2000). The term is also related to the Latin verb religiare which means “to
bind together,” “to tie fast,” and “to connect.” The word describes the experience
of the noun religion which may refer to any one of the world religions such as
Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism, and Judaism. The term may
be interpreted in such a way that gives reference to the unique ways that pertain to
the expressions that refer exclusively to the practice of any one religion.
However, the term may also be defined in a way that encompasses the root of
each of the major traditions.
The meaning of the term religiosity has evolved over the centuries. The
original usage was personal and referred to something that one has perceived, felt,
or done oneself. Later, it came to refer to several different things including ritual
practices, inner piety, an abstract system of ideas, a certain type of feeling, and the
essence of all things. At the beginning of the Christian era, the meaning began to
incorporate moral, social, and intellectual aspects of life as well as the direct
influence of church activities. This led to a greater diversity, complexity, and
depth of meaning of the term (Wulff, 1997).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
9
In his classic essay, Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1963) investigated the term
religion as it is manifested in its major forms in the diverse cultures throughout
the world. He commented that the recent changes in the meaning of religion were
due to philosophical developments in the twentieth century. This era witnessed
religion’s clash with rationalism and then with scientific inquiry. These factors
coupled with an increase in interaction among the diverse religious traditions,
have led to a greater degree of confusion concerning the meaning of the term
religion. Since religiosity is the experience of religion, changes in the meaning of
religion have influenced the way that religiosity is understood.
Religiosity in the History of Psychology
William James
Psychological research investigating the nature of religiosity began at the
turn of the twentieth century. The most well-known of the early psychologists
who investigated religiosity was William James, who is considered by many to be
the most renowned American psychologist (Wulff, 1997). James’ book,
Principles o f Psychology (1900), represented the standard psychology textbook at
the turn of the twentieth century (Neilson, 2000). While being deeply involved
with psychology in general, he was also interested in understanding the nature of
religious experience.
James wrote the classic, The Varieties o f Religious Experience (1902). In
this book, he used a phenomenological method to discover the meaning of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
10
religiosity to the people whose lives had a direct and vivid religious experience.
This volume has not only been influential in psychology, but also in philosophy
and theology (Barnard, 2002). James’ philosophical pragmatism found meaning
and truth within the experiential consequences of people’s chosen actions. He was
convinced that the indeterminate nature of the universe required a perspective that
was pluralistic and thus placed a high importance on the study of individual
differences. That is why, in general, instead of attempting to come to firm
conclusions in conceptualizing religiosity, he let the broad diversity of the
narratives reported in The Varieties o f Religious Experience speak for themselves.
James passed the torch to one of his students, James Pratt, whose chief
work, The Religious Consciousness (1920) was highly regarded at this time. Pratt
was an authority on the history of world religions, so his work brought a deep,
diverse, and balanced perspective to the subject matter. While the books by Pratt
and James were the most popular at this time, other pioneers in American
psychology such as Edwin Starbuck (1899) and G. Stanley Hall (1904) also were
fascinated with religion and gave it a prominent place in their psychological
research (Wulff, 1997).
The Behaviorist Movement
During the previous period, many well-respected researchers in
psychology, such as William James, realized that human experience presented
qualities and complexities that were not found in the natural sciences. Therefore,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
11
the type of methodology used to study human matters such as religiosity was a
matter of debate.
This flexibility changed with the advent of the behaviorist movement.
This movement’s worldview and research format corresponded to the same
positivist scientific methods that were used in the natural sciences. Positivist
experimental procedures used operationally defined constructs to determine how
experimental variables correlated with each other. These procedures
dramatically limited the way that religiosity could be defined.
During this period, the attention that psychology paid to religious issues
declined (Beit-Hallahmi, 1974). The basis for this decline was the increasing
need for the nascent discipline of psychology to be distinguished from both
religion and philosophy. Academic psychology viewed interest in religious
behavior as evidence of not being scientific (Carlson, Kirkpatrick, Hecker, &
Killmer, 2002). Therefore, for many years, the topics of spirituality and
religiosity were largely ignored in mainstream psychological journals (Stander,
Piercy, Mackinnon, & Helmeke, 1994).
In this positivist atmosphere, when psychological studies comparing
religion to other variables were published, religiosity was conceptualized based
on church affiliation. This conceptualization of religiosity had no theoretical
basis while it provided a simple and convenient way to identify the concept for
empirical studies. A review of the literature noted 48 studies during this period
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
12
that used church membership and/or attendance as the only way that religiosity
was conceptualized (Batson, Schoenrade, & Ventis, 1993).
Theoretical Research on Religiosity
Theoretical work on religiosity was integrated with empirical work for the
first time with the research of Gordon Allport. Allport & Ross (1967)
conceptualized religiosity in terms of differing motivations that people had toward
their religious expression. Allport’s conceptualization of religiosity came from his
notion of the mature religious personality (Allport, 1950) and was applied in an
instrument called the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS). This scale determined
two dimensions of religiosity: extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic religiosity was
characterized by non-committed church attendance. Extrinsically religious people
tended to be on the fringes of church membership and were not truly dedicated to
the principle teachings of the church. On the other hand, intrinsic religiosity
expressed a deeper involvement with the values and creeds espoused by the
religion. Intrinsically religious people were devoutly committed to the church
teachings and internalized them into everyday aspects of their lives.
The changing landscape of American religion. Allport’s theoretical work
reflected the religious values of America during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Allport
himself shared the dominant religious perspective of Protestant Christianity.
Some researchers commented that an American Protestant definition of religion
pervaded the entire field of the psychology of religion (Gorsuch, 1988; Gorsuch,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
13
1990; Hood, Spilka, Hunsberger, & Gorsuch, 1996). This theoretical bias has
influenced measurements of religiosity. Hill and Hood (1999) noted that there
were few scales that measure non-Protestant forms of Christianity. In addition,
scales that measure other faith traditions are “nonexistent” (p.4). Although this
problem is pervasive, it is subtle because even though there is a Christian bias to
measures of religion, this is not explicitly identified as such (Heelas, 1985).
Noting the lack of diversity of religious beliefs, Hill and Hood (1999)
called for research that would be relevant for diverse faith traditions. This call is
likely due to the considerable changes in the religious and spiritual expression in
the United States since Allport’s era. The unquestioned dominance of the church
going Protestant Christianity of the 1950’s no longer pervades the religious
landscape of America (Zinnbauer, et al. 1999).
Allport’s theory was the standard way that religiosity was conceptualized
in empirical studies for decades (Donahue, 1985; Meadow & Kahoe, 1984; Slater,
Hall, & Edwards, 2001; Trimble, 1997). However, the validity of this research
came under fire as Allport’s work was severely criticized for both theoretical
(Dittes, 1971; Hoge, 1972; Hunt & King, 1971; Kirkpatrick & Hood, 1990), and
methodological (Batson et al., 1993; Spilka, Kojetin, & McIntosh, 1985; Watson,
Hood, & Morris, 1985) failures. Due to this criticism, additional theoretical work
was done to create more dimensions of the religiosity concept.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
14
King & Hunt (1972) added five more dimensions while keeping Allport’s
dimension as a sixth in their overall conceptualization of religiosity. These
dimensions include:
• Devotionalism - The amount of personal prayer and closeness to and
communication with God.
• Creedal assent - The degree of belief in the doctrines and teachings of the
Church.
• Congregational involvement - This includes church attendance, organizational
activity, and religious financial support.
• Religious Knowledge - The amount of theological and scriptural information
that the person knows.
• Importance of Religion - The importance of religion in the person’s thoughts
and behavior.
• Religious Orientation - Intrinsic - the person’s need to use religion to help
them to learn, change and grow; or Extrinsic - using religion as a means for
self-serving purposes. This comes directly from Allport’s theoretical work.
Theoretical work by Batson (1976) added another dimension to religiosity
that he called “Religion as Quest.” This dimension conceptualized religiosity as
an endless process of questions that are generated by the tensions, contradictions,
and tragedies of existence. This form of religiosity was characterized by
continually raising ultimate “whys,” both about the existing social structure and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
15
about the structure of life itself. This concept of religiosity was not aligned
with any formal religious institution or creed.
In an attempt to create a “deeper” definition of religiosity, Paloutzian &
Ellison (1982) used the term spiritual well-being. They theorized that this
construct was composed of two dimensions: religious and existential. Their
theory was influenced by Moberg & Brusek (1978) who suggested that spiritual
well-being included the dimensions of one’s sense of well-being in relationship to
God as well as a non-religious sense of well-being based on one’s perception of
life’s purpose and satisfaction.
Pargament, Ensing, Falgout, Olsen, et al. (1990) created a theory of
religiosity that involved how the person used religion as a way to assist in coping
with difficult or traumatic life situations. Religious coping could involve beliefs
in a just and benevolent God, the experience of God as a supportive partner,
involvement in religious rituals, and the search for other support through religion.
Today’s High Interest in Research on Religiosity
Using this varied theoretical work, there has been a boom in the discipline
of psychology with regard to studies using the concept of religiosity. There has
been a noticeable increase in journal articles related to this topic. The recent
years have witnessed many special issues devoted to the subject. They have come
from mainstream psychological journals including The American Psychologist
(2003), Psychological Inquiry (Baumeister, 2002), The Journal o f Family
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
16
Psychotherapy (Carlson & Erickson, 2002), The Annals o f Behavioral
Medicine (Sloan & Bagiella, 2002), Counseling & Values (Engels, 2001), The
Journal o f Marital and Family Therapy (Hodge, 2000), Psycho-Oncology (Mytko
& Knight, 1999), The Journal o f Health Psychology (Woods & Ironson, 1999),
and The Journal o f Personality (Vande Kemp, 1999).
Other special issues and sections focusing on research on religiosity have
appeared in scientific journals including The American Journal o f Physical
Medicine and Rehabilitation (Underwood-Gordon, Peters, Bijur, & Fuhrer, 1997),
The Journal o f Contemporary Criminal Justice (Lucken, 2000), and Twin
Research (Kirk & Martin, 1999).
There are several other fields of research that have had an increased
number of articles devoted to religious issues. They include social work (Gilbert,
2000; Gotterer, 2001), nursing (McLeod & Wright, 2001; Narayanasamy, 1999;
Swinton, 2002), family medicine (Anandarajah, 1999; Bolletino, 2001; Gallup,
2002; Sulmasy, 1999), pain management (Low, 1997; Otis-Green, Sherman,
Perez, & Baird, 2002), vocation (Harrington, Preziosi, & Gooden, 2001;
Krishnakumar & Neck, 2002), and business (Duska, 1999; Primeaux & Mullen,
1999).
Emmons & Paloutzian (2003) reported that in addition to the increases in
journal articles, there have been more psychology textbooks published on
religiosity in recent years. Universities have been offering more courses in the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
17
psychology of religion. In addition, there has been an increase in presentations
at professional meetings concerning these topics.
Religiosity in Current Empirical Research
The concept of religiosity as it is used in the psychological literature can
be divided into twelve different dimensions (Koenig, McCullough, & Larson,
2001). These dimensions originated from the theoretical work cited above. They
are the following:
• Religious Belief (RB) -This is the most basic level of religiosity.
Does the person profess a belief in God or not?
• Religious Affiliation (RA) - Does the person identify with a
particular religious group?
• Organizational Religiosity (OR) - Does the person participate in
church, synagogue, or temple activities? According to Koenig et
al. (2001), this is the easiest way to determine if a person is
religious.
• Non-Organizational Religiosity (NOR) -Does the person
participate in private religious activities such as prayer or
meditation? Measures of private religious activity are usually
single item indicators.
• Subjective Religiosity (SR)- How religious does a person consider
themselves to be?
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
18
• Religious Commitment/Motivation (RCM) - How committed is
the person to religion?
• Religious Quest (RQ) - Does the person continually raise questions
about the existing social structure and the structure of life?
• Religious Experience (RE) - Has the person had specific religious
experiences?
• Religious Well-Being (RWB)-Does the person have a personally
meaningful, satisfying, and fulfilling relationship with God?
• Religious Coping (RC) - Does the person use religious coping
strategies when confronted with difficult situations?
• Religious Knowledge (RK) - How much information does the
person know about the major tenants, doctrines, and history of his
or her religious faith?
• Religious Consequences (RCON) - To what extent do the person’s
actions and decisions conform to the basic tenets of his or her
religious tradition?
Koenig et al. (2001) counted over 850 studies that used one or more of the
dimensions (identified above) in order to identify the concept of religiosity in
empirical studies. In the following section, I present research studies that
represent typical examples of how the concept of religiosity is conceptualized
across the spectrum of this literature.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
19
One-Dimensional Concept of Religiosity.
Religious Consequences. In their study comparing religiosity with mental
health variables, Strayhom, Weidman, & Larson (1990) looked for a way to
conceptualize religiosity that was “short and simple” (p. 35). They intentionally
wanted to conceptualize religiosity in a narrower sense than other studies. They,
therefore, used a model of theistic religion as opposed to humanistic or
philosophical religion. On the other hand, they wanted to avoid items that delved
into theological matters in a more detailed way other than by positing the
existence of God. They also desired items that did not project any “particular
point of view” (p. 35). They chose twelve questions that related to religious
consequences. These items were answered on a five point Likert scale. Those
who answered these questions positively are said to be “religious.”
Two-Dimensional Concept of Religiosity.
Non-Organizational Religiosity. Organizational Religiosity. Husaini,
Blasi, & Miller (1999) sought to determine whether or not public and private
religiosity has a moderating effect on depression. In their article, they
acknowledged that religiosity was multidimensional and might take many forms
such as public worship, membership in a religious community, scripture study,
private devotional activity, the acquisition of religious knowledge, religious
morality, and various emotional experiences. For Husaini, Blasi, & Miller’s
study, they used the constructs of organizational religiosity (public religiosity
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
20
which was indicated by church attendance) and non-organizational religiosity
(private religiosity which was determined by bible reading, praying, listening to
religious programs, talking about religion and trying to convert someone). These
were self-report measures put into a numerical format that ultimately allowed the
researchers to claim in some instances that they were assessing “religiosity.”
Faiver, O’Brien, & Ingersoll (2000) created a construct of religiosity that,
like Husaini, Blasi, & Miller’s study, included organizational religiosity (church
involvement), and non-organizational religiosity (personal religious behavior).
Their study compared religiosity with guilt and mental health.
In a study that was intended to examine religiosity and psychological well
being, Francis & Bolger (1997) used the construct of religious involvement. They
also measured it by non-organizational religiosity (frequency of prayer) and
organizational religiosity (religious attendance).
Organizational Religiosity. Religious Commitment/Motivation. In a study
to determine the relationship of religiosity to depressive disorders, Horowitz &
Garber (2003) conceptualized religiosity as organizational religiosity (religious
attendance) and religious commitment/motivation (religious importance). These
were assessed by the answers to two questions. They used the term “religiosity”
in their conclusions.
Coke (1992) also measured religiosity by religious
commitment/motivation (using a single self-rated religiosity item) and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
21
organizational religiosity (by using a single item that asked about hours per
week of church participation). Although most of the time in this study the author
referred to this construct as “self-rated religiosity,” it was also referred to simply
as “religiosity.”
Three-Dimensional Concept of Religiosity.
Non-Organizational Religiosity. Organizational Religiosity. Subjective
Religiosity. Diener & Clifton (2002) wanted to know the relationship between
religiosity and life satisfaction. Their conception of religiosity was based on three
dimensions in this study. They were subjective religiosity (the importance of
God), non-organizational religiosity (participation in prayer or meditation), and
organizational religiosity (attendance at church).
Non-Organizational Religiosity. Religious Affiliation. Religious
Knowledge. In their meta-analysis of recent studies of religiosity and mental
health, Hackney & Sanders (2003) intended to clarify the proposed relationship
between religiosity and psychological adjustment. This study revealed the fact
that much research recognized that religiosity was multidimensional. However,
little attention was given to determine the dimensions which represented the
essential nature of religiosity. This meta-analysis divided the construct of religion
into three dimensions: religious affiliation (called institutional religion), religious
knowledge, and non-organizational religiosity (called personal devotion). Each of
these aspects was evaluated separately under the heading of “religiosity codes.”
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
22
Non-Organizational Religiosity. Organizational Religiosity. Religious
Commitment/Motivation. Parker et al. (2003) studied religiosity and mental
health in southern, community-dwelling older adults. The three dimensions of
religiosity in this study were organizational religiosity, non-organizational
religiosity, and religious commitment/motivation (called intrinsic religiosity).
These dimensions were assessed using a five-item measure that asked questions
with answers to be provided on a six-point Likert scale. This study reported that
those who were high on these scales were high in “religiosity.” It also reported
that they were high in “spirituality.”
Krause (1992) conceptualized religiosity in terms of four questions that
inquired about the subject’s religious commitment/motivation (self-rated
religiosity), non-organizational religiosity (personal religious activity), and
organizational religiosity (church attendance). In his 1993 study (cited below) he
used different dimensions for conceptualizing religiosity.
Musick, Koenig, Hays, & Cohen (1998) examined the effect of religious
activity on depressive symptomatology among Black versus White community-
dwelling elderly persons with cancer. Religious activity was constructed by the
following three dimensions: organizational religiosity (religious service
attendance), religious commitment/motivation (religious devotion), and non-
organizational religiosity (watching or listening to religious programs). This
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
23
study consistently used the term “religious activity” to describe the variable
under study and did not use the more general term “religiosity.”
Non-Organizational Religiosity. Religious Affiliation, and Religious
Belief. Kendler, Gardner & Prescott (1997) compared religiosity to
psychopathology and substance abuse. In their study, they criticized the fact that
80% of the studies they surveyed only used one dimension when conceptualizing
religiosity. They commented that these studies were problematic because,
“religiosity is multidimensional, including aspects of affdiation, devotion, and
beliefs” (p. 322). They, therefore, included the dimensions of non-organizational
religion, religious affiliation and religious beliefs in their conceptualization of
religiosity. They did this by asking respondents a series of five multiple-choice
questions. Their results used the global term “religiosity” rather than the separate
dimensions. They wrote, “religiosity has a stronger relationship with substance
use and abuse than with current or lifetime psychiatric symptoms or disorders” (p.
328).
Non-Organizational Religiosity. Organizational Religiosity, and Religious
Belief. Strawbridge, Shema, Cohen, Roberts, & Kaplan (1998) wanted to analyze
how religiosity was related to depression. They concluded that the relationship
between religiosity and depression was unclear. In this study they equated
religiosity to religious involvement. This was determined by questions that
inquired about organizational and non-organizational religiosity (frequency of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
24
religious activities: how often respondents went to religious services, how
often they took part in other activities besides services at a place of worship, and
how often they prayed). Two additional questions were asked: 1). The
importance of religious or spiritual beliefs as a source of meaning in respondents’
lives, and 2). The importance of religious or spiritual beliefs for what they did
every day. Subjects were asked to respond to these questions based on four pre
determined choices.
Organizational Religiosity. Religious Consequences, and Religious Well
being. In their study that compared religious belief to depression, Pressman,
Lyons, Larson, & Strain (1990) used a three-dimensional conceptualization which
included religious consequences of the personal importance of religion. Subjects
were asked questions about organizational religiosity (attendance at religious
services), subjective religiosity (perceived religiousness), and religious well-being
(the degree that religion is a source of strength and comfort). In this study, the
authors consistently used religious belief to designate the variable that they were
studying although on one occasion in the article, they wrote, “the relationship
between religiousness and these measures did not appear to be explained by...”
(p. 759).
Organizational Religiosity. Religious Knowledge, and Subjective
Religiosity. In his research that examined the relationship between religiousness
and well-being, Krause (1993) acknowledged that researchers generally had
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
25
problems capturing the “depth and breadth” (p. 170) of religiosity.
Recognizing that it was multidimensional, he mentioned that it was comprised by
belief, experience, ritual, knowledge, and consequences. He felt that the belief
dimension was not emphasized enough because of the difficulty of capturing the
diversity of beliefs across both denominations and different religions. Therefore,
so that he would include all Judeo-Christian traditions he equated religious belief
with the religious knowledge. He measured religious knowledge by
understanding and agreeing with the ten commandments.
He used a three-item questionnaire to measure organizational religiosity, a
three-item questionnaire to measure subjective religiosity and a twelve-item
questionnaire to measure religious beliefs. Krause then created a second order
religiosity factor called “global religious orientation” which was based on five
religious dimensions.
His concept of religiosity was comprised of religious knowledge as well as
organizational religiosity and subjective religiosity. By combining these
dimensions, Krause believed that he was able to identify the complexity of the
term “religiosity.”
Four-Dimensional Concept of Religiosity
Non-Organizational Religiosity. Organizational Religiosity. Religious
Coping, and Subjective Religiosity. Ferraro (1998) wanted to compare religiosity
to body weight and well-being. He wrote that one of the major roles of religion
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
26
was to constrain individual actions. He identified three dimensions of
religiosity for his study. They were organizational and non-organizational
religiosity (religious practice which involved attending religious services, reading
religious books and listening or watching religious programs). Ferraro also
included subjective religiosity (religious salience which was based on the
importance of [unidentified] religious or spiritual beliefs in day-to-day life).
Another dimension was religious comfort which was based on answering a
question about how often the person sought spiritual support in difficult times.
Each of these dimensions was assessed by self report answers to questions based
on a four point Likert scale.
Koenig, Pargament, & Nielsen (1998) sought to discover the associations
between religiosity and three other variables: physical health, quality of life, and
depression. Religiosity was conceptualized as religious coping (seeking a
spiritual connection with God, benevolent reappraisals of God, collaborative
coping with God, seeking support from clergy or church members, and religious
helping), organizational religiosity (church attendance), non-organizational
religiosity (private religious activity), and subjective religiosity (importance of
religion).
Non-Organizational Religiosity. Organizational Religiosity, Religious
Affiliation, and Religious Belief. One of the objectives of the Kendler et al.
(1997) study was to clarify the relationship between religiosity and psychiatric
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
27
symptoms. In order to measure religiosity, they used the dimensions of non-
organizational and organizational religiosity (ten items reflecting a range of
religious behavior), religious beliefs, and religious affiliation (a scale of
institutional conservatism of current religious affiliation). They reported some
results in terms of the dimensions of religiosity; however, within this study at
times the global term “religiosity” was used when making correlational statements
with some variables. In other words, care was not taken to make clear the specific
dimension that was being operationalized. There was a presumed assumption that
the two dimensions could also mean religiosity in general.
Five-Dimensional Concept of Religiosity
Organizational Religiosity. Religious Affiliation. Religious Belief.
Religious Coping, and Religious Knowledge. Kendler et al. (2003) wanted to
determine the role of religiosity in mental health. They wanted to improve upon
other studies by taking into account the complex and multidimensional nature of
religiosity. They, therefore, sought to “saturate” (p. 497) the concept of
religiosity. To do this, they included the dimensions of religious affiliation,
organizational religiosity, religious belief, religious consequences, and religious
knowledge. To assess these dimensions, they selected 78 questions from various
surveys and measurement instruments. They separately measured each of the
constructs with various mental health variables. In their results they did not claim
to relate the broad category of religiosity to the other variables. Instead they
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
28
acknowledged the complexity of this concept and that their findings supported
the multidimensionality of religiosity.
Summary
In their comprehensive book, Koenig & Larson (2001) summarize the
diverse empirical work using the concept of religiosity as it was compared to a
variety of mental health variables. As in the examples cited above, some of the
studies used a uni-dimensional understanding of religiosity, while other studies
used more than one dimension. Koenig & Larson (2001) wrote that based on
these studies, there was evidence for an association between religiosity and
mental health. The conclusion that Koenig & Larson made, though, did not take
into consideration the variable nature of the construct of religiosity used in the
various studies. They did not acknowledge the fact that religiosity was defined in
many different ways in these studies. Instead, Koenig & Larson simply
concluded that the global concept of religiosity was related to mental health.
Concept of Religiosity Understood Inconsistently
The empirical studies presented thus far, use between one and five
dimensions of religiosity. Sometimes the studies wrote about the complexity of
the concept of religiosity. However, they usually did not refer to the theoretical
literature when identifying the chosen dimension(s).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
29
The evidence cited above demonstrates that there is not a clear and
consistent way that religiosity is conceptualized in the psychological literature.
Since there is no agreed upon theory, a research study that wants to compare
religiosity to another variable will either pick one of the twelve dimensions and
call it religiosity or more commonly pick between two and five of the dimensions
and call it religiosity.
Critique of Religiosity Conceptualized in the Theoretical Literature
When conceptualizing religiosity, the researchers cited above produced
their theories through the filter of positivistic scientific methods which were based
on the philosophy of empiricism. Slife, Hope, & Nebeker (1999) commented that
positivistic philosophical assumptions have dominated the way that religiosity is
understood. This philosophy claims that reality is perceptible only through the
senses. The methodological perspective is that the theory postulated must
ultimately be able to be identified based on observable behavior. This behavior
needs to be perceived through the senses of the researchers. Phenomena that are
nonmaterial or non-behavioral must be translated into sensory phenomena. This
is why each of the dimensions of the concept of religiosity is both observable and
tangible. The dimensions do not contain immaterial properties of the concept of
religiosity.
Many articles mentioned that religiosity was a complex and multifaceted
variable. However, there was an implicit understanding that the concept was
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
30
“captured” by one or more dimensions. This was based on the assumption that
the concept of religiosity could be separated and divided into dimensions that
were supposed to be basic “parts” of the larger concept.
In the literature, there was not a concern that all of the dimensions are
needed in each study to form the full concept of religiosity. This might imply an
assumption that each dimension was a self-contained entity that made up all of the
essential properties of the complete concept. However, the lack of concern might
have no theoretical basis. Instead, it might be due simply to methodological
expediency. Most researchers might surmise that it would take too much time and
would be too complex to include all of the dimensions in each study.
Critique of Religiosity Conceptualized in the Empirical Literature
It is apparent that the research methodology that was employed in the
empirical studies was prioritized over the theoretical understanding of the
concepts being studied. The commitment to research methods automatically
limits or filters the theoretical perspective employed in the studies. Slife et al.
(1999) noted that most researchers using positivistic methods did not
acknowledge that they came with a unique philosophical perspective.
In these empirical studies, the focus on method influenced the
conceptualization of the theory of religiosity in many ways. Slife et al. (1999)
commented that the positivistic method employed in these studies needed to
establish the variables in a way that made them testable. The theories that lend
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
themselves to testability were usually translated so that they could be testable in
a fashion that was simple and efficient. Therefore, even the theory (that was
problematic because it was based on positivistic assumptions) was diluted when it
was translated into what was testable. The net result is that the research findings
may have little to do with the original theoretical position. Ironically, the
positivistic method that was employed was intended to eliminate biases in order
that only the “real” and “objective” truth was revealed. In fact, the biases that
were inherent in the positivistic method created so many filters on the nature of
the concept that if there were a real or objective nature, it would not be found in
this way. For this reason, Slife et al. (1999) recommended that theory be given
priority over method for concepts like religiosity that were associated only with
the human realm.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
32
Spirituality
The confusion regarding the meaning of religiosity is compounded when
the separate construct of spirituality enters into the picture. Historically, the
spiritual dimension had been related only to religious experience, thus the term
“religiosity” was used exclusively when referring to a person’s openness to a
spiritual dimension of life. However, in recent years, people have found ways
outside of religion to access this spiritual dimension. Thus the terms “spirituality”
and “religiosity” are increasingly used interchangeably in empirical literature.
This has added to the confusion with this research because not only is there a lack
of understanding of religiosity, there is also confusion about how to distinguish it
from spirituality. The following will give background of the term “spirituality”
and explain how it is being used in the empirical and theoretical literature.
Koenig et al. (2001) commented that there was “much controversy and little
agreement on the understanding of religion and spirituality” (p. 23).
The word spirituality derives from the Latin noun spiritus, breath, from
spirare, to blow or breathe. In Latin translations of the New Testament, the
spiritualis, or “spiritual” person, is one whose life is ordered or influenced by the
Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God. The abstract word spiritualitas (spirituality), was
used at least as early as the fifth century. Usage of the word at this time retained
the biblical meaning. Other significant words which come from this root include
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
33
"inspiration," "expiration," and "respiration." The latter two refer directly to
the body's need for oxygen delivered by breathing.
The word spiritualitas originated as an attempted Latin translation of the
Greek word, pneuma, from the Pauline New Testament writings. The word was
seldom used until the 17th century when it once again began to reference the
spiritual life. It appears in French literature to refer to the human experience of
the divine. It was also used pejoratively by Voltaire to attack what he believed to
be Quietist movements. The word then disappeared until the early decades of the
twentieth century when it appeared originally in French and later in English
translations of writings that were tied to debates concerning the spiritual life in
itself (Principe, 1983).
Sheldrake (1995) noted the short history of the usage of the term
spirituality. For example, in The Catholic Encyclopedia, which was published
between 1912-1915, there were no references to the word spirituality, however, in
the revised New Catholic Encyclopedia, published in the 1970’s there were eight
articles that used the word. The most recent version of the New Catholic
Encyclopedia (2003) used the term spirituality on 828 occasions.
Sheldrake (1995) observed that since spirituality was deeply personal and
rooted within lived experience, it was a difficult term to define. This was due to
the fact that the basic understanding of what was spiritual was more dependent
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
34
upon particular experiences rather than the particular theological language
prevalent within one’s cultural surround.
Roof et al. (1999) noted that the notion of spirituality went beyond the
traditional dualistic Christian assumptions and included both atemporal and
acultural features that aimed at making it a universal construct. When the
religious quest was transformed into a more personal experience of spirituality,
the distinctions that were once made between religious denominations as well as
between “believers” and “non-believers” were diminished.
Spirituality in Psychology
Maslow (1964) was the first in the field of psychology to differentiate
between spirituality and organized religion. He noted that spirituality was a basic
component of the experience of life. He, therefore, did not see spirituality as the
exclusive property of any one religion or group. He believed that people who
were “self-actualized” showed themselves to be spiritual in their character,
attitudes, and behavior. For these people, reality was discovered as wondrous,
beautiful, awe-inspiring, and a privilege to behold. Maslow’s concept of God was
not limited to religious activities. He argued that the sacred dimension was in the
ordinary everyday life. He commented that organized religion often separated the
sacred from the profane so that the sacred was reserved only for the select few.
He wrote that religion can limit the experience of the sacred because
sometimes religious people only attribute it to direct religious practices and not to
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
35
the rest of day-to-day life. All religions, according to Maslow, have originated
from these core human experiences. The differences among them, stemming from
particularities of time and locale, could thus be considered as not touching the
essential.
Spirituality in the Theoretical Literature
Humanistic Psychology
Maslow’s theoretical work has influenced how spirituality was
conceptualized within humanistic psychology. Theoretical research by Elkins,
Hedstrom, Hughes, Leaf, and Saunders (1988) attempted to create a humanistic
understanding of spirituality. They wanted an expanded understanding of
spirituality that would “recognize its human and universal nature and would
extricate it from the narrow definitions sometimes assigned to it by traditional
religions” (p. 6).
Their research contained four major assumptions:
• There is a spiritual dimension of human existence that includes particular
values, attitudes, perspectives, beliefs, and emotions.
• Spirituality is an experience that is potentially available to all people.
• While spirituality and religion have some common characteristics, they are not
the same.
• Theoretical and phenomenological approaches are the best way to define and
describe spirituality.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
36
In order to determine a definition of spirituality, Elkins et al. (1988)
studied classic works from William James, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, Rudolph
Otto, John Dewey, Gordon Allport, Mircea Eliadee, Martin Buber, Erich Fromm,
and Viktor Frankl. While Elkins, et al. noted that none of the writers provided a
clear and comprehensive definition of spirituality, they noticed much convergence
among the writers. From these items they were able to develop elements of
spirituality. This resulted in the following definition of spirituality: “Spirituality,
which comes from the Latin, spiritus, meaning “breath of life,” is a way of being
and experiencing that comes about through awareness of a transcendent
dimension and that is characterized by certain identifiable values in regard to self,
others, nature, life, and whatever one considers to be the Ultimate” (p. 10).
This led to a multidimensional construct that consisted of the following
nine major components:
• Transcendent Dimension - this is an experiential belief that a
transcendent dimension exists. This could include the traditional belief
in a personal God. It could also mean “a natural extension of the
conscious self into the regions of the unconscious or Greater Self’ (p.
10). Accompanied with the belief in this unseen world is the fact that
contact with this world is beneficial.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
37
• Meaning and Purpose in Life - As a result of the quest for meaning
and purpose, the spiritual person understands that life is meaningful and
that there is a purpose to one’s existence.
• Mission in Life - The spiritual person has a sense of destiny. There is a
connection to the universe that results in a sense of “responsibility to
life, a calling to answer, a mission to accomplish, or a destiny to fulfill”
(p. 11).
• Sacredness of Life - The spiritual person experiences a sense of awe,
reverence, and wonder in many different types of situations as life in
general is infused with sacredness. The sacred and the secular are not
differentiated because of the underlying belief that all of life is holy.
• Material Values - The spiritual person de-emphasizes material
possessions. There is a realization that life’s ultimate satisfaction occurs
when spiritual elements are enhanced.
• Altruism - The spiritual person experiences an empathy toward the
suffering of others. This occurs on a personal as well as universal level
and produces a movement toward activity characterized by altruistic
action.
• Idealism - In conjunction with altruism, the spiritual person is
committed to making the world a better place. Although there is a sense
of contentment that spiritual existence is good, there is a concurrent
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
38
commitment to actualizing the positive potential in all of life’s
encounters.
• Awareness of the Tragic - The spiritual person is conscious of the pain
and suffering that is inherent to human existence. It is the connection
to the tragic in life that gives depth to one’s spirituality.
• Fruits of Spirituality - The practice of spirituality produces a positive
effect in one’s life in terms of life enhancing relationships to self,
others, nature, and the ultimate.
Elkins’s later theoretical work (2001) hypothesized three constructs that
help to explain the spiritual process: the soul, the sacred, and spirituality itself.
These three constructs have a dynamic relationship in which “the soul is
nourished through regular contact with the sacred, the result is spiritual growth or
spirituality” (p. 209). To Elkins, spiritual growth occurred when the soul was
immersed in sacred experiences. Consistent with the theoretical basis to this
study, Elkins hypothesized that these experiences occurred on a continuum of
intensity. On the low level of intensity were “poignant moments,” while “peak
experiences” were of average intensity, with “mystical encounters” being of high
intensity.
The lower level experiences were available to everyone. Elkins wrote that
the low intensity experiences were in the form of poignant moments which were
everyday experiences such as being moved by “the beauty of a sunset, by the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
39
stirring music of a symphony, or by the comforting touch of a friend” (p. 208).
These moments were deeply refreshing and were often accompanied by feelings
of gratitude, humility, and awe. He called these moments ones that “the sacred
brushes against us” (p. 208).
Using the same phrase as Maslow but in a slightly different way, Elkins
(2001) proposed the phrase “peak experience” to refer to sacred experiences of
average intensity. Peak experiences lasted longer than poignant moments. The
experiences were deeper and it produced lasting changes in people’s lives. Elkins
gave a few examples of peak experiences reported by people that he knew. In
one, a person
went for a walk on the beach in the late afternoon. As the sun was
setting, she climbed onto a boulder at the water’s edge. Gazing out to sea,
she felt herself slowly becoming one with nature—with the sun
descending toward the horizon, the waves crashing at her feet, the pastel
colors that streaked the western sky. She said, ‘In that moment I felt
eternity. I knew these things had gone on for millions of years before I
came and that they would go on for millions of years after I’m gone. It
felt good to be alive, to be part of all this. I was deeply moved and began
to cry.’ (p. 84)
The other example given by Elkins (2001) was at the time of the birth of a
person’s baby. At the moment that the doctor put the baby on her stomach she
she felt the most profound ecstasy she had ever known. For several
minutes, her joy remained so intense that she was hardly aware of the
others in the room. This experience has a profound impact on this young
woman, and it remains one of her most precious memories, (p. 209)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
40
Elkins (2001) also gave a brief description of his understanding of
mystical encounters. He said that they were the most intense forms of spiritual
experience. He described them as seminal events in which one’s mode of
existence comprehensively changed. He wrote that they were characterized by
“overwhelming impact” (p. 209). These experiences were described by the
mystics from the major world religions. Elkins noted that the “worlds religious
literature is filled with stories of such encounters” (p. 209).
Spirituality Separated From Religiosity
Elkins (2001) wrote that spirituality was a separate concept from
religiosity. He interpreted that William James (institutional and personal
religion), Gordon Allport (extrinsic and intrinsic religion) and Abraham Maslow
(spiritual values and codified religion) made this same distinction. He wrote that
although the terms were inseparable for two thousand years of Western history,
today “millions of people, recognizing that religion and spirituality are not the
same, have left organized religion to pursue alternate spiritual paths” (p. 207).
Many of these people became involved with alternative spiritual paths such as
Eastern religions, Twelve Step programs, New Age thinking, Native American
traditions, Jungian psychology, transpersonal psychology, Greek mythology,
shamanic practices, meditation, and yoga.
Elkins (2001) argued that spirituality did not need a relationship with the
Divine, but was characterized by the awareness of a transcendent dimension. This
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
41
awareness characterized by certain identifiable values in regard to self, others,
nature, life, and whatever one considered to be the ultimate.
Helminiak (2001) believed that it was useful to separate spirituality from
religiosity, “especially if a common core of spirituality can be discerned within its
multiple religious expressions” (p. 164). He wrote that it was difficult to separate
the two concepts since most conceptions of spirituality were centered around a
belief in God even if they were not attached to an organized religion.
Stifoss-Hanssen (1999) noted that spirituality was expressed by many
different types of people including atheists, agnostics, and by people involved
with idealistic ventures such as ecology. She also included those who are inspired
by “religious impulses” (p. 28) without the understanding of traditional religious
concepts.
Other Theoretical Notions of Spirituality
In their study entitled, “Religion, Spirituality & Therapy,” Carlson et al.
(2002) commented that there were a number of different ways that spirituality was
theoretically understood. They noticed that it was usually understood as identical
to religiosity. They noted that conceptualizations of spirituality vary
considerably. While some understandings were tied to belief in a transcendent
being, others emphasized a connection to nature and beauty. Carlson et al. (2002)
conceptualized spirituality as “referring to the human experience of discovering
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
42
meaning, purpose, and values, which may or may not include the concept of a
God or transcendent being” (p. 159).
George, Larson, Koenig, & McCullough (2000) noted that the main reason
that spirituality was difficult to conceptualize was because “researchers lack
agreement about it” (p. 102). They observed that this problem was made worse
because of the lack of understanding of the relationship of spirituality to
religiosity. George et al. reported on the findings of a panel that was convened by
the National Institute of Healthcare Research (NIHR) in order to review the
research on religiosity and spirituality. This panel identified ten dimensions of
religion and/or spirituality. The following were the dimensions presented in
George et al. (2000).
• Religious/Spiritual Preference or Affiliation
• Religious/Spiritual History
• Religious/Spiritual Participation
• Religious/Spiritual Private Practices
• Religious/Spiritual Support
• Religious/Spiritual Coping
• Religious/Spiritual Beliefs and Values
• Religious/Spiritual Commitment
• Religious/Spiritual Motivation
• Religious/Spiritual Experiences
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
43
There were many similarities between these dimensions and the ones
identified by Koenig et al. (2001) for dimensions of religiosity. The dimensions
of Religious Quest, Religious Knowledge, and Religious Consequences were not
included. One dimension, Religious/Spiritual Support was added. The names of
the other dimensions were nearly identical except for the addition of the word
“Spiritual.”
Koenig et al. (2001) noted that the reason that most empirical research
focused primarily on religiosity was because of the difficulty of measuring
spirituality as a separate concept. They also commented that when empirical
research was done using the concept of spirituality, it was understood in terms of
religion.
Spirituality in the Empirical Literature
Quantitative Studies. Kim, Heinemann, Bode, Sliwa, & King (2000)
explored spirituality and life satisfaction after a rehabilitation experience. They
conceptualized spirituality in terms of Religious Well-Being. It was measured by
a twenty item questionnaire that was responded to on a six-point Likert-type scale
to indicate the extent of agreement with each item. This study used the term
“spirituality” throughout when referring to those who scored high on the scale that
measured Religious Well-Being.
Young, Cashwell, & Shcherbakova (2000) examined how spirituality
moderated relationships between negative life experiences and psychological
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
44
adjustment. In this study, they conceptualized spirituality in terms of three
dimensions: (a) a larger context or structure in which to view one's life, (b) an
awareness of life itself and other living things, and (c) a reverent compassion for
the welfare of others. These dimensions were measured by a twenty-item, five-
point Likert-type instrument that was unique in that it was developed specifically
to measure three content dimensions of spirituality. The results of this study
concluded that spirituality provided a significant moderating effect for both
depression and anxiety.
Graham, Furr, Flowers, & Burke (2001) wanted to examine the correlation
between religion and spirituality in coping with stress. In this study, they also
wanted to compare people who were religious and spiritual versus people who
were spiritual but not religious. They wrote that “religion generally refers to an
integrated set of beliefs and activities whereas spirituality is seen as the meaning
gained from life experiences which may or may not be theistic in nature” (p. 3).
In order to identify the spiritual people in this study they simply asked the
subjects to identify which of the five statements best represented their views: 1)
whether or not they were spiritually religious; 2) spiritual but not religious; 3)
religious but not spiritual; 4) neither religious nor spiritual; or 5) do not know. In
this study, there was no attempt to understand what was meant by the statements.
The results were reported using the terms “spiritually committed,” “externally
religious,” “spiritually/religiously open,” or “spiritually/religiously indifferent.”
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
45
Qualitative Studies
Because of the growing acceptance of qualitative research in the field of
psychology, there have been an increased number of qualitative studies on
spirituality. These studies have used a variety of qualitative methods.
Bristow-Braitman’s study. The study conducted by Bristow-Braitman
(1995) investigated the spiritual aspects of addiction recovery. This study
analyzed the relationship between Twelve-Step programs and cognitive-
behavioral psychology. There were two spiritual dimensions developed in this
study. One involved the person’s sense of connection to self and other. Another
dimension related to behaviors that reinforce this felt connection. The connection
to others included the connection to the divine. In the study, the term “spiritual
awakening” was defined as dramatic changes in thoughts, feelings, and behavior
that were not previously thought to be possible. Within this study, there was a
discussion of spiritual constructs in terms of cognitive-behavioral psychology.
In keeping with the Alcoholics Anonymous tradition, spirituality is
broadly defined in this study without respect to religious constructions. The
spiritual dimensions used were all operationally grounded in behavior. They
included relationship with others, relationship to self, and relationship with a
higher power. A subset of these three dimensions was a sense of connection with
self and other-than-self, as well as behaviors that reinforce this felt connection.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
46
The term higher power was defined as anything or anyone who was
viewed as transcendent. This could be a felt connection to others (e.g., people and
animals); to nature (e.g., the ocean, mountains, trees, rocks); or to the
metaphysical (e.g., God).
Hamilton and Jackson’s study. Hamilton and Jackson (1998) investigated
the relationship between spirituality and health. Participants from this study were
selected from the helping professions including nursing, health education,
counseling, social work, and family sciences. All of the participants were
involved in educational roles. Four of the participants provided direct clinical
service. The age of the participants ranged from thirty to fifty-seven. The cultural
backgrounds included one African American, one of Jewish heritage, and the
others were Euro American.
When addressing the personal meaning of spirituality, the themes that
were discovered involved self-awareness, interconnectedness, and a relationship
to a higher power. The experiences of adversity, transcendence, self
contemplation, generativity, and connecting to a “higher power,” all facilitated
spiritual awareness, while the inability to control thoughts and focus attention
were seen as inhibitors of spirituality.
Gould’s study. The intention of Gould’s (2002) study was to find the
meaning of spirituality by interviewing eight participants who all had what they
termed to be a spiritual life. Her participant’s were from a broad range of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
47
backgrounds. Their ages ranged from twenty-nine to sixty-six years old. There
were five women and four men. Education ranged from trade school to post
graduate education. The participants occupations included professor, yoga
teacher, scientist, therapist, broadcaster, nurse, administrator, minister, actor, and
religious student. The predominant theme that resulted from her grounded theory
analysis was that of “connecting.” Her core categories were reconnecting/coming
home, disconnecting, readiness to reconnect, and movement toward reconnecting.
Phillip’s study. Phillips (1998) qualitatively analyzed the lived
experiences of spirituality among five participants who were faced with life
threatening cancer. Participants were chosen from psychoeducational therapy
groups for cancer patients with advanced illness. They included four women and
one man. They were chosen because they were working to develop spiritual
awareness.
Phillips (1998) defined spirituality as the process of opening up to “one’s
inner self and connecting with something larger” (p. 145). This process involved
letting go of conditioned thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The experiences of
forgiveness, acceptance, trust, and spiritual exercises were involved with this
process. Her participants gained contact with a “spiritual self’ as they went
through the process of changing habitual patterns of thinking, feeling, and
behaving that inhibited spiritual growth. Participants also practiced letting go of
negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They then opened up to embrace a
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
48
transcendent sense of self which replaced a narrow sense of self. This opening
up to an “inner” self helped them to connect with something larger.
Phillips (1998) also analyzed the qualities of the spiritual self. These
qualities included a new sense of meaning and purpose, connectedness,
peacefulness, and detachment from negative thoughts and feelings. For her
participants, spirituality was accessed more through the “heart” than through the
“mind.” In addition, Phillips found that spiritual people felt more comfort,
happiness, and joy. They had a greater ability to stay focused in the present
moment and had a heightened sense of perception.
Conclusions about Spirituality Literature
The quantitative research on spirituality looks very similar to the research
on religiosity. The qualitative research appears to be moving away from
attempting to fit a universal definition into the research design. Instead, it is
moving toward understanding the overall experience of spirituality in a way that
fits into the context of everyday life. Qualitative research has begun to bring
greater clarity to the concept of spirituality. However, there are still some issues
that remain.
As mentioned earlier, Elkins (2001) theoretical work on spirituality
proposed three levels of intensity: low, average, and high. Because the qualitative
studies cited above were performed using participants from the general
population, these qualitative studies represent the low to average levels of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
49
spirituality based on the continuum of intensity. None of the qualitative studies
deliberately chose participants to represent the high intensity form of spirituality.
In addition, these qualitative studies treat spirituality as a separate construct from
religiosity. The theorists are promoting the fact that spirituality is taking on new
meanings that are traditionally only associated with religiosity. Other theorists do
not see the stark distinctions between religiosity and spirituality and thus do not
theoretically separate them.
Overall, while the qualitative studies are beginning to bring some clarity to
the meaning of the experience of spirituality, there is still little agreement among
researchers as to the meaning of this concept. This may be due to the fact that the
theoretical research (i.e., Elkins, 2001) is not directly related to nor integrated
with the qualitative studies. If there is a higher degree of cooperation between
these studies, specific information regarding how the experience changes as the
intensity of the experience increases can be better understood.
In addition to these problems, there is also confusion and disagreement
about how spirituality is related to the concept of religiosity.
Recent Separation of Spirituality from Religiosity
As mentioned above, Gallup polls have consistently shown that an
overwhelming majority of Americans are religious. However, in recent years,
more specific questions have been asked in the surveys conducted by the Gallup
organization. For example, instead of asking only about religious involvement,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
50
when respondents are given a choice of whether or not they consider
themselves religious or spiritual, a January 2003 poll (Gallup, 2003) found 50%
of the respondents described themselves as “religious,” while 33 % said that they
were “spiritual but not religious.”
When respondents were asked to define spirituality, almost a third
provided a definition that did not include a reference to God or a higher authority.
Instead, respondents provided definitions such as, “a calmness in my life,”
“something you really put your heart into,” or “living the life you feel is
pleasing.” Nearly three-quarters of respondents thought of spirituality as
“personal and individual” rather than “in terms of organized religion and church
doctrine” (Gallup, 2003).
Consistent with the increased emphasis on spirituality, other polls have
found that a large majority (69%) of respondents reported that they “completely”
or “to a considerable extent” felt the need to experience spiritual growth in their
daily lives. Another poll has found that when people were asked who they rely on
when deciding on how to conduct their lives, nearly a majority of people (45%)
say that they would rely more on their own views than on God and religious
teachings.
Gallup (2003) has noted that people today appear to be moving further
away from practices that correspond to traditional religions. They are moving
toward a more eclectic approach that takes elements from diverse traditions and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
51
builds a more individualized form of religious experience. According to the
Princeton Religion Research Center (PRRC) report entitled Religion in America
2002, the increases found in those who are emphasizing spirituality began in the
early 1990’s. This trend has steadily increased and continues to the present time.
Bruce (1996) commented that an increasing number of people were embarking on
personal spiritual quests. These people found spiritual meaning by selecting from
a wide variety of religious and spiritual sources rather than following traditional
religions.
According to Lines (2002), recent developments in Western philosophy
have changed the religious worldview in several ways creating a new “spiritual”
paradigm. The philosophical emphasis on the fact that no single absolute truth
can be found with objective certainty has resulted in less emphasis on the support
of authoritative religious writings.
The Background of these Trends
Western religious denominations are becoming increasingly open to
diverse religious expression. A century ago, religious traditions were the product
of exclusive systems of theological theory and practice. Today they are
increasingly becoming more eclectic by borrowing not only from other
denominations, but also from other world faiths (Sheldrake, 1995).
The general decline in the strength of organized religion over the past 25
years is in part due to the crisis of confidence in the leadership of mainline
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
52
religious institutions. While this has happened, spiritual alternatives to
institutional religion have risen in popularity. Recent years have seen spirituality
attached to numerous religious, social, and political movements (Bruce, 1996).
Evolving Meanings of Religiosity and Spirituality
As the historical background of the terms indicate, they have taken on new
meanings in recent years. These new meanings have enhanced the differences
between the two concepts. Pargament (1999a) noted that the term spirituality is
increasingly being contrasted to the term religiosity. This phenomenon has led
Elkins (1998) to state that the separation of the concept of spirituality from the
concept of religion is “one of the major sociological changes of our time” (p. 9).
According to Pargament (1999), the meaning of religion appears to be
taking on a more narrow connotation. Traditionally, religion has encompassed
personal experiential factors such as feelings, thoughts, experiences, and
behaviors that arise from a search for the sacred (Hill, et al., 2000). It is also
comprised of institutional factors that include social structures that are centered
around theological writings. When the meaning of religion includes both of these
factors it is being conceptualized in terms of its “broadband” construct
(Pargament, 1999). However, in recent years religion has become more identified
with institutional factors alone and is seen in terms of a “narrow-band construct”
(Zinnbauer et al., 1999).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
53
The part of religion that traditionally emphasized individual experience
has now become associated with the concept of spirituality. Polarizing the
meanings by associating religiosity only with its institutional meaning omits the
spiritual aspects of religiosity. Pargament (1999) viewed spirituality as the most
central function of religiosity. He observed that when religiosity was more
narrowly conceptualized it lost its complex and multifaceted nature. This resulted
in the transformation of its meaning.
Should Spirituality Replace Religiosity?
Pargament (1999) noted that much of the spirituality literature was
speculative. He found evidence of ungrounded research in spirituality in some of
the new measurement instruments that were being developed. Since they were
not developed based on theories that were supported by actual life experience,
they were related to a variety of criteria that “look suspiciously like old measures
of religiosity” (p. 8).
Pargament (1999) wrote that separating spirituality from religiosity
ignores two facts. The first was that every form of major religion is concerned
with spirituality. The second factor was that the experience of religiosity and
spirituality occurred in a social context. Although there was a tendency to
privatize and individualize spirituality, in fact it is always experienced in some
context. Even those people who were spiritual, but did not belong to any
organized religion, usually shared views and sought support from others who
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
54
shared their point of view. If religion and spirituality became polarized to
represent the institutional and the individual respectively, there was a possibility
that both would be misunderstood because both concepts have institutional and
individual elements.
Marler & Hadaway (2002) reviewed four studies that compared religiosity
and spirituality. They noted that surveys like the Gallup poll taken in 2003 cited
above and one conducted by Roof (1993) reinforced the notion that religiosity and
spirituality were mutually exclusive. They noted that in the Gallup poll,
respondents were able to choose between, “being religious,” “being spiritual but
not religious,” or “being neither spiritual nor religious.” However, respondents
were not given the choice of being both “religious and spiritual.” Roof s 1993
study came to the same conclusions as the Gallup survey. His survey also did not
ask respondents if they considered themselves to be religious and spiritual.
A survey by Zinnbauer, et al. (1997), asked respondents to choose if they
were “spiritual and religious,” “spiritual but not religious,” “religious but not
spiritual,” and “neither spiritual nor religious.” The difference between this
survey and the ones cited above was the choice of “spiritual and religious.”
Seventy-four percent of the respondents chose this option, while only 19% chose
the option of “spiritual, but not religious.” This study was replicated by Scott
(2001) who found 61% choosing the “religious and spiritual” option and 20%
choosing the spiritual only option.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
55
Consistent with the Zinnbauer (1999) and the Scott (2001) surveys,
Marler & Hadaway (2002) concluded that the majority of Americans view
themselves as “religious” and “spiritual.” While there were differences between
the concepts, Marler & Hadaway wrote that religiosity and spirituality were not
mutually exclusive. They determined that the survey demonstrated that religiosity
and spirituality were distinct, but interdependent concepts. They hypothesized
that the increased interest in spirituality could be evidence of a transformed and
revitalized experience of religiosity. Evidence for Marler & Hadaway’s
hypothesis was also discovered in a later study by Roof (1999). He wrote that the
majority of people express spirituality in continuity with religiosity.
These arguments make a strong case that although there is a growing
emphasis on spirituality in the popular culture, most people relate spirituality to
its religious roots. Therefore, religiosity and spirituality are inextricably linked.
My study, therefore, includes both concepts.
Conclusion
The preceding literature review has revealed several problems with
understanding the meaning of the concept of religiosity in the discipline of
psychology. The concept is used inconsistently and does not have a clear
theoretical basis. The inconsistency is highly based on the narrow philosophical
perspective by which religiosity has been conceptualized. Another factor causing
confusion is the changing meaning of the concept in the broader culture which
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
56
includes a new conceptual understanding of spirituality that sometimes
distinguishes itself from traditional conceptions of religiosity (Hill, 1999).
Some of the spirituality theoretical work is also unclear. The attempt to
translate the concept of spirituality into meanings that can be applied to the
quantitative empirical literature simply replicates the multidimensional
understanding that comes from the religiosity research.
The qualitative research on spirituality has begun the process of bringing
greater clarity to the concept of spirituality. However, since the theoretical work
and the empirical studies have not been integrated, questions remain unanswered
regarding the nature of the experience of spirituality. In addition, within the
qualitative research, the concept of religiosity has been transformed and
eradicated from its historical relationship with spirituality.
According to Miller & Thoresen (2003), there is so much confusion
regarding the concepts of religiosity and spirituality that researchers can only
agree on the fact that these concepts include complex phenomenon. Miller &
Thoresen acknowledged the fact that nearly all empirical studies to date have not
recognized the essential nature of these concepts, but instead treated them in an
overly simplistic manner. They noted that because of a lack of understanding
regarding these concepts, there was a paucity of valid studies on spirituality and
religiosity. These problems were critical because these concepts are used as
variables in more and more experimental studies. Pargament et al., (1995)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
57
proclaimed that the discipline of psychology should be taking aggressive action
to help clarify the meaning of religiosity and spirituality. In order for these
studies to be relevant and coherent, there needs to be a greater understanding of
the essential nature of these concepts.
My study has attempted to bring greater clarity to these concepts. To do
this, I have continued with the qualitative model of research by studying human
experience. In the following chapter, I argue why the qualitative approach is
superior to the quantitative approach with the concepts of religiosity and
spirituality. I then take into consideration the qualitative literature that has
provided basic descriptions of spirituality. I also take into account the literature
that postulated that spiritual experiences occur on a continuum. I have also
integrated the literature that argued that the concept of religiosity should not be
eliminated from this discussion.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
58
CHAPTER THREE - METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Quantitative Methodologies
The field of psychology has traditionally used quantitative methods for
research. The philosophical basis to these methods is logical positivism which has
the metaphysical assumption that reality exists and is structured according to
immutable natural laws. There is a dualistic epistemology which assumes that the
researcher and what is being researched are independent. The dualistic
assumption leads to the belief that the researcher can work without influencing
that which he or she is researching. Empirical methodology is used in order to
state hypotheses in propositional form in a controlled experimental environment.
When the traditional scientific worldview is used in religious research,
Slife, et al. (1999) noted that these researchers have a tendency to “alter, ignore,
or fail to elaborate important conceptions of religiosity that are incompatible with
the traditional philosophy of science” (p. 52). The alteration of the concepts of
religiosity and spirituality has resulted in the problems with the quantitative
research critiqued above. This research has encouraged conceptualizations of
religiosity and spirituality that create measurement instruments that are easy to
administrate. These instruments are often based on awkward operationalizations
that only detect overt manifestations of Euro-American religious practice (Hill &
Hood, 1999).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
59
The simplification of the two concepts is done because qualitative
researchers mistakenly assume that the scientific method is an objective or neutral
tool of inquiry. Instead, it too, is based on specific assumptions about the world.
The primary positivistic assumptions are incompatible with experiences indicative
of religiosity and spirituality such as transcendence, holism, and contextuality
(Slife, etal., 1999).
Qualitative Methodologies
Due to these problems with the traditional scientific viewpoint, there is an
increased openness to explore other more qualitative methodologies when
undertaking a research project. Denzin & Lincoln (1998) noted that qualitative
research does not emphasize examining and measuring in terms of quantities,
amounts, intensities, or frequencies. Instead, there is an emphasis on “the socially
constructed nature of reality, the intimate relationship between the researcher and
what is studied, and the situational constraints that shape inquiry” (p.8). This type
of inquiry acknowledges the fact that research is not value-free. While
quantitative research emphasizes the measurement and analysis of causal
relationships between variables, qualitative research “seeks answers to questions
that stress how social experience is created and given meaning” (p.8).
The assumptions of qualitative methodologies are more consistent and
compatible with research on religiosity and spirituality (Slife et al., 1999). These
assumptions include:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
60
• The primacy of lived experience, rather than only sensory
experiences.
• A radical holism that takes into consideration the totality of one’s
experience rather than assuming that the objective and subjective can
be atomistically separated.
• An emphasis on contextuality which emphasizes experiential patterns
over the search for universal laws.
A qualitative method was therefore chosen for this study. The qualitative
procedure that best accomplished the objectives of this study is the
phenomenological method. The worldview of this method will be employed
throughout the study. The procedures will specifically be used for data collection
and analysis.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
61
CHAPTER FOUR - METHOD
Introduction
There has been an unprecedented rise in research that uses the concepts of
religiosity and spirituality. These concepts have been used in confusing and
inconsistent ways in the psychological literature. It has been acknowledged that
in order for research to be cogent and germane, there needs to be a greater
understanding of these concepts. My project, therefore, has begun the process of
arriving at a fuller and more comprehensive understanding of the meaning of
religiosity and spirituality.
My study has accomplished a more comprehensive understanding of these
two concepts by avoiding the pitfalls of the quantitative literature. To avoid these
pitfalls, my study has given primacy to lived experience, has taken into
consideration the totality of experience, and has done this in a way that
emphasizes how this experience has been contextually situated.
Since experience is the focus of this study, the first objective is to
determine which type of experience should be collected and analyzed. In the
following section, I present arguments concerning the most suitable experience
that offers the best data for this study.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
62
The Best Experiential Data for this Study
The issue that will now be addressed is the type of personal experience
that offers the best data in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding
of religiosity and spirituality.
As noted in the literature review, the qualitative studies have brought
greater depth to the understanding of spirituality. This research has provided
general descriptions of spiritual experiences. Although these descriptions are a
good place to start, there are two ways that this research can be improved in order
to contribute to a more comprehensive description of religiosity and spirituality.
First, both of the concepts, religiosity and spirituality need to be taken into
consideration. The qualitative research, thus far, does not include religiosity.
Second, since the participants in the qualitative studies have come from the
general population, the focus of these studies has been to obtain general
descriptions of spirituality. The resulting data from this research is (according to
Elkin’s (2000) model) of low or average intensity. Currently, there are no
descriptions of spirituality and religiosity that have focused on the most intense
experience. I argue that by examining the most intense experience, a more
complete understanding of the overall concepts of religiosity and spirituality can
be attained.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
63
In the following section, I will explore different types of religious and
spiritual experience in order to identify the most intense experience of religiosity
and spirituality.
Religious Experiences Vary in Nature.
As mentioned in the literature review, several theorists acknowledge
polarities in religious experience, i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic (Allport, 1967),
individual vs. institutional (James, 1902); and spiritual values vs. codified religion
(Maslow, 1964). In helping to explain this phenomenon, Ellwood (1999) wrote
that religiosity and spirituality was on a continuum that consisted of varying
degrees of intensity. Elkins (2000) proposed that there are three levels of
intensity: low, average, and high.
The Most Intense Experiences of Religiosity and Spirituality.
There are several twentieth-century writers who have described mystical
experience as the essence of the religious experience.
William James (1902) wrote that mysticism was the “root and center” of
religion (p. 370). His view was that the mystical experience was a state of insight
“into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect” (p. 371). Although
mystical experiences were sometimes difficult to articulate, these experiences
were filled with significance and importance, and were accompanied by a sense of
authority. According to James, mystical experiences were expressed more
through the person’s feelings than through intellectual capacities.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
64
Von Hugel (1908) wrote that religion was comprised of three basic
elements. They were, institutional, historical, and mystical. Of these three
elements, von Hugel wrote that the core of religion was found in its mystical
elements. He wrote that the mystical element was the lived dimension of religion
in which the sacred was experienced within the personality. According to von
Hugel, the mystical aspect of religion was where religion was “felt rather than
seen or reasoned about, is loved and lived rather than analyzed, is action and
power, rather than either external fact or intellectual verification” (p. 53). Von
Hugel’s view was that all three elements made up religion. However, he believed
that mysticism was the summit of religion and the part of religion in which
spirituality was embedded.
Martin Buber (1909/1996) wrote that mystical experience was, “an
absolute realization of religiosity, achieving both an apprehension of one’s self
and an apperception of God” (p.xvii).
In the preface to the 12th Edition of the classic work, Mysticism, Evelyn
Underhill (1911/1930) wrote that mysticism was “now more and more generally
accepted by theologians, philosophers and psychologists, as representing in its
intensive form the essential religious experience of man” (p. 3).
Maslow (1964) noted that the intrinsic core of the major world religions
was the mystical experience. He explained, “The high religions call themselves
revealed religions and each of them tends to rest its validity, its function, and its
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
65
right to exist on the communication of this original mystic experience” (p. 19).
He commented that mystical experiences across the major world religions were
essentially the same. Concerning mystical experience, he wrote, “This something
common, this something which is left over after we peel away all the localisms,
all the accidents of particular languages or particular philosophies, all
ethnocentric phrasings, all those elements which are not common, we may call the
“core-religious experience” (p. 20).
McGinn (1991) agreed with these statements when he commented that
within the major religious traditions, mysticism has been traditionally understood
as the essence of the spiritual path. He also stated that in recent years there has
been an unprecedented interreligious dialogue. Prominent in these discussions has
been a comparative analysis of mysticism.
Religious Experience and Mysticism
Agreeing with James, von Hugel, Buber, Underhill, Maslow, and McGinn,
Ellwood (1999) identified mysticism as a subcategory of religious experience. He
wrote that mystical experience was the most intense on the continuum of religious
experiences. Ellwood commented that mysticism was an important category
because it reflected interpretations of the experiential essence of religion.
Mystical experience in the world religions. Mystical experience is found
in all of the major religious traditions. Throughout history, the majority of people
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
66
who have had mystical experiences have come from the traditions of
Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism.
These religions typically provide doctrines and ethical guidance so that
people can build a worldview and know ways to express it in their lives.
Although these aspects of religion do not need to bear a mystical connection,
there is a possibility that this connection can occur even if it is slight (Carmody &
Carmody, 1996).
Traditionally, mysticism was not seen in a separate sphere from general
religious practices. Some mystics may have separated themselves from the
general religious community. However, the most prominent pattern of the
religious community was for most members to see mystical experiences as the
culmination of religious life. The mystical moments within these traditional
religions were the ways that members of those religions actualized their religious
beliefs (Carmody & Carmody, 1996).
In conclusion, based on the evidence cited above, I argue that there is a
continuum of religious and spiritual experience. This continuum varies
according to the degree of intensity of the experience. The most intense
experience is that which is reported by the person who has had a mystical
experience. By analyzing the experiential structures of mystical experience, and
linking these structures to less intense experiences, a greater understanding of the
concepts of religiosity and spirituality can be achieved.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
67
The purpose of my project is to achieve a greater understanding of the
nature of the experience of religiosity and spirituality. This process can begin by
analyzing the most intense experience of religiosity and spirituality. The most
intense experience is found in descriptions of mystical experience. The
methodology used for this study, therefore, must provide this research with a way
to discover essential qualities as they are expressed within human experience.
The chosen methodology must place an emphasis on the primacy of lived
experience that is contextual and holistic. The phenomenological method fulfills
this criteria.
Phenomenological Method
According to Polkinghome (1989), phenomenological philosophy is
concerned with the descriptions of the essential structures that are inherent in
consciousness. Data from phenomenological research are obtained from first-
person reports of life experiences (Moustakas, 1994). Phenomenological
principles specify that the validity of scientific investigation is based on
knowledge that is obtained by descriptions of personal experiences which convey
the meanings and essences of that experience.
Moustakas (1994) listed some of the principles and processes of
phenomenological research:
• The focus of phenomenology is the way things appear as they are
given in experience. This means that the everyday routines and biases
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
68
that show up in the conceptual world of everyday living are
excluded (or bracketed) from the data that is analyzed.
• Phenomenology examines its subject from diverse sides, angles, and
perspectives. The result is a unified understanding of the essential
nature of the experience.
• Phenomenology discovers ideas, concepts, and understandings by
discovering meanings that are derived from experiences. The data are
gleaned through intuitive reflections on the acts of consciousness that
are understood based on descriptions of experience.
• Phenomenology is less concerned with explanations and analyses of
experience. Instead it focuses on descriptions that retain the original
texture, qualities, and properties of the experience. Since the target is
the actual nature of the experience, the descriptions are intended to
illuminate the presence and accentuate the underlying meanings of the
phenomenon under investigation. The purpose of the descriptions is to
vividly and accurately present what is actually appearing in
consciousness. This includes the images, impressions, verbal pictures,
descriptive features, and sense qualities.
• Phenomenological researchers have a personal interest in the subject
matter that they are investigating. Sometimes the connection is
intimate and autobiographical such that the researchers own history is
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
69
an important dimension of the discovery process. In this way,
phenomenology recognizes the integration of the researcher (subject)
and the phenomenon under investigation (object).
Phenomenology begins with the understanding that people are always
intentionally conscious of something. Consciousness is directed toward
something specific and meaningful. Sensations and cognitions become focused in
the essences of experience as the meaning of the experience is examined. The
details of the experience are understood in terms of the following questions:
• “How is it that the experience is what it is?”
• “Under what conditions does the experience occur?”
• “What are the frames of reference that the experience originates?”
• “What are the possible meanings of the experience?”
In order to investigate intense experiences of religiosity and spirituality, I
attempted to bracket out my own preconceived biases and judgments about this
subject. By doing this, I more readily entered into the perspective of the
descriptive data so that the specific qualities and properties of the reported
experience could be understood in a comprehensive and authentic way. This
process allowed the vivid and essential meanings of the phenomenon to surface so
that a clear portrait of the nature and essence of the experiences were drawn.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
70
Data Collection
Written documents. Polkinghome (1989) suggested that literary protocols
could be used for phenomenological data collection. He wrote that literary data
could present “deeply penetrating descriptions and they allow the researcher
access to protocols from a variety of geographical and historical settings” (p. 50).
This is true of the available literature on mystical experience.
There is a vast array of mystical literature from each of the major
historical religions. According to Stace (1960), those who have described their
mystical experience have come from “all over the world, in all different ages,
cultures, and in all different religious associations” (p. 33). This factor lends
credence to the objectivity of the experience and also facilitates the ability to “get
at” the essential experience using the phenomenological method.
The data from the historical religious writings were supplemented with
data from contemporary published accounts of mystical experience. The
contemporary written accounts also originated from various cultures and
languages.
Data Collection
This study analyzed mystical experiences. There are two types of data
that were gathered for this study: data from the historical world religious mystical
writings and data from contemporary accounts of mystical experience.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
71
Criteria for Selecting Mystical Texts from Historical Religions
There were two criteria used to choose selections from the historical
religious literature that provided descriptions of mystical experience. First, the
writing had to be widely recognized as mystical. This was determined based on
whether or not the mystic or the mystical writing was recognized as mystical in
one or more of the literary classics on mysticism. Drawing from both Eastern and
Western resources, these classics include: Evelyn Underhill’s (1911), Mysticism,
Walter Stace’s (1960), The Teachings o f the Mystics; F.C. Happold’s
(1963/1990), Mysticism; Carmody & Carmody’s (1996), Mysticism: Holiness
East and West; R.P. Aug. Poulain’s (1910), The Graces o f Interior Prayer; R.C.
Zaehner’s (1959), Hindu and Muslim mysticism; and D.T. Suzuki’s (1957/2002),
Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist, and Nyanaponik Thera’s (1962)
interpretation of the Satipatthana Sutra called, The Heart o f Buddhist Meditation.
The second factor that I used to choose selections was whether or not the
actual mystical experience could be elucidated from the mystical writings. In the
historical mystical literature from the world religions, the authors tend to write
about their beliefs, opinions, and philosophies while referring to their personal
experiences indirectly. In other words, there are few accounts of mystical
experience where the intention of the writer was to provide the phenomenological
structure of the experience. Therefore, I only selected data that included within
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
72
the context of the interpretive text, direct or indirect indicators of
phenomenological structures of the mystical experience.
Based on these criteria, the data for this study included mystical
experiences from:
• Western Religious Sources: Meister Eckhart; Jan van Ruysbroeck;
Jalal al-Din Rumi; Kabbalah; John of the Cross, R. P. Aug Poulain,
and the anonymous author of the Cloud o f Unknowing
• Eastern Religious Sources: Bhamvad Gita; Upanishads; Lao-Tsu;
Vijnanabhairava; D.T. Suzuki; Takuan Soho; Lankavatara Sutra,
Diamond Sutra, and Satipatthana Sutta.
Each of these documents involved a great deal of textual information. The
following section will show the process that I used in order to find the segments
of the documents that were phenomenologically analyzed.
Choosing texts. Many of the mystical writings that were chosen were
large texts. Within these texts there was philosophical or religious language that
conveyed the ideas, beliefs, and/or opinions of the author. This part of the text
was not chosen for data. The following is the procedure that I used to locate the
text that provided the best experiential data.
Some texts, like that of Jan van Ruysbroeck were in digital format. For
these writings, I used software to create a concordance for the document. I used
this concordance in order to locate the words in the document that described the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
73
structure and state of experiencing. These important “phenomenological”
words were highlighted and the segments of the text were chosen based on the
relative density of the highlighted words.
Most of the other texts, like Meister Eckhart’s writings, were not in digital
format. This necessitated reading through over 800 pages of Eckhart’s writings in
various books in order to find documents that had the most pertinent information
concerning the mystical experience.
The majority of the mystical texts that I explored were not used. For
example, I scoured through several Sufi sources, which included several hundred
pages of material from Jalal al-Din Rumi. Although it is likely that this literature
covers many themes of the mystical experience, I only use the Sufi material in
one theme of the data. The reason for using only one theme is due to the
symbolic nature of the Sufi poetic expressions that were used to convey the
mystical experience. This literature was difficult for me to decipher. This does
not mean that other experiential structures were not contained in Sufi literature. I
would expect that one who is more accustomed to the Sufi style of poetry could
understand and extrapolate the literature better than myself.
Another example is the Tao Teh Ching. I read this text many times using
numerous translations before I was able to use a few passages as data. The
Buddhist text, the Dhammapada, was carefully read in its entirety. There were
some sections that provided experiential elements; however, other texts (the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
74
Lankavatara, Diamond, and Satipatthana Sutras) were more direct and concise.
Thus, the Dhammapada was not included in the data.
The foundational texts from most of the major world religions were not
used in this study. These include the Muslim Koran, the Jewish Tanakh and the
Christian New Testament. These texts may include mystical passages. However,
none of these segments were used for data. This decision was based on two
factors. The first is that many of the passages are controversial and subject to
different interpretations. My study is not the place to argue religious doctrine.
The second is that I was very familiar with some of these texts from personal
studies and did not want that to bias my search for data. Fortunately, there was an
abundance of data relevant to this study from writers who were well versed in the
foundational texts.
In addition, I did not include writings or sayings attributed to the founders
of the historical religions. This includes Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammad. Some
consider each of these figures to be quintessential mystics; others may be
offended by this assertion. Once again, it was not my purpose to argue this point
since other sources were abundant from these religious perspectives.
The Eastern Religions especially Buddhism and Hinduism are often
referred to as the “mystical” religions. This factor causes any study of mysticism
to appear to have an “Eastern” bias. Although most of the experiential structures
were plentiful from all of the religions, I found that with regard to mystical
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
75
preparation, the Eastern texts were the most direct, consistent, and easy to
understand. There was very little systematic information concerning mystical
preparation in the Western sources. When it was in the text, it was so indirect and
convoluted that I did not include it.
In some cases, experiential segments had already been extrapolated from
the mystical texts by other authors. Sometimes these segments were used if they
indeed appeared to be the best experiential data from the text.
In the course of my search for texts that conveyed phenomenological
information, I found that other researchers, such as Stace and Happold made
similar attempts to locate writings that emphasized phenomenological structures.
Unfortunately, even their very skillful efforts had marginal results. Therefore, I
meticulously searched other texts and sifted through thousands of pages to locate
the texts that conveyed the clearest experiential data.
The material that was chosen to be included had to make sense to me. For
example, when I read that Julian of Norwich had a mystical experience while
staring at a hazelnut, I did not include it in the data because this experience was
difficult to understand. To make sense, it needed to be tried and tested in a
consistent and systematic way. While the principle of recollection could explain
Julian’s experience and perhaps even systematize it, Julian’s words alone as data
would not help to bring clarity to the subject matter. Fortunately, a text by
Richard Foster (1992) compiled the most salient material from the Christian
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
76
mystics concerning mystical preparation. He has presented it in an
understandable fashion. His summary is presented in the data.
Criteria for Selecting 20th Century Written Accounts of Mystical Experience
In order to find other accounts of experiences that were properly termed
“mystical,” it was necessary to set out criteria by which to choose the proper
selections. When addressing this issue, I first created criteria concerning what did
not qualify as a mystical experience:
• Simply to have interest, involvement or enthusiasm toward the subject
of mysticism did not qualify someone as a mystic.
• Although the word mysticism has an etymological connection with the
word “mystery,” there is not a direct relationship between the words.
Mysticism, therefore, is not an explanation of experiential mysteries.
• Mysticism is not related to parapsychological phenomena such as
telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, or precognition. In some cases,
people who have had a mystical experience may also have had other
anomalous psychological experiences; however, those experiences are
not considered mystical.
• Visions and voices are not mystical phenomena even though mystics
may often have these experiences (Stace, 1960).
In order to identify appropriate mystical experiences, I used the same four
criteria used by William James. They are:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
77
• Ineffability: People report that it is difficult to put the experience
into words.
• Noetic Quality: A state of deep insight that is understood in a different
way than the usual intellectual knowledge. They are important and
significant illuminations that carry with them a sense of authority.
• Transiency: The experience does not last a long time.
• Passivity: The will of the mystic is not active as usual. The experience
is as though another life predominates.
The above criteria are fulfilled in the detailed accounts of the mystical
experiences of Jeddu Krishnamurti and Alan Watts.
Since the data from Krishnamurti and Watts did not have religious
interpretive information, they were more concise and focused on experiential
elements. In the case of Krishnamurti, he kept a diary of his daily experiences for
nine months. He only wrote about what he was experiencing. For this reason,
these data were analyzed in their entirety and held a prominent role in the results.
Data Analysis
Georgi’s Method of Phenomenological Analysis
There was a systematic phenomenological analysis of all initial data. The
following steps have been extrapolated from Georgi’s overall theory and applied
to the current project (from Polkinghome, 1989):
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
78
• I read through the entire description in order to get a general sense
o f the entire statement. The text was carefully read and understood
from the language of the subject. If the description was unusually
long, this step took multiple readings. While reading, I held in
abeyance my a priori assumptions regarding the topic. The
understanding of this initial contact with the text served as the basis for
the next step.
• Ire-read the text with the aim o f delineating “ meaning units. ” The
text was divided into blocks by noting the meaning unit
discriminations directly on the descriptions when there was a change
of meaning of the situation being described. I was sensitive that the
perceived changes in meaning were directly due to the text and not to
my own theoretical position.
• I transformed the “ meaning units ” in order to extract their implicit
psychological aspects. I assumed a “psychological attitude” toward
the text. At the same time I saw the text as an example of the
phenomenon of mysticism. The meaning units were put into my own
words based on this perspective.
• I interrogated the meaning units and determined the ones that were
directly related to the phenomenon under investigation. The question,
“What is mystical experience?” was addressed toward both the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
79
meaning units and the psychological aspect of the meaning unit. I
drew out the aspects from each unit that were related to the question of
the meaning of mystical experience. I then re-described these aspects
in the psychological terms related to this experience. During this stage,
I recorded any commonalities that I discovered in the various texts.
When these commonalities were found, I questioned each as to
whether they reflected an essential or merely an incidental aspect of
the phenomenon in question. These common elements were directly
related to the next step.
• I recorded themes based on units o f psychological meaning. Based on
the common elements, I recorded a set of situated themes for each
document based on a distinct unit of psychological meaning in the
recorded experience. When I exhausted each document of its situated
themes, I returned to the first document to review its raw and thematic
content in light of the themes that emerged from the other documents.
This often revealed new situated themes not discovered before. When
expressing and recording the general themes, I provided illustrative
quotes from the documents. This helps to ensure the applicability of
the document and also to refine the expression of the precise meaning.
While doing this, I was able to ascertain a greater sense of the way that
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
80
the themes were interrelated. Once this was established, these
themes were placed into categories of experience based on their
similarities.
• I synthesized the categories together into a descriptive, contextual
statement o f essential meanings. These categories were related to each
other and to the sense of the entire data set. This description was
within the context of the original question, “What is the psychological
structure of the mystical experience as it is presented in the situation
described by the subject?”
• I then developed a more general trans-situational description o f the
categories. This description omitted the situational aspects presented
in the original description. There was a focus on the parts of the
described experience that related to the mystical experience in general.
Once the initial categories and themes were analyzed and developed,
subsequent documents were collected and analyzed based on the emerging
categories.
When analyzing the texts, I kept in mind that differences were as
important as similarities so that not only thematic saturation was to be reached,
but also thematic richness and diversity. Once the data from any given document
was exhausted, I proceeded to collect data from another source. Once initial
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
81
themes emerged, subsequent data collection was based on the themes and how
they related to emerging categories.
While collecting data, I was self aware about why and how I was gathering
the data. That way, the nuances of meaning and process were explored in a way
that consistently reflected the quest of explicating the phenomenology of mystical
experience. In addition, I was aware of the implicit meanings and taken-for-
granted concerns that were detected in the written documents. In this way, the
nuances that were present within the language and meanings of the data were
detected.
There was a conscious effort to discover themes from the data rather than
by preconceived ideas. Therefore, the accumulation of the initial thematic data
dictated the direction of later data collection.
Data was checked and rechecked against other data. This process
generated memos about the similarities and differences in the data. The data then
emerged into themes of similar information. These themes were then integrated
into categories for the intention of creating a general picture of experience.
While collecting and analyzing the data, I was well aware of the
uniqueness of my sources. I realized that even though the nature of the mystical
experience was universal, the way that it was conveyed in the written documents
emphasized specific themes that were important to the individual author. This
importance could have a cultural or historical basis.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
82
My intention was to obtain only the themes that the particular author
was conveying. Since I discovered that other mystical sources emphasized other
aspects of the experience, I did not attempt to elucidate all themes from each
source. My task was not that of comparative religious analysis nor was it to
demonstrate how mystical experience was consistently expressed by the wide
range of authors. My objective was to present the phenomenology of mystical
experience that included as many facets of the experience as possible.
When analyzing the data, I was often forced to think about the material in
new ways that differed from the way that the document had been interpreted in
the past. At times, I had to approach familiar material and distance myself from it
enough to make it unfamiliar and new.
Initially, when data was collected, it was reviewed in its entirety, line by
line. This assisted in the process of seeing the familiar in a new light. It also
helped to create a distance between the assumptions that may have been taken for
granted by the writers of the documents. In this way, I was always able to make a
fresh interpretation of the document.
In the first stage of analysis, themes were identified by experiential
structures that were contained within the data. Categories were considered
conceptual elements of the themes that were emerging. Each category is
important and substantial in its own right; however, when they were compared
and contrasted, a higher degree of abstraction was elucidated. By analyzing the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
83
themes and putting them into categories, it was possible to ascertain the logical
connections between the categories in terms of a sequential order that was
emerging. I was careful that the logical abstractions were always derived directly
from the data and not any a priori model concerning the themes and subsequent
categories.
The themes emerged from data with little interpretive effort. Although the
themes are constructs, they were directly based on the data rather than my own
preconceptions.
Presentation of Results
In Chapter Five, I present the results of the study. Prior to this
presentation, I provide some brief background information concerning the nature
of experience before the mystical experience. I then give some information
concerning the preparation for the mystical experience.
The presentation of the mystical experience will begin with the major
categories of both the experience and the effects of the experience. This will be
followed by a general trans-situational statement of the mystical experience
derived from the categories.
Significance of Study
The explication of the essential meanings of the most intense level of
religiosity and spirituality brings a greater understanding to the meaning of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
84
religiosity and spirituality. This more comprehensive understanding benefits
the discipline of psychology in the following ways:
• It will aid researchers when they are sharing their research findings. In
order to have effective communication between those doing research
as well as those using the research, the concepts would be used with
the same meaning in mind. This is true not only within the discipline
of psychology, but also between psychology and other disciplines. In
order for research findings to be mutually beneficial and coherently
shared, the concepts need to be used with the same meaning by other
fields that find the research of interest.
• It will give coherency and consistency to research studies. Since the
current studies use different criteria for their conceptual understanding
of religiosity, research findings are often contradictory. These
contradictions may be due only to the variations in conceptual
understanding of the constructs used to identify religiosity.
• It will aid researchers so that they will be clear about what research
subjects are referring to when they use the concept of religiosity while
participating in research studies. Research findings are obscured if
people are self-reporting religiosity and/or spirituality without
knowing precisely what they mean by the terms. (K.I. Pargament et al.,
1995).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
85
• It will assist in creating valid measurement instruments. Currently,
there are at least 126 instruments that measure the different dimensions
of religiosity and spirituality. Although the reliability of these scales is
adequate, Hill & Hood (1999) observed that there remain critical
problems with validity issues. An authentic understanding of the
primary concepts used in measurement instruments can increase the
likelihood of valid instruments. It will also shed light on whether or
not this conceptual understanding will lend itself to empirical
measurement.
Limitations and Assumptions of this Study
Realizing the vast nature of this subject, this study did not intend to
provide a comprehensive analysis of every aspect of religiosity and spirituality as
reflected in the world major traditions. The attempt was only to provide a
preliminary investigation as to the meaning of religiosity and spirituality by
analyzing experiences that reflect the most intense experience: the mystical “core”
of the religious traditions.
The results from this study can only be generalized in terms of the theories
and hypotheses generated for the purpose of providing information toward a
greater understanding of the experience of mysticism. It is reasoned that a
description of this experience may provide links to less intense levels of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
8 6
religiosity and spirituality, thus, assisting in achieving a clearer understanding
of these two concepts.
Phenomenological investigation does not lend itself to statistical use and
the findings are not intended to be conclusively generalized to anything beyond
the concept being studied. However, since the data have come from different
historical periods and geographical locations, there is an assumption that the
findings may be generalizable to different settings and times.
There is an assumption that it is possible to ascertain insights concerning
actual thoughts, feelings, and behavior based on reflections of mystical
experiences conveyed in written documents. This means that it is possible to
separate the experiential description from the interpretive language. Most of the
chosen texts have originated from a language other than English. There is an
assumption that the translation used will be true to the intent of the author of the
original text.
There was an assumption that my biases and judgments can be sufficiently
bracketed so that they do not unduly influence the interpretation and
understanding of the intended meanings of the original text. However, I
acknowledge that I bring my own religious and psychological training to this
study. Although I have attempted to bracket these out, there is always the
possibility that these biases influence the search for data. Although unintentional,
I may have passed over experiential structures that did not make sense to me
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
87
based on my previous knowledge of how consciousness, personality, and
behavior work together. If this occurred, it would result in omissions due to my
lack of knowledge pertaining to relevant experiential structures.
It could be argued that the study done by William James would suffice in
order to examine the problem that is addressed by this investigation. However,
there are differences between my study and James’ study. The intention of
James’ study was to understand the entire spectrum of religious experience. The
study of mystical experience was only one part of his study. He provided many
examples of mystical experience and used the experiences as the basis for helping
to understand mysticism. This study is different in two ways. First, there are
more diverse data sources. While James acknowledged Hindu, Buddhist, and
Muslim sources, he predominantly used Christian accounts of mystical
experience. This could be due to the fact that there were far fewer translations
available for the other texts at that time (over 100 years ago). In addition to many
Christian accounts of mystical experience, my study draws from more Eastern
sources than James’ study. This includes numerous accounts of Hindu, Buddhist,
and Taoist mystical experiences. There are also experiences extricated from
Jewish mystical texts. In addition, James’ study was based on the philosophy of
phenomenology; however, it did not employ data analysis according to a
methodical phenomenological approach. My study employs such a systematic
method which is now available in psychological research.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
88
CHAPTER FIVE - RESULTS
Introduction
The approach that I used for this study was phenomenological. Therefore,
I was primarily concerned with investigating mystical writings from the
experiential point of view. My interest in the particular mystical text
corresponded with the ease of uncovering phenomenological structures. This
means that texts with an experiential emphasis were chosen over ones with a
theological emphasis.
Most of the mystical writers were writing to religious audiences.
Therefore, they conveyed the mystical experience in terms that were
understandable to those who had this worldview. These writers rarely
intentionally provided an account of the experiential structures of the experience.
This means that at times the religious language that was used by the mystical
writers only indirectly conveyed the experiential structures. When it was evident
that the religious language was symbolic of the underlying experience, it
contained helpful elements for the purpose of this study. In these cases it was
imperative that I “translate” the religious language into experiential terms.
Sometimes within the religious traditions consistencies were found; other
times, similarities were found across the religions. While the general themes were
consistent, each religious tradition only provided a piece of a larger puzzle. They
were all contributing to parts of a greater whole; however, no one description
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
89
within or across religions was expected to cover every facet of the experience.
My presentation weaves the individual experiences together in order to provide a
clear picture of the experience as a whole.
Each religion uses different terminology to describe similar events. For
example, the words Supreme Being, God, Bhairava, Divine Light, Sri Krishna,
Christ, Ein Sof, Allah, Jehovah, Lord O f Love, and Tao are taken to refer to the
same experience. I have chosen to designate the term Infinite Presence to refer to
these expressions. In keeping with the method of phenomenology, the term
Infinite Presence is the closest approximation to the various names in experiential
terms.
Each religion also uses different terminology to describe the mystical
experience itself. Words such as samadhi, enlightenment, union with God,
unitary consciousness, ken-sho, nirvana, and satori are all taken to refer to the
heart of the mystical moment.
Within the results, the reader will notice the following paradoxical
experiences found in the mystical process:
• While there is no strategy, one undertakes a type of methodology to achieve the
mystical state.
• The language used to describe the “new self’ is often the “no self.”
• The core mystical experience is called both “fullness” and “emptiness;” both
“light” and “darkness;” both, “death” and “life.”
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
90
These paradoxes could be due to inconsistencies found in the literature.
The results will show, however, that the mystical experience induces a new form
of consciousness that does not utilize language in the same way as the previous
consciousness. Instead, the mystical experience represents perception and
awareness that occurs before language. For this reason, I do not attempt to
reconcile the paradoxes, but let them stand as part of the nature of the mystical
experience. To me, this adds texture and depth to the results.
Presentation of Results
The presentation of the core data in my study is a narrative of mystical
experience. The narrative was constructed using the following process:
• Themes of experience were collected from the data. Each theme is based on
one or more excerpt from the mystical literature.
• Categories of experience were derived from the themes. These categories
became the outline of the narrative.
• The themes are either presented within the general narrative of the category or
as specific sub-categories of the presentation. This decision was based on the
flow of the narrative.
• At times the narrative represents logical conclusions that I deduced based on
the tapestry of experience that is woven by the themes.
• Direct quotes from the data are sometimes used to further illustrate a theme or
category.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
91
The results that I present, therefore, are a composite sketch of the
themes that were compiled from the broad range of individual experiences across
the spectrum of religious traditions.
The core mystical experience is the primary focus of this investigation.
Therefore, the focus of the presentation is the detailed narrative of mystical
experience. However, in order to provide a fuller, more in-depth understanding of
the context of the experience, it was necessary to describe the experiences that
occurred in preparation for the mystical experience. In addition, in order to
provide greater clarity, the mystical experience itself is divided into two sections:
Experience and Effects. These features were presented in two sections because of
the differences in intensity and emphasis of the experience. However, the core
feature of the experience is present in both the experience and the effects of the
experience (the experience of unitary consciousness). Therefore, both the
experience and the effects are considered to be the “mystical experience.”
I then use the themes and categories in order to provide a more general
trans-situational description of the phenomenology of mystical experience. This
serves as a summary of the results. In a separate text, I have included the actual
themes and many of the excerpts that they are based on.
I have attempted to present the explanations of the data categories in a
format that flows from one category of experience to the next. Indeed, each
aspect of experience described below can occur in sequence. However, the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
92
mystical experience is not always sequential and multiple experiences can
occur simultaneously and without interactive causality. Therefore, in order to
remain as close as possible to the data there is some redundancy in the
presentation.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
93
Cognition Before the Mystical Experience
In order to better understand the experience of the mystic, it is beneficial
to have a brief description of the nature of cognitive experience before the advent
of the mystical experience.
Normal consciousness develops as a result of interaction with the sensory
world from birth. Through early contact with parents and other significant
figures, people develop core beliefs and values which result in assumptions about
self, other, and future. The core beliefs and values are embedded in the mind in
the form of cognitive structures that represent organized knowledge about a given
concept or type of stimulus. The cognitive structures contain both the attributes
of the concept and the relationships among the attributes.
In the mature mind, these cognitive structures act as a filter by which the
world is interpreted. The structures lead to one’s overall sense of reality and to
the importance that one places on the various options for life’s course.
Conditioned Consciousness
The filters provided by the embedded cognitive structures cause normal
consciousness to be conditioned by past events. The mode of this “conditioned
consciousness” is within time and space. It uses language to make sense out of
the current events and encounters within the field of perception. With the
conditioned consciousness, optimal functioning occurs as a result of the
assumptions that are made prior to the moment of perception.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The mental filters of the conditioned consciousness begin to develop in
young children. Deikman (2000) noted that as children develop, there was no
longer a need to pay close attention to environmental stimuli. In place of the
attention to objects in the field of perception, there was more mental space for
abstract thought. It was the abstract thought that became embedded in the mind
and acted as the filter by which future events were interpreted.
The conditioned consciousness is seen by researchers such as Gendlin
(1996) as difficult to modify or change by introducing new thoughts in an attempt
to build alternative filters. Other researchers such as Hayes et al. (1999) view the
conditioned consciousness as intractable and nearly impossible to change. As the
following discussion reveals, mystical consciousness is understood by people who
have had the mystical experience to be a fundamental alternative to the
conditioned consciousness. The following section describes the preparation for
the mystical experience.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
95
Preparation for the Mystical Experience
Hope in transcendent experience. Mystical writings do not typically
contain arguments regarding the existence of a transcendent experience.
However, all of those who undertake the mystical journey presuppose that a
transcendent experience exits.
The mystical experience is often “sudden” and without expectation.
Nevertheless, the fact that people experience a high level of comfort in this
experience is due to two possible factors. One factor concerns the inherent
qualities of the experience and the other involves the fulfillment of a hope in the
possibility of a transcendent experience.
Therefore, the quest of the person inclined toward a mystical experience
begins with a hope in the possibility of a substantial transcendent experience.
There is an expectation that this experience is encompassed by a benevolent
presence that represents the culmination of human longing. The intensity of this
longing motivates the person to detach from other avenues of life that were
previously desired.
Categories of preparation for mystical experience. There are five
categories that make up the preparatory stage of the mystical experience. They
are listed in Table 1 below.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
96
Table 1: Preparation for the Mystical Experience
^ ______________________________________________ Preparation________________________ _______________________
• Mystical Experience is not Directly Pursued
• Content of Consciousness is Noticed
• Mind Disciplined with Effort and Concentration
• Attention is Redirected
• Visceral Experience Takes Priority over Thought
Mystical Experience not Directly Pursued
Although the mystical journey has general goals in mind, there is no direct
method for achieving the mystical state. It is not pursued, and once it is
experienced, there is no attempt to facilitate its continuance.
In order to have the mystical experience, the person must be in the frame
of mind that can understand it. Alan Watts (1973) said that, “you cannot force
yourself into this frame of mind any more than you can smooth disturbed water
with your hand, but let’s say that our starting point is that we forget what we think
we know” (p.l).
The path for the mystical journey does not come with directions or
explanations. Instead, people concentrate only on the step that they are taking in
the present moment. Any action toward a goal or logical destination takes the
person off the course.
Krishnamurti (1976) wrote that, “All seeking, all asking must wholly
cease. One must be wholly indifferent to it coming and going. There must be no
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
97
desire to continue the experience or to store it away in memory” (p. 30). He
continued, “It must come and you can never go after it, do what you will” (p. 30).
Content of Consciousness is Noticed
As the mystical journey commences, the person begins to notice the
content of consciousness. This is due to a sense of dissatisfaction in the
conventional interpretations regarding events and encounters that are provided by
the conditioned mind. The Upanishads (Easwaran, 1987) wrote that the mystical
experience is “far beyond the reach of words and thoughts” and is “freed from all
conditioning.” (Tejobindu Upanishad 6; p. 240).
Jan van Ruysbroeck (1916) wrote, “He who would have a heart void of
images may not possess anything with affection, nor may he cling to any one, or
have intercourse with him with attachment of the will” and “the man must sink
down to that imageless Nudity which is God” (p. 93).
Meister Eckhart added that the experience was, “free of all names and
devoid of all forms, entirely bare and free, as void and free as God is in himself. It
is perfect unity and simplicity as God is unity and simplicity, so that in no way
can one peer into it” (Schurmannn, 1978, p. 7). In another text Eckhart wrote,
“So detach yourselves from the image, and unite yourselves to the formless
being” (Colledge & McGinn, 1981; p. 293).
The mental images that were previously relied upon for support become
less relevant because they do not address the ultimate existential questions that are
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
98
being asked on a visceral level of experience. Meister Eckhart wrote, “the
detached man, who is the inner man, removes himself from both things and their
representations, in order to achieve a union with God Who is Himself “nothing,”
and of Whom the detached man does not and cannot form an image” (Colledge &
McGinn, 1981; p. 293).
By renouncing these cognitive supports, the person abandons the life that
was previously lived. Visceral experience begins to receive more attention, while
concurrently, the analytical mind is less prevalent to consciousness.
Mind is Disciplined with Effort and Concentration
As mentioned earlier, the person inclined toward a mystical experience,
does not directly utilize a method in order to reach the goal of the mystical
experience. There is no “strategy” to achieve this experience. While this is the
case, people who are inclined toward the mystical experience usually perform
mental exercises in order to discipline the mind. Often, these exercises require
some effort in order to keep at least a moderate degree of concentration.
The Sattipathana Sutra (1962) explained that, “The method aims, in its
first stage, at a discernment of bodily and mental process in one’s own personality
by one’s own experience. . .an increasingly keen awareness of the nature of these
processes and a strengthened concentration” (p. 89).
This concentration involves connecting the mind to an alternative
conscious experience. Both mental content and process become qualitatively
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
99
different. The disciplines act as a way of detaching from the conditioned
consciousness. However, the person does not “think” about these disciplines as a
way of facilitating the mystical experience. The mystical experience is never a
goal.
Therefore, the person who undertakes the mystical journey is actively
involved in disciplining the mind. The Upanishads wrote that the mystical
experience is enhanced by practicing the “right disciplines” [The Mundaka
Upanishad III 2:4] (Easwaran, 1987, p. 117).
In the Bhagavad-Gita, it wrote that the mystical experience occurs in those
“whose minds are disciplined” (Prasad, 1988, section 5:25). The Bhagavad-Gita
also encourages a “well-trained and purified intellect” (Prasad, 1988, section
6:24-25).
Often, the mind is disciplined through a form of meditative experience.
Some mystical traditions have specific meditative practices. The Bhagavad-Gita
admonishes some specific techniques such as fixing, “the eyes and the mind at an
imaginary black dot between the eye brows, equalizing the breath moving through
the nostrils by using yogic techniques, keeping the senses, mind, and intellect
under control” (Prasad, 1988, section 5:27-28). Another technique suggested by
the Bhagavad-Gita involved bodily positioning along with mental attention: “One
should sit by holding the waist, spine, chest, neck, and head erect, motionless and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
100
steady; fix the eyes and the mind steadily on the front of the nose, without
looking around; make your mind serene and fearless” (Prasad, 1988, section 6:13-
14).
The Upanishads instructed one to,
be seated with spinal column erect and turn your senses and mind deep
within. With the mantram echoing in your heart, cross over the dead sea of
birth and death. Train your sense to be obedient. Regulate your activities
to lead you to the goal. Hold the reins of your mind as you hold the reins
of restive horses [Shvetashvatara Upanishad II: 9] (Easwaran, 1987, p.
220).
The Cloud o f Unknowing described a similar procedure:
Do all that in you lies to forget all the creatures that God ever made, and
their works, so that neither your thought nor your desire be directed or
extended to any of them, neither in general nor in particular. Let them
alone and pay no attention to them. (p. 120)
The Satipathana was very specific about techniques:
The only task here is to follow the natural flow of the breath mindfully and
continuously, without a break or without unnoticed break. The point
where one should fix one’s attention is the nostrils against which the
breathing air strikes, and one should not leave that point of observation
because here one can easily check the entry and exit of the breath. One
should, for instance, not follow the breath on its way down the body and
back since this will deflect attention by diverting it to the several stages of
the breath’s journey. There may be fluctuations as to where the impact of
the breath is felt distinctly: it may change between both nostrils; there
may also be definite individual differences according to the length of nose
or width of nostrils... (p. 108)
A beginner often makes the mistake of being too tense or self-conscious
when first turning his attention to the breath. If he does it, as it were, with
an inner jerk or as if pouncing upon a prey, he will be quite out of touch
with the delicate respiratory process. After concluding the initial
contemplation or aspiration, the meditator should calmly turn his attention
to the natural flow of the breath and go along with it, participating in its
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
101
regular rhythm. No emphatic act of will is required; it will only
obstruct, (p. 109)
Through regular and diligent practice, the meditator should first make
himself [sic] capable of sustained attention to the flow of breath for an
increasingly longer period of time, without a break or (at the beginning)
without unnoticed break. When he can maintain concentration for twenty
minutes with comparative ease, he will be able to notice still more details
of the process observed. The fact will now become more marked that
even the fleeting moment of a single breath has an extension in time, a
distinct beginning, middle and end of the movement, (p. 109-110)
The varied literature on mystical mental discipline from the Christian
tradition was summarized by Richard Foster (1992). He wrote,
Begin by seating yourself comfortably and then slowly and deliberately let
all tension and anxiety drop away. Become aware of God’s presence in
the room. Perhaps you will want to picture Jesus sitting in the chair across
from you, for he is indeed truly present. If frustrations or distractions
arise, simply lift them up into the arms of the Father and let him care for
them. This is not suppressing our inner turmoil but letting go of it.
Suppression implies a pressing down, a keeping in check, whereas in
recollection we are giving away, releasing. It is even more than a neutral
psychological relaxing. It is an active surrendering, a “self-abandonment
to divine providence,” to use the language of Jean-Pierre de Crussade.
Precisely because the Lord is present with us, we can relax and let go of
everything, for in his presence nothing really matters, nothing is of
importance except attending to him. We allow inner distractions and
frustrations to melt away before him as snow before the sun. We allow
him to calm the storms that rage within by saying, “Peace, be still.” We
allow his great silence to still our noisy hearts.
. . .we must be prepared to devote the entire time of contemplation to this
recollection without any thought for result or rewards (p. 161-162).
As a result of the process of disciplining the mind, ordinary habits of
thinking which control everyday life are replaced by a new relationship to
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
102
cognition. The person gradually acquires a new perspective on the perception
of life as it occurs in the moment.
Conditioned consciousness no longer dominates. Meister Eckhart referred
to two types of experiences within the mind. He wrote,
The mind has two faces. The upper face beholds God incessantly, and the
lower face looks a little towards the below and directs the senses. The
upper face, however, which is the peak of the mind stands in eternity. It
has nothing to do with time. (Schurmannn, 1978, p. 57)
The mind that “stands in eternity” does not experience the programmed
influence of culture and society. D.T. Suzuki (1956) wrote that this mind
acquired “a new viewpoint on life and things generally” (p. 83). In order for this
to occur, he wrote that “we must forgo all our ordinary habits of thinking which
control our everyday life, we must try to see if there is any other way of judging
things” (p. 83).
As a result of the processes of mental discipline, the mind achieves greater
freedom from the consciousness that has been cognitively conditioned. Instead,
there is an immediate, unfiltered experience of events and encounters within the
world of perception. The author of the Cloud o f Unknowing stated,
For when you first begin to undertake it, all that you find is a darkness, a
sort of cloud of unknowing; you cannot tell what it is, except that you
experience in your will a simple reaching out to God. This darkness and
cloud is always between you and your God no matter what you do, and it
prevents you from seeing him clearly by the light of understanding in your
reason, (p. 120-121)
So set yourself to rest in this darkness as long as you can.. .For if you are
to experience him or to see him at all, insofar as it is possible here, it must
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
103
always be in this cloud and in this darkness. So if you labor at it with
all your attention as I bid you, I trust, in his mercy, that you will reach this
point, (p. 121)
Ruysbroeck (1916) wrote that the person became “naked and
unencumbered with images, into the inmost part of his spirit” (p. 93). He went on
to write that the mind was brought “up on to the mountain of our bare intelligence
to a hidden solitude” and “upon the mountain of our bare thought” (p. 94). In
different wording, Krishnamurti (1976) concurred by saying that “intellect, the
sharp instrument of the brain, can in no way approach it. The total brain, with its
hidden secret demands and pursuits and the many varieties of cunning virtues,
must be utterly quiet, speechless yet alert and still...” (p.48).
This new consciousness is outside of the constraints of time, space, and
causality. This is the perception of the world in its pristine state: before the
influence of language on the mind. The Upanishads wrote that this experience
was “free from the conditioning of body and mind in a world unbounded”
(Easwaran, 1987, p. 19).
New relationship to cognition. Thus, the mystical mind has a different
perspective with regard to conditioned cognitive structures. Instead of immediate
identification and influence, the structures are observed by the mind as an external
phenomenon.
Thoughts that were typical of the conditioned consciousness may still be
in the mind. However, instead of “being” the cognitive activity, the activity in the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
104
mind is simply seen as exterior chatter or noise. In the Vijnanabhairava
(Singh, 1979) it was written,
If we do not allow our mind to be carried away by the perceptions or ideas
succeeding each other incessantly but rather let our mind dip in the gap
between the two perceptions or ideas without thinking of any thing, we
will, to our surprise, be bathed in that Reality which can never be an object
of thought, (p. 5 8)
Alan Watts (1973) said that, “within this awareness the mental parts of the
mind may still be working in the same way, but instead of being identified with,
they are simply observed” (p. 2). He advocated listening “to your chattering
thoughts as you listen to the singing of a kettle” (p. 2).
This means that new thoughts that enter the mind are not immediately
placed within the person’s experiential reality. Instead, the person experiences a
reality that is primary to the thoughts that label experience. This reality has a
substance of its own apart from cognitions that may or may not be present in the
mind.
Krishnamurti (1976) wrote that the mind became “only an instrument of
observation, it was seeing, not as the brain belonging to a particular person, but as
a brain which is not conditioned by time-space” (p.25).
Mind not attached to anything. Therefore, in the preparation for the
moment of the mystical experience, the mind is unattached and flowing. When it
attaches itself to something, the mind stops in that moment and loses its freedom.
This moment of stopping is sometime in the past. It would be in the form of an
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
105
idea, similar to the thoughts of attachment to future events. Takuan Soho
(1986) elaborated on this point when he wrote that the mind, “neither congeals
nor fixes itself in one place. It is called No-Mind when the mind has neither
discrimination nor thought but wanders about the entire body and extends
throughout the entire self’ (p. 33). Soho added that the mind “does not function if
it becomes attached to a single situation” (p. 33).
In the Kaballah (Matt, 1996) it was written, “If your thought becomes
attached to any created thing—even something unseen or spiritual, higher than
any earthly creature—it is as if you were bowing down to an idol on your hands
and knees” (p. 115).
This attitude of mental detachment frees up the mind to be present to more
aspects of the perceptual field. This is due to the fact that the mental space that
was once used by the conditioned consciousness is now more available.
Attention is Redirected
The attention of the person becomes centered in a simple, yet intense way.
It is a concrete attention that is focused on the immediate sense perception. In this
mode of awareness, ordinary perception becomes important. The present moment
becomes an event unto itself without qualification. With this impassioned
concentration, the mind naturally ceases its focus on other things. In the
Upanishads it was written,
As the mind settles down to dwell on a single focus, attention begins to
flow in a smooth, unbroken stream, like oil poured from one container to
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
106
another. As this happens, attention naturally retreats from other
channels. The ears, for example, still function, but you do not hear;
attention is no longer connected with the organs of hearing. (Easwaran,
1987, p. 23)
In the Adornment o f the Spiritual Marriage, Ruysbroeck (1916) wrote that
attention was redirected as the person “turns his [sic] gaze to the eternal light in
the ground of his spirit, where the Hidden Truth reveals Itself without means” (p.
87). For Ruysbroeck, this process was “above reason and above distinction and
above their created being, through an eternal intuitive gazing” (p. 89).
The plan for the person’s purpose in the moment moves away from the
pursuit of activities that lead to sense gratification and toward more neutral
activity such as the movement of the breath. The result is an abandonment of
both mental constructions and a renunciation of the resulting behavioral choices.
The Bhagavad-Gita admonished one to, “Abandon all supports and look
to me for protection” (Easwaran, 2000, section 18:66, p. 96). Elsewhere in the
Bhagavad-Gita it wrote, “learn to be detached and to take joy in renunciation”
(Easwaran, 2000, section 16:1, p. 81).
In the Upanishads it was written that,
They have attained the summit of wisdom
By the steep path of renunciation.
They have attained to immortality
And are united with the Lord of Love.
When they leave the body, the vital force
Returns to the cosmic womb, but their work
Becomes a beneficial force in life
To bring others together in the Self. [The Mundaka Upanishad III 2: 6-7]
(Easwaran, 1987, p. 117).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
107
The theme of renunciation continues in the Isha Upanishad as it wrote,
The Lord is enshrined in the hearts of all.
The Lord is the supreme Reality.
Rejoice in him through renunciation. [The Isha Upanishad verse 1]
(Easwaran, 1987, p. 208)
Visceral Experience Takes Priority over Thought
As the person’s attention is redirected away from conditioned cognition,
there is a greater emphasis on one’s visceral experience of life. At this stage in
preparation for the mystical experience, the person sometimes experiences
uncomfortable and painful sensations. It is often termed as being wounded. At its
root, the sense of woundedness is an unpleasant physical sensation located in the
center of the body. John of the Cross wrote,
O living flame of love
That tenderly wounds my soul
In its deepest center!
(Kavanaugh & Rodriguez, 1979, p. 579)
Before the advent of the mystical journey, the conditioned consciousness
would interpret this type of experience with negative thoughts. The negative
thoughts would further exacerbate the initial painful sensation. The negative
interpretation could result in an overall negative emotional state. However, for
the person ready for the mystical experience, the painful sensation does not result
in an oppressive emotional state for two reasons. First, there is not a negative
automatic interpretation of the physical sensation since the conditioned
consciousness is no longer in the forefront of the mind. Second, there is a general
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
108
understanding that this sensation is part of the process of the eventual
experience of the mystical consciousness. These two factors lead to the overall
acceptance of these sensations. John of the Cross continued with his poem,
Since now You are not oppressive,
Now Consummate! If it be Your will:
Tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!
O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
That tastes of eternal life
And pays every debt!
In killing You changed death to life.
O lamps of fire!
In whose splendors
The deep caverns of feeling,
Once obscure and blind,
Now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
Both warmth and light to their Beloved.
How gently and lovingly
You wake in my heart,
Where in secret You dwell alone;
And in Your sweet breathing,
Filled with good and glory,
How tenderly You swell my heart with love.
Kavanaugh & Rodriguez, 1979, p. 579)
The acceptance of the “wounded” sensation causes it to be existentially
incorporated into one’s overall experience. This acceptance acts as the nascent
stage of opening the person to the deeper feeling states that are characteristic of
the core mystical experience to be described in the next section.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
109
The Mystical Experience
The mystical experience involves three categories of experience. They are
listed in Table 2 below.
Table 2: The categories of the mystical experience._____________________________________
_______________________________ The Mystical Experience_______________________________
• Experience of Unitary Consciousness
• Unitary Knowledge
• Experience of the Infinite Presence
Experience of Unitary Consciousness
The central factor of the mystical experience is the experience of unitary
consciousness. This experience is an entirely new form of consciousness that
supercedes the conditioned consciousness. Instead of perceiving the world with a
separate sense of subject and object, the unitary consciousness has a unified
experience of subject and object. The unitary consciousness pervades both the
core of the mystical experience and the effects of the mystical experience. The
experience of unitary consciousness is preceded by a plunge into a new
dimension.
Plunging into a New Dimension
After practicing the mental disciplines of the preparatory stage, the person
then leaps into the depths of an inner experience. The leap is an act of surrender
that is precipitated by a realization of being on the precipice of the ultimate.
Looking from this vantage point, the person becomes a witness to an immense
and unknowable mystery. The person responds to this experience with a sense of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
110
awe and wonder. There is an immersion into this perceived mystery with full
force. Nothing is held back as the experience encompasses all of existence.
Ruysbroeck (1916) wrote that the person, “has plunged itself [sic] into the
depth and has ascended into the height and escaped into the length; and it feels
itself to be wandering in the breadth, and to dwell in a knowledge which is
ignorance” (p. 93).
Krishnamurti (1976) wrote that “the brain seemed to plunge into
unfathomable depths, into states of incredible sensitivity and beauty” (p. 21).
The Vijnanabhairava (Singh, 1979) encouraged those on the mystical
journey to “take a plunge in his [sic] inmost essential Self’ in order to have “the
experience of a delight which beggars description, a peace that passeth all
understanding” (p. 15).
In The Graces o f Interior Prayer, Poulain (1910) wrote, “The soul plunges
in with her whole being and all her faculties, and would fain drink long draughts
of its waters. There are moments when we lose ourselves and disappear into the
great deeps of God” (p. 272).
Deep and abiding faith. The act of “plunging” represents the quintessence
of activity that reflects a deep and abiding faith. This faith is in the perceived
understanding that the destination of the plummet is safe and desirable.
A new experience of reality. After this experience of immersion, the
person becomes absorbed by a new reality. The field of consciousness becomes
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
I l l
empty and the mind is silent and still. The mystical mind is removed from the
external world of both objects and their representations. Experience is
characterized by cognition without image. D.T. Suzuki wrote that,
The mirror of mind or the field of consciousness then seems to be so
thoroughly swept clean as not to leave a particle of dust on it. When thus
all mentation is temporarily suspended, even the consciousness of an
effort to keep an idea focused at the centre of attention is gone. (p. 102)
Conditioned cognition ceases. Within the unitary consciousness,
conditioned consciousness disappears. In the Vijnanabhairava it stated that,
It can be within the range of experience if one can rid oneself of all
thought-constructs. The activity of mind consists in all kinds of thought-
constructs. When one can get rid of thought-constructs, the mind is
stilled. In that hour of silence emerges the essential Reality from behind
the veil. (Singh, 1979, p. 15)
The Kaballah confirmed this non-conceptual experience by writing,
“Arouse yourself to contemplate, to focus thought, for God is the annihilation of
all thoughts, uncontainable by any concept” (Matt, 1996, p. 69).
Meister Eckhart called this experience one of “a human being who is
devoid of all foreign images, and who is a void as he was when he was not yet”
(Schurmann, 1978, p. 3). This describes the experience of the mind in a “pristine”
state. The implication that Eckhart makes is that all images are foreign since the
state is equated with the way the mind was before birth. Alan Watts (1973) used
similar language when he said,
That we suspend judgment about everything, returning to what we were
when we were babies when we had not yet learned the names or language
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
112
and although we have extremely sensitive senses we have no means to
make an intellectual or verbal commentary of what is going on (p. 2).
Stillness and silence. While the conditioned consciousness ceases, the
person concurrently experiences a profound stillness and silence. The experience
of stillness and silence within the unitary consciousness is like a background to
the conditioned consciousness. In the Upanishads it was written,
This still world is always present in the depths of the m ind... Wake up in
this state... and you will be who you truly are, free from the conditioning
of body and mind in a world unbounded by the limitations of time, space,
and causality. (Easwaran, 1987, p. 19).
Alan Watts (1973) wrote that, “the background is silence and all sounds
are coming out of it. It all starts with silence” (p. 4). Ruysbroeck (1916) wrote
that, “all creatures must eternally be silent” (p. 90).
For John of the Cross, within the silence it was as though something else
was present, he wrote,
The tranquil night,
At the time of the rising dawn,
Silent music,
Sounding solitude,
The supper that refreshes, and deepens love.
(Kavanaugh & Rodriguez, 1979, p. 412)
Coexisting with the silence, there is an experience of stillness.
Krishnamurti wrote that,
It’s as though everything stood still. There’s no movement, no stirring,
complete emptiness of all thought, of all seeing. There’s no interpreter to
translate, to observe, to censor. An immeasurable vastness that is utterly
still and silent (p. 19).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
113
and later,
It was a stillness which no mind can imagine, formulate; no violence can
produce this stillness; it had no cause; it was not a result; it was the
stillness in the very centre of a tremendous hurricane. It was the stillness
of all motion, the essence of all action; it was the explosion of creation and
it’s only in such stillness that creation can take place (p. 37).
This experience of emptiness, silence, and stillness is like a void.
Concurrent with this void is an experience of vastness. Krishnamurti wrote that
he experienced,
The feeling of immense vastness. One was not experiencing this vastness;
it was simply there; there was no centre from which or in which the
experience was taking place. Everything, the cars, the people, the bill
boards, were startlingly clear and color was painfully intense.
(Krishnamurti, 1976, p. 9)
The Kaballah also referred to this experience of vastness,
The essence of faith is an awareness of the vastness of Infinity. Whatever
conception of it enters the mind is an absolutely negligible speck in
comparison to what should be conceived, and what should be conceived is
no less negligible compared to what it really is. (Matt, 1996, p. 32)
The experience of vastness gives the feeling of immensity and forms the
basis of the person’s sense of reality. The sense is that it is both the source and the
manifestation of the base experience of reality. This experience feels more real
than that of the conditioned consciousness.
The void is substantial. The experience of vastness leads to the sense of
infinite time and space. It is so vast that it is compared to the experience of
nothingness. However, the experience of nothingness is not analytically
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
114
processed by the conditioned mind and thus there is little distinction between
the sense of nothingness and the sense of fullness.
When attention is placed on the nothingness, a different type of mental
experience commences. Instead of experiencing a sense of absence within the
void, the person experiences a deep and profound personal transformation.
The experience of nothingness causes a heightened awareness within the
field of perception. Alan Watts wrote that, “Just simply without comment without
an idea in your head, just be aware. What else can you do? Don’t try to be aware,
you are (p. 2).
Krishnamurti (1976) noted that there was a heightened sense of
perception, “in the very depths, in the measureless depth of the total mind, an
intense flame alive and burning furiously, of attention, of awareness, of creation”
(p. 15). For Krishnamurti, this led to, “the total movement of freedom” (p. 55).
He reasoned that the experience had no center point that it emerged from, thus it
moved in all directions outside of time and space. Krishnamurti called this “total
listening” and the “essence of attention” (p. 55).
In the Graces o f Interior Prayer, Poulain wrote,
Then the spirit is transported high above all the faculties into a void of
immense solitude whereof no mortal can adequately speak. It is the
mysterious darkness wherein is concealed the limitless good. To such an
extent are we admitted and absorbed into something that is one, simple,
divine, and illimitable, that we seem no longer distinguishable from it.. .in
this unity multiplicity disappears (p. 272).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
115
Heightened sensitivity. Within the unitary consciousness, the mind
does not engage in intellectual or verbal commentary of environmental stimuli.
Therefore, perception is more pronounced: colors, shapes, and forms are more
intense. Krishnamurti (1976) wrote that,
One is aware of the increase of sensitivity of the brain; color, shape, line,
the total form of things have become more intense and extraordinarily
alive. Shadows seem to have a life of their own, of greater depth and
purity. It was a beautiful, quiet evening; there was a breeze among the
leaves and the aspen leaves were trembling and dancing. A tall straight
stem of a plant, with a crown of white flowers, touched by faint pink,
stood as a watcher by the mountain stream. The stream was golden in the
setting sun and the woods were deep in silence; even the passing cars
didn’t seem to disturb them. The snow-covered mountains were deep in
dark, heavy clouds and the meadows knew innocence, (p. 38-39)
Kjrishnamurti also wrote,
Those trees were all of life, their height and their depth; the lines of those
sweeping hills and the solitary trees were the expression of all time and
space; and the mountains against the pale sky were beyond all the gods of
man. It was incredible to see, feel, all this by just looking out of the
window, (p. 38)
Life experienced in “the now.” In the realm of the conditioned
consciousness, life is profoundly affected by mental abstractions that relate to past
and future events. These abstractions fdter the interpretation of current events.
Within the unitary consciousness, the person experiences a different relationship
to time. Within the mystical experience the person places attention on events as
they occur in “the now.” This is sometimes described as “bare attention.”
Nyanaponika Thera (1962) wrote,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
116
Bare attention is concerned only with the present. It teaches what so
many have forgotten: to live with full awareness in the Here and Now. It
teaches us to face the present without trying to escape into thoughts about
the past or future. Past and future are, for the average consciousness, not
objects of observation, but of reflection. And, in ordinary life, the past
and the future are taken but rarely as objects of truly wise reflection, but
are mostly just objects of day-dreaming and vain imaginings which are the
main foes of Right Mindfulness, Right Understanding and Right Action as
well. Bare Attention, keeping faithfully to its post of observation, watches
calmly and without attachment the unceasing march of time: it waits
quietly for the things of the future to appear before its eyes, thus to turn
into present objects and to vanish again into the past. How much energy
has been wasted by useless thoughts of the past: by longing idly for
bygone days, by vain regrets and repentance, and by the senseless and
garrulous repetition, in word or thought, of all the banalities of the past!
Of equal futility is much of the thought given to the future: vain hopes,
fantastic plans and empty dreams, ungrounded fears and useless worries.
All this is again a cause of avoidable sorrow and disappointment which
can be eliminated by Bare Attention, (p. 40-41).
When dwelling in “the now,” the mind does not contain cognition from
the past. Nor is it using ideas from the future in order to influence the intention of
the moment. The moment is just “there” and the person experiences a simple
contentment to be participating in the happenings of the moment.
The ‘now’ moment is full of intense perceptual activity. This is due to the
fact that the opposites and contradictions from the previous understanding of the
conditioned consciousness are unified into a consistent organic whole.
Environmental events and encounters within the field of perception are
then processed differently from that of the conditioned consciousness. Instead of
automatic interpretations, the person lets the stimuli be as it is. Interpretation is
only a result of involvement and interaction. Out of this experience of unity,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
117
which is outside of time and space, the person can experience the essence of
that which enters the field of perception. Instead of a field of perception which
indicates a subject perceiving objects within a range, it is more like a region of
awareness in which the subject and object are unified.
Absorption within the Infinite. The person’s experience is like dwelling in
a reality without mental barriers. This experience has important implications
regarding the mystic’s sense of self and world. The self is experienced as
dwelling within the infinite sense of reality. The self is absorbed by the infinite
sense of reality, so no distinction is found between this new reality and the subject
of consciousness. The new sense of self still interacts within the everyday world.
The interaction is seen from the vantage point of the infinite sense of reality.
Since conditioned thought has ceased, every aspect of selfhood that was based on
cognition no longer filters the moment of awareness. This experience is captured
in a poem by Rumi,
What is to be done, O Moslems? for I do not recognize myself.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Moslem.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature's mint, nor of the circling' heaven.
I am not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire;
I am not of the empyrean, nor of the dust, nor of existence, nor of entity.
I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulgaria, nor of Saqsin
I am not of the kingdom of 'Iraqian, nor of the country of Khorasan
I am not of the this world, nor of the next, nor of Paradise, nor of Hell
I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and Rizwan.
My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless ;
Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved.
I have put duality away, I have seen that the two worlds are one;
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
118
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call.
He is the first, He is the last, He is the outward, He is the inward;
(Nicholson, 1898, p. 16)
Unitary Knowledge
Within the unitary consciousness the person “knows” the world in a
different way. This new way of knowing has a different process and content from
the previous way of knowing the world.
New Process of Knowing
Within the conditioned consciousness, the mind is trained to experience
the world in terms of the separation of the subject and object. Analytical and
logical interpretations of events are the by-product of this approach. The
conditioned consciousness constructs a subject that is analyzing the objects of
perception.
The events and encounters within the person’s region of awareness are
viewed from a different perspective in the midst of the mystical experience. D.T.
Suzuki wrote that the experience was, “no more the old world as it used to be” (p
84). In addition, knowledge within this experience according to D.T. Suzuki
(1956), “is not a thing to be gained through the understanding” (p.95).
Within the mystical experience, reality is not cognitively known. Instead,
it is revealed or uncovered when thought is peeled away. According to D.T.
Suzuki (1956), the mystical experience makes one “forget all previous
knowledge” (p. 95). In the Kaballah, it was written that, “there is no aspect
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
119
anywhere to search or prove; nothing can be known of it, for it is hidden and
concealed in the mystery of absolute nothingness. Therefore forgetting pertains to
the comprehension of this place” (Matt, 1996, p. 63). Therefore, thought acts as a
mask that is put on the Real.
Concurring with these ideas, John of the Cross wrote,
At this time God does not communicate Himself through the senses as He
did before, by means of the discursive analysis and synthesis of ideas, but
begins to communicate Himself through pure spirit by an act of simple
contemplation, in which there is no discursive succession of thought.
(Kavanaugh & Rodriguez, 1979, p. 312)
Although the person still “sees” the external world, it is without the filters
of thought, language, or memory. The omission of these elements allows for a
viewpoint that takes in all that is present. The mystical approach bypasses
calculative cognitive analysis and achieves a union within the region of awareness
in order to more fully understand the nature of the one’s perceptual surroundings.
Krishnamurti (1976) wrote that, “Seeing without thought, without the
word, without the response of memory is wholly different from seeing with
thought and feeling. What you see with thought is superficial; then seeing is only
partial; this is not seeing at all. Seeing without thought is total seeing” (p. 55).
There is drama in the everyday that is witnessed with intensity. Seeing the
everyday without thought is like seeing something for the first time. This
experience is explosive in its immensity. It is a completely unique event. In
addition, there is a sense of greater diversity within the region of awareness.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
120
The knowledge within awareness does not “point to” anything beyond
the present moment. The knowledge is only deeper in the sense that there is an
understanding that is authoritative. This understanding provides a sense of
arriving at the “right place.” Poulin (1910) wrote,
When afterwards, these persons come to themselves again, they find
themselves possessed of a distinct knowledge of things more luminous and
more perfect than that of others. This state is called the ineffable obscurity
and yet it is the true light of the Divine Essence; it is also called and with
reason, the immense and incomprehensible solitude, because in it we find
neither pathway nor bridge nor any special manner of being; it is above all
these things. I wish to insist still further upon this, so as to be the better
understood. This obscurity is a light to which no created intelligence can
arrive by its own nature. It is also a solitude, because this state is naturally
unattainable.. .It is here that we drink at the source of the waters of the
Divine sweetness that gush forth from the Divine Essence, (p. 272)
Therefore, perception is not based on a transcendent world, but is fully
integrated with the everyday world. This everyday world is understood before the
filter of language is imposed upon it. The understanding comes as a result of an
interactive union within the region of awareness.
Knowledge is authoritative. The mystical experience has a sense of
authoritativeness that the knowledge that is understood within the region of
awareness is final and can not be refuted with logical argument. It is the
experience itself that provides the proof.
D.T. Suzuki wrote that,
...the knowledge realized by satori is final, that no amount of logical
argument can refute it. Being direct and personal it is sufficient unto
itself. All that logic can do here is to explain it. To interpret it in
connection with other kinds of knowledge with which our minds are filled.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
121
Satori is thus a form of perception, an inner perception, which takes
place in the most interior part of consciousness. Hence the sense of
authoritativeness, which means finality. (Suzuki, 1956, p. 104)
The deepest longings of people who have had the mystical experience are
satisfied when beholding this essence of reality. Gone are all of the constructions
of the mind which had only partially reflected the nature of things. Within this
ground of existence, the person dwells in a place of comfort and security. Also
within this experience, there is a sense of self, but this self is not separate from the
experience of the presence found within infinity. The participation within the
moment of infinity becomes inextricably bound to the person’s identity. This
leads to new knowledge of an infinite other and the self.
New Content of Knowledge
The predominant aspect of new content of knowledge involves a
relationship to an Other that exists within the infinite experience of timelessness
and spacelessness. This Infinite Other is known through an experience of union
with the person.
As the mind is absorbed in the experience of infinity, there is no thought
that is capturing this event. Language, therefore, becomes problematic as a tool to
convey this experience. Personal pronouns are often used to describe the
experience of infinity. However, it presents a paradox. On the one hand it is an
experience of the presence of an infinite being, on the other hand it is an
experience that is not separate from the subject. It is a unified experience of an
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
122
Infinite Presence. Since language has a subject-object format it inadequately
describes the experience.
Krishnamurti (1976) wrote that,
The words solid, immovable, imperishable do not in any way convey that
quality of timeless stability. None of these or any other word could
communicate that which was there. It was totally itself and nothing else; it
was the totality of all things, the essence, (p. 39)
The Tao The Ching wrote that,
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things. (Mitchell, 1991,
chapter 1)
Experience of the Infinite Presence
Union is experienced in the ground of existence between the sense of
being of the Infinite Presence and the being of the person. The Vijnanabhairava
wrote, “the distinction between the worshipper and the worshipped disappears and
there dawns a sense of non-dualism” (Singh, 1979, p. 16). In the Bhagavad-Gita it
was written that, “a person becomes one with the Absolute” (Prasad, 1988,
section 2: 72).
The union of the two becomes a unity where all distinctions dissipate.
Ruysbroeck (1916) wrote, “For to comprehend and to understand God above all
similitudes, such as He is in Himself, is to be God with God, without
intermediary, and without any otherness that can become a hindrance or an
intermediary” (p. 86).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
123
Continuing with this theme, Ruysbroeck elaborated,
This brightness is so great that the loving contemplative, in his ground
wherein he rests, sees and feels nothing but an incomprehensible Light;
and through that Simple Nudity which enfolds all things, he finds himself,
and feels himself, to be that same Light by which he sees, and nothing
else. (p. 87).
Elsewhere, Ruysbroeck wrote,
And through this intimate feeling of union, it feels itself to be melting into
the Unity; and, through dying to all things, into the life of God. And there
it feels itself to be one life with God. (p. 93).
Unity with the Infinite Presence is characterized by a free movement that
is without mental imagery and without aim. There is a simultaneous sense of
unity and realization of the presence of infinity. This realization is not based on
reasoning and can not be analyzed. Within this sense of unity, the person
experiences an intense loving relationship.
The experience of love. The relationship with the Infinite Presence is
predominated by the experience of love. This occurs from the onset as the
“Living flame of love” in John of the Cross’ poem “wounds” the soul in
preparation for the mystical experience. As the relationship with the Infinite
Presence matures, a mutual loving relationship develops. This relationship is
described by Ruysbroeck,
The mysterious Divine Nature is eternally and actively beholding and
loving according to the Persons, and has everlasting fruition in a mutual
embrace of the Persons in the unity of the Essence (Ruysbroeck, 1916, p.
86).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
124
For John of the Cross, the relationship appeared vivid and tangible,
similar to relating to an actual person. He wrote,
Following Your footprints
Maidens run along the way;
The touch of a spark,
The spiced wine,
Cause flowings in them from the balsam of God.
In the inner wine cellar
I drank of my Beloved, and, when I went abroad
Through all this valley
I no longer knew anything,
And lost the herd which I was following.
There He gave me His breast;
There He taught me a sweet and living knowledge;
And I gave myself to Him,
Keeping nothing back;
There I promised to be His bride.
Now I occupy my soul
And all my energy in His service;
I no longer tend the herd,
Nor have I any other work
Now that my every act is love.
If, then I am no longer
Seen or found on the common,
You will say that I am lost;
That, stricken by love,
I lost myself, and was found.
(Kavanaugh & Rodriguez, 1979, p. 413)
The Lankavarta Sutra refers to an “imageless” love. It wrote,
When in Samadhi the mind ceases to discriminate and there is only perfect
and love-filled imagelessness, then an inscrutable "tuming-about" will
take place in the inmost consciousness and one will have attained self-
realisation of Noble Wisdom,— that is the highest Prajna-Paramita.
(Goddard, 1932, p. 134)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
125
The following excerpt from the Lankavarta Sutra, refers to the serene
nature of love,
The Bodhisattva's Nirvana is perfect tranquillization, but it is not
extinction nor inertness; while there is an entire absence of discrimination
and purpose, there is the freedom and spontaneity of potentiality that has
come with the attainment and patient acceptance of the truths of
egolessness and imagelessness. Here is perfect solitude, undisturbed by
any gradation or continuous succession, but radiant with the potency and
freedom of its self-nature which is the self-nature of Noble Wisdom,
blissfully peaceful with the serenity of Perfect Love. (Goddard, 1932, pp.
152-153)
The experience of love is directly related to the abandonment of the
conceptual self, the Lankararta Sutra wrote that,
in the spiritual realm where the Bodhisattvas attain Buddhahood, it
appears as the principle of perfect Love (Karuna). Here the last clinging to
an ego-self is abandoned and the Bodhisattva enters into his self-
realisation of Noble Wisdom which is the bliss of the Tathagata's perfect
enjoyment of his inmost nature. (Goddard, 1932, p. 158)
The Sufi mystics used ardent poetry to describe a passionate relationship
between the person as lover and the Infinite Presence as Beloved. The following
poem by Rumi described this experience.
Only he whose garment is rent by the violence of love
Is wholly pure from covetousness and sin.
Hail to thee, then, O LOVE, sweet madness!
Thou who healest all our infirmities!
Who art the physician of our pride and self-conceit!
Who art our Plato and our Galen!
Love exalts our earthly bodies to heaven,
And makes the very hills to dance with joy!
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
126
0 Lover, 'twas love that gave life to Mount Sinai,
When "it quaked, and Moses fell down in a swoon."
Did my Beloved only touch me with his lips,
1 too, like the flute, would burst out in melody.
But he who is parted from them that speak his tongue,
Though he possess a hundred voices, is perforce dumb.
When the rose has faded and the garden is withered,
The song of the nightingale is no longer to be heard.
The BELOVED is all in all, the lover only veils Him;
The BELOVED is all that lives, the lover a dead thing.
When the lover feels no longer LOVE's quickening,
He becomes like a bird who has lost its wings. (Whinfield, 1898, Book 1,
Prologue)
Another poem by Rumi describes the love relationship. It included both
the painful sensations (like John of the Cross’ explanation of woundedness) as
well as the indescribable nature of the experience.
A true lover is proved such by his pain of heart;
No sickness is there like sickness of heart.
The lover's ailment is different from all ailments;
Love is the astrolabe of God's mysteries.
A lover may hanker after this love or that love,
But at the last he is drawn to the KING of love.
However much we describe and explain love,
When we fall in love we are ashamed of our words.
Explanation by the tongue makes most things clear,
But love unexplained is clearer.
When pen hasted to write,
On reaching the subject of love it split in twain.
When the discourse touched on the matter of love,
Pen was broken and paper tom.
In explaining it Reason sticks fast, as an ass in mire;
Naught but Love itself can explain love and lovers! (Whinfield, 1898,
Story 1)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
127
The following poem by Rumi used emphatic language to describe the
experience of love felt in union with the Infinite Presence.
When Thou shalt become one entity with "Us" and "You."
Then wilt Thou show true affection for these lovers.
When these "We" and "Ye" shall all become one Soul,
Then they will be lost and absorbed in the "Beloved."
These are plain truths. Come then, O Lord!
Who art exalted above description and explanation!
Is it possible for the bodily eye to behold Thee?
Can mind of man conceive Thy frowns and Thy smiles?
Are hearts, when bewitched by Thy smiles and frowns,
In a fit state to see the vision of Thyself?
When our hearts are bewitched by Thy smiles and frowns,
Can we gain life from these two alternating states?
The fertile garden of love, as it is boundless,
Contains other fruits besides joy and sorrow.
The true lover is exalted above these two states,
He is fresh and green independently of autumn or spring!
Pay tithe on Thy beauty, O Beauteous One!
Tell forth the tale of the Beloved, every whit!
For through coquetry His glances
Are still inflicting fresh wounds on my heart. (Whinfield, 1989, Story 7)
In the midst of this loving relationship, the person’s mind becomes
absorbed in the Infinite Presence. Within this absorption, in the midst of the
sense of unity, aspects of the person’s existence that were not before noticed enter
into the space of his or her attention. What is now noticed is how the nature of
the Infinite Presence influences events and encounters within the region of
awareness. The awareness of the influence of the Infinite Presence results in a
new worldview that informs how the experience of the moment is interpreted.
The new worldview is dominated by the characteristics of the Infinite
Presence that are identified as a result of the experience. With this absorption,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
128
there is an understanding that the Infinite Presence pervades all things and is
manifested in all things.
Infinite Presence Pervades All Things
Within the region of awareness, there is an understanding that the Infinite
Presence is found everywhere. In the Kaballah it was written,
When you contemplate the Creator, realize that his encampment extends
beyond, infinitely beyond, and so, too, in front of you and behind you, east
and west, north and south, above and below, infinitely everywhere. Be
aware that God fashioned everything and is within everything. There is
nothing else (Matt, 1996, p. 25).
Elsewhere in the Kaballah,
The essence of divinity is found in every single thing— nothing but it
exists. Since it causes every thing to be, no thing can live by anything
else. It enlivens them; its existence exists in each existent.
Do not attribute duality to God. Let God be solely God. If you suppose
that Ein Sof emanates until a certain point, and that from that point on is
outside of it, you have dualized. Realize, rather that Ein Sof exists in each
existent. Do not say, “This is a stone and not God.” Rather, all existence
is God, and the stone is a thing pervaded by divinity” (Matt, 1996, p. 24).
In the Bhagavad-Gita it was written, “You [the Infinite Presence] pervade
everything; you are everything” (Easwaran, 2000, section 10:38, 10:40, p. 63).
When relating to the experience and the understanding of the nature of the
Infinite Presence pervading all things there is an experience of repose and bliss.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
129
Everything is a Manifestation of the Infinite Presence
As the person experiences the Infinite Presence, he or she is absorbed in
the understanding that this experience is the basis to all of reality. It is both
“behind” reality and manifested in everyday experience.
The mind that sees everything as a manifestation of the Infinite Presence
accepts reality as it unfolds in its essence. Seeing everything as a manifestation of
the Infinite Presence provides a basis by which to wait and listen for events and
encounters to come into the region of awareness rather than to will for something
to happen. Every happening is equally welcomed. There is no desire to change
anything or to want something other than “what is.”
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
130
The Effects of the Mystical Experience
As the intensity of the core mystical moment dissipates, the person
emerges with a new experience of life that affects identity and behavior.
Although the intensity of the mystical moment is reduced, many of the qualities of
the mystical experience remain.
Although I classify this part of the experience as the “effects” of the
mystical experience, it is a continuation of the mystical experience with a reduced
intensity. This means that many of the qualities of the unitary consciousness are
still present within the experience of the person’s day to day life.
The three categories of the effects of the mystical experience are listed in
Table 3 below.
Table 3: The categories of the effects of the mystical experience.__________________________
_________________________ The Effects of the Mystical Experience _____________________
• Feeling States Without Thoughts
• The New Self
• Selfless Action
Feeling States Without Thoughts
Even after the core mystical moment, the mystical consciousness
continues to be emptied of conditioned thought. The body is felt more
profoundly: some bodily sensations are completely new while others are
experienced without the usual interpretations. Feeling states such as bliss and joy
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
131
predominate. This was expressed in the Vijnanabhairava when referring to
the mystical experience, it wrote,
One can have an experience of that bliss in his own inmost self (when one
is completely rid of the ego, and is established in purnahanta i.e. in the
plenitude of the divine I-consciousness. (Singh, 1979, p. 14)
Krishnamurti wrote that, “It was like the lightning on a dark night but it
was there, penetrating, blissful” (Krishnamurti, 1976, p. 14). The Upanishads
called the experience like being “a fish in an ocean of bliss” (Easwaran, 1987, p.
26). Ruysbroeck expressed, “all things are wrapped in fruitive bliss”
(Ruysbroeck, 1916, p. 91).
The occurrence of an intense joy is also a by-product of the mystical
experience. Meister Eckhart wrote that “there reigns such a dear joy, so
incomprehensibly great a joy, that no one can ever folly speak of it”
(Schurmannn, 1978, p. 6).
Ruysbroeck (1916) wrote, “the delight and the joy which this Bridegroom
brings with Him in His coming are boundless and without measure” (p. 88). In
the Upanishads, “Only those who realize him as ever present within the heart
attain abiding joy” (Easwaran, 1987, Shvetashvatara Upanishad IV:8; p. 226). In
addition, when referring to one who had a mystical experience, D.T. Suzuki
(1956) commented that “his joy was boundless” (p. 95).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
132
In the midst of the joy and bliss, there is also an experience of solid
and inexhaustible being. This gives life a sense of timeless stability in which the
person’s experience is intensely aware, attentive, and creative.
The person also experiences beauty, glory, ecstasy, and fulfillment. These
life enhancements can occur even if the life experience before the mystical
experience was negative. D.T. Suzuki (1956) wrote that, “it is the breaking-up of
the restriction imposed on one as an individual being, and this breaking up is not a
mere negative incident but quite a positive one fraught with signification because
it means an infinite expansion of the individual” (p. 107-108).
The effects of the mystical experience produce feelings of exaltation as
life becomes enhanced and purified. It is as though the person is reborn.
According to D.T. Suzuki (1956), the mystical experience causes “the remaking
of life itself. . .its effects on one’s moral and spiritual life are revolutionary, and
they are so enhancing, purifying, as well as exacting.” Suzuki continued, “From
this we can see what a complete revolution is produced by this spiritual
experience. The birth of a new man [sic] is really cataclysmic” (p. 85).
Equanimity
The mystical experience causes consciousness to be empty of judgment
that evaluates people or situations. In place of judgment, there is a general
acceptance of things as they are in and of themselves.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
133
In the unified region of awareness, the being of the other is more fully
experienced and therefore revealed and accepted for precisely what it is in its
most authentic reality. Not only is all accepted, it is dramatically surrendered
into.
There are no mental criteria by which to judge external events, therefore,
all events are equally acceptable. The intention of the person is to let things
happen and run their due course. The Bhagavad-Gita wrote that,
Everything has been accomplished in this very life by the one whose mind
is set in equality. Such a person has realized the Supreme Being, because
the Supreme Being is flawless and impartial. One who neither rejoices on
obtaining what is pleasant, nor grieves on obtaining the unpleasant, who
has a steady mind, who is undeluded, and who is a knower of the Supreme
Being, such a person eternally abides with the Supreme Being. (Prasad,
1988, section 5:19-20)
Life is no longer interpreted in terms of the motives of an independent
self. There are no criteria in one’s mind that is used to judge a good or bad
moment or object of perception.
Because no mental criteria are present in the mind to judge situations,
there are not extreme reactions to events in life. Life is encountered as it happens
for the multifarious elements of the situation not simply the criteria that were once
attributed to the “self’ perspective.
Acceptance. There is a positive sense of one’s existence that leads to an
optimistic posture towards events and encounters within the region of awareness.
According to Ruysbroeck (1916), “he rises above his created being, and finds and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
134
tastes the riches and the delights” (p.90). There is an attitude of affirmation
that causes the person to accept things as they happen. D.T. Suzuki (1956) wrote
that, “...it is essentially an affirmative attitude towards all things that exist; it
accepts them as they come along...that is, acceptance of things in their
suprarelative or transcendental aspect where no dualism of whatever sort
avails...All is Zen just as it is, and right here you are to apply yourself.” Zen is
Suchness--a grand affirmation” (p. 105).
The New Self
Another effect of the mystical experience is the experience of a “new
self.” In order to understand the experience of the new self, it is important to be
reminded of the way that the self was interpreted within the conditioned
consciousness. In the following paragraph, I provide some background
information concerning the experience of self before the mystical experience.
Within the conditioned consciousness, the ordinary experience regarding
the foundation of one’s being is defined by language within the constructs of time
and space. The foundation of one’s being is understood based on selected
memories of particular life events. These memories construct a reality that
situates a self in the midst of a web of relationships within the world of
experience. These relationships exist within a cognitive map which provides the
subject-object themes that determine the sense of identity. This self is, therefore,
understood to be an entity that is separate from the world of perception.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
135
Understanding the Self is Not Thoughts
The conditioned mind constructs reality through thought. Part of this
reality involves the assumed fact that thought is the basis to both the world and
the self. The mystical mind is aware that this system is not true. Therefore, it no
longer spontaneously identifies thought with reality. This realization facilitates
the new understanding of self.
The Vijnanabhairava wrote, “When one becomes fully convinced by
bhavana (contemplation) that he is not his psychic apparatus consisting of manas,
buddhi, ahamkara (mind, the ascertaining intellect, and the ego) with which he is
always identified, then his mind ceases to form vikalpas (thought-constructs) and
his essential nature which transcends all vikalpas is revealed” (Singh, 1979, p.
86).
New Experience of Identity
When the language based web of relationships dissolves, one experiences
being lost in the Infinite Presence. New self knowledge commences as the sense
of a separate identity dissolves. D.T. Suzuki (1956) wrote,
The mind is so completely possessed or identified with its object of
thought that even the consciousness of identity is lost as when one mirror
reflects another, the subject feels as if living in a crystal palace, all
transparent, refreshing, buoyant, and royal, (p. 102)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
136
Everything is understood to be a manifestation of the Infinite Presence
including the essence of individual existence. This means that the Infinite
Presence is the core of the individual’s personality.
Self is Experienced as Infinite
Events and encounters within the region of awareness are no longer
interpreted with a sense of an independent self. Instead, there is a primary
experience of the world not only before labels, but before there is a sense of a
separate entity that is experiencing the world. This means that there is no subject
to the ongoing narrative of life. Krishnamurti (1976) wrote that,
It is in this ‘state’, in which there is no experiencer... It is not intuition,
which the observer interprets or follows, blindly or with reason; it is not
the desire, longing, transformed into intuition or the “voice of God”
evoked by politicians and religio-social reformers. It’s necessary to get
away from all this, far away to understand this feeling, this seeing, this
listening, (p. 62-63)
Alan Watts wrote that, “You don’t know who you are you don’t even have
an idea of “you” or “I”, it is before all of that” (p. 2).
Instead, life is an unfolding that is being experienced as it is happening. In
the midst of this unfolding, there is a sense of an unconditional unity that is
experienced with the Infinite Presence. This unity is a sense of connectedness
that is felt before cognitive labels.
The new experience of self is not conceptual but a feeling that the
foundation of existence goes on forever and can never be captured. Ruysbroeck
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
137
(1916) wrote that, “The first is the feeling that the foundation of his being is
abysmal; the second is that his inward exercise should be wayless; the third is that
his indwelling should be a divine fruition” (p. 93).
The moment of life is no longer based upon the narrative of an egocentric
interaction with the world.
The Infinite Presence is Identity
The experience of unity with the Infinite Presence replaces the previous
cognitive understanding of self. Ruysbroeck (1916) wrote,
And they are that brightness, and they see, feel, and find, even by means
of this Divine Light, that, as regards their uncreated essence, they are that
same onefold ground from which the brightness without limit shines forth
in the Divine way, and which, according to the simplicity of the Essence,
abides eternally onefold and wayless within, (p. 89)
The new experience of self no longer has any of its previous attributes - it
dissolves into something greater and Other. All that it thought that it was - even
the ordinary sense that it had of itself, is no longer present. The organism flows
with a new understanding as there is no longer a separate “I” which is identified
by the mind.
In the Upanishads, it was written that the person became, “aware of the
presence of something vast, intimately your own but not at all the finite, limited
self you had been calling T \” Continuing to quote from the Upanishads, “the
barrier of individuality disappears, dissolving in a sea of pure, undifferentiated
awareness” (Easwaran, 1987, p. 24).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
138
Within this new awareness, the organism finds and feels a self, but this
self is the “unity” self - the one that is not separate from the experience of the
Infinite Presence. In the Upanishads it was written that the “individual
personality dissolves like salt in a sea of joy, merges in it like a river” (Easwaran,
1987, p. 26).
The organism is thus, blended with the Infinite Presence. The essence of
existence and its manifestation is experienced. It is in this essence that a
proftmdity is both experienced and expressed within the context of real life
experience.
The unity with the Infinite Presence lives at the heart of existence and
within the heart of personality. The new sense of self has specific elements with
regard to motivation, behavior, and personality.
Within this unity, there is no experience of self consciousness. The person
remains a witness to the Infinite Presence, while it is unified without distinction.
It is a self that is lost in its unity. The knowledge of unity results in confidence in
the sufficiency of the Infinite Presence.
Within the experience of unity, there is an experience of “being there” and
“being with” whatever is present in the moment. Within this unity, there is a
focused sense of groundedness. Existential concerns no longer govern the
experience of the moment. Instead, there is an acceptance of the self and the
moment. There is a deep acceptance and confidence that the moment of time is
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
139
perfectly situated in terms of purpose and fulfillment. The Tao Teh Ching put
it this way,
What do you mean by “Accept disgrace willingly”?
Accept being unimportant.
Do not be concerned with loss or gain.
This is called “accepting disgrace willingly.”
What do you mean by “Accept misfortune as the human condition”?
Misfortune comes from having a body.
Without a body, how could there be misfortune?
Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things.
Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.
(Feng & English, 1972, chapter 13)
The person, therefore, does not judge actions as though they are coming
from an individual ego. Behavior is understood as emerging from the Infinite
Presence which is understood to be the source of existence.
The Infinite Presence is the Basis of Personality
When the mystical mind reflects upon selfhood, the basis to this
understanding is not history nor conditioning that provides a web of cognition
that make up an idea of a self with certain qualities. Instead, it is the Infinite
Presence with its particular qualities that comes to mind at the moments of
reflective awareness. In the Kaballah it was written, “In the flow of the holy
spirit, one feels the divine life force coursing the pathways of existence, through
all desires, all worlds, all thoughts, all nations, all creatures (Matt, 1996, p. 31).
Later in the Kaballah, “all your physical and mental powers and your essential
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
140
being depend on the divine elements within. You are simply a channel for the
divine attributes” (Matt, 1996, p. 72).
The result of this reflection is a radical acceptance of the individual
organism as it is in that moment. The moment is new and the organism is new as
it waits for the happening of existence.
Faith in the Infinite Presence. In the midst of the core mystical
experience, the Infinite Presence is experienced through the senses of the
organism. The knowledge of this experience occurs as a result of being united
with the Infinite Presence. After the core mystical experience has dissipated, the
intensity of the experience of unity may diminish. Nevertheless, there is a
continued understanding of the reality of unity with the Infinite Presence. The
understanding that occurs apart from the direct experience could be termed as
faith in the Infinite Presence as the self.
Faith in the experiential reality of the Infinite Presence causes a positive
dependency based on the psychological benefits of acceptance of the organism in
the region of awareness. At its root, acceptance involves an optimistic appraisal
of one’s core emotional responses to life’s events. Knowing that the Infinite
Presence is the source of existence, there is a positive sense and trust in the
unified experience within the region of awareness.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
141
Selfless Action
Action Before Mystical Experience
In order to better understand how the mystical experience affects behavior,
I will briefly describe how the conditioned consciousness affects behavior.
Within the conditioned consciousness, the mind contains thoughts
pertaining to goals or objectives for activity. The thoughts are mental images that
deem certain activity as desirable based on pre-established criteria. The person’s
motivation is tied to these criteria. The person’s objectives and motivation
contribute to the complexities of his or her view of the world and the self. This
cognitive worldview contains one’s likes and dislikes. It also contains one’s
sense of self and all of the judgments which contribute to either well or ill being.
It is this cognitive world that informs life and provides the criteria for the things
that the person is concerned about. The person is attached to some of these
concerns and repulsed by others.
When the mind is attached to a concern that leads to a certain direction of
activity, it ceases to pay attention to the other factors present in the field of
perception. The choices that the person makes are influenced by the attachment.
Because of this attachment, there is a limited openness to the realm of other
choices that may be informed by the actual perception in the moment. Thus, the
attachments that influence this limited mental worldview influences moment-to-
moment activity.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
142
Detachment
The experience of detachment acts as a way to cease the attachment to the
cognitive constructions that previously informed the choices for concerned
involvement with the world. Therefore, detachment clears the way for the full
experience of the Infinite Presence which also provides a sense of direction and
guidance.
In the Bhagavad-Gita it was written, “Seek refuge in the attitude of
detachment and you will amass the wealth of spiritual awareness. Those who are
motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are
constantly anxious about the results of what they do (Easwaran, 2000, section
2:49-50; p. 14). Meister Eckhart wrote that, “detachment wants to be nothing at
all” (Colledge & McGinn, 1981; p. 293). Detachment is a theme that runs
throughout the mystical experience from preparation to experience to effects of
experience.
When one is detached from cognitive constructions, it is the connection to
the moment of life that fills the organism with its sense of reality. The “what is”
of existence is precisely “what is” in terms of the ever changing surroundings of
the moment. This new way of being involves responding to whatever is present
without any preordained or fixed way to act. Krishnamurti used the word
“freedom” to describe this experience. He wrote,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
143
But to look, to see, to listen, without this consciousness - an outgoing
in which there is no receiving, is the total movement of freedom. This
outgoing has no centre, a point, small or extensive, from which it moves;
thus it moves in all directions, without the barrier of time-space. Its
listening is total, its look is total. This outgoing is the essence of attention.
In attention, all distractions are, for there are no distractions. Only
concentration knows the conflict of distraction. All consciousness is
thought, expressed or unexpressed, verbal or seeking the word; thought as
feeling, feeling as thought. Thought is never still; reaction expressing itself
is thought and thought further increases responses. Beauty is the feeling
which thought expresses. Love is still within the field of thought. Is there
love and beauty within the enclosure of thought? Is there beauty when
thought is? The beauty, the love that thought knows is the opposite of
ugliness and hate. Beauty has no opposite nor has love. (Krishnamurti,
1976, p .55)
The connection to the moment causes a deep appreciation for the web of
relationships that sustain life. There is an experience of an interconnected or
“being with” self that intimately understands its position within the network of
relationships. The understanding of this experience leads to feelings of
compassion which initiate a sense of responsibility to perform work that enhances
whatever is encountered.
Compassion
The mind that has had a mystical experience comes to the moment with a
clear understanding of that which lies in the region of awareness. This
understanding leads to a sense of an interdependent self that is aware of the web
of relationships that make up existence. This awareness, in turn, causes a finely
honed understanding of both the organism’s feeling states as well as the feelings
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
144
of others. When it is understood that others are suffering or in need of
assistance, the natural response of the person who has had a mystical experience
is that of compassion. In the Lankavatara Sutra, it was written,
Supported by the sustaining power of the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas at this
stage enter into the bliss of the Samadhi of perfect tranquillization. Owing
to their original vows they are transported by emotions of love and
compassion as they become aware of the part they are to perform in the
carrying out of their vows for the emancipation of all beings. Thus they do
not enter into Nirvana, but, in truth, they too are already in Nirvana
because in their emotions of love and compassion there is no rising of
discrimination; henceforth, with them, discrimination no more takes place.
.. This is called the Bodhisattva's Nirvana-the losing oneself in the bliss of
perfect self-yielding. (Goddard, 1932, p. 149)
Elsewhere, in this text it wrote about the transformation from egoism to
compassion,
But with the Bodhisattva's attainment of the eighth stage there comes the
"tuming-about" within his deepest consciousness from self-centered
egoism to universal compassion for all beings. (Goddard, 1932, p. 150)
. . .in a realm still higher, which is the abode of the Bodhisattva stages, and
is analogous to the mind-world, where the interests of heart transcend
those of the mind, it appears as the principle of compassion and self
giving (Goddard, 1932, p. 168)
Nirvana is where the Bodhisattva stages are passed one after another; is
where the sustaining power of the Buddhas upholds the Bodhisattvas in
the bliss of the Samadhis; is where compassion for others transcends all
thoughts of self; is where the Tathagata stage is finally realized. (Goddard,
1932, p. 175).
When referring to Amida, a historical Buddhist figure who had a mystical
experience, D.T. Suzuki (1957/2002) commented that,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
145
The idea is that there was no teleology or eschatological conception on
the part of Amida when he took those forty-eight "vows," that all the ideas
expressed in them are the spontaneous outflow of his great compassionate
heart, which is Amida himself. Amida has no exterior motive other than a
feeling of sorrow for us suffering sentient beings and a wish to save us
from going through an endless cycle of births and deaths. The "vows" are
the spontaneous expression of his love or compassion, (p. 155-156)
Concerning the experience of compassion, Krishnamurti (1976)
commented,
There is only one movement, which is the outer and the inner. With the
understanding of the outer, then the inner movement begins, not in
opposition or in contradiction. As conflict is eliminated, the brain, though
highly sensitive and alert, becomes quiet. Then only the inner movement
has validity and significance.
Out of this movement there is a generosity and compassion which is not
the outcome of reason and purposeful self-denial, (p. 5-6)
The experience of compassion is a heartfelt response to the natural
experience of the world. It reflects a new way of being in the world in which
organismic experience is in terms of a union self—a self that is not separate from
the world of awareness. Feelings of compassion arise as a natural flow of the
understanding of a “being with” self that is in interactive union with the world. In
this way, there is no “thought” about compassion.
In the Diamond Sutra, it was written,
A Bodhisattva should have a heart filled with compassion for all sentient
life, but if he should think within his mind: 'I will deliver all beings,' he
ought not to be called a Bodhisattva. And why? Because, in the first place,
if there is no living being, no personality, then there is no one to be called
a Bodhisattva. And in the second place, the Tathagata has declared: 'All
beings are without self, without life, without personality.' Who then is to
be delivered?.. "But O Subhuti, the Bodhisattva who believes that all
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
146
things are without selfhood, and still has compassion and faith, he is,
indeed, a noble minded Bodhisattva, and is so considered by the all-wise
Tathagatas." (Goddard, 1932, p. 193-194)
Agreeing with this understanding, Ruysbroeck (1916) wrote about how
compassion originated from an “inward movement of the heart, stirred by pity for
the bodily and ghostly griefs of all men [sic]” (p. 38). He went on to write about
the specific actions that emerged from the experience of compassion, he wrote,
Such a man [sic] will also regard with pity the bodily needs of his
neighbours, and the manifold sufferings of human nature; seeing men
hungry, thirsty, cold, naked, sick, poor, and abject; the manifold
oppressions of the poor, the grief caused by loss of kinsmen, friends,
goods, honour, peace; all the countless sorrows which befall the nature of
man. These things move the just to compassion, so that they share the
sorrows of all. (Ruysbroeck, 1916, p. 38)
He went on to link compassion to the feeling of woundedness when he
wrote,
Compassion is a wound in the heart, whence flows a common love to all
mankind and which cannot be healed so long as any suffering lives in
man; for God has ordained grief and sorrow of heart before all the virtues.
And this is why Christ says: Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be
comforted. And that shall come to pass when they reap in joy that which
now, through compassion and pity, they sow in tears. (Ruysbroeck, 1916,
p. 38-39)
Acting with “No S elf’
After the mystical experience, there are no thoughts with an independent
self in mind. The mystical experience revolutionizes the mind. The previous
experience of the conditioned consciousness was a buzz of thought activity
spawned by the needs, desires, and motives of the mentally constructed idea of a
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
147
self that was independent from the rest of the world. Without all of those
thoughts, it is as though the mystical mind is empty of thought altogether.
When engaged in activity, the mystical mind is focused only on the
performance of the task at hand. No mental effort is given toward the results or
the rewards of the activity. The mind is not actively judging the success or failure
of any given action. Therefore, the mystical mind has ample resources by which
to perceive environmental stimuli.
New thoughts are generated only according to the connection within the
region of awareness and action is taken according to these understood factors.
These actions are no longer engaged in terms of the narrative of an egocentric
subject. The mind is now engaged with the world only in terms of perceiving and
understanding what it is that is there. Then, the person interacts with what is.
The Infinite Presence is omnipresent within the unified region of
awareness. It replaces the “old” self to create a “new” self. Therefore, when the
organism acts, there is a sense that it is the Infinite Presence who is the subject of
actions. There is no longer a mental narrative that constructs a separate self as the
subject of actions. Because of this, “selfless” action is the natural result of the
unitary consciousness.
The Wayfarer
Thought becomes fused with the moment of experience as organism and
world unify as self within the region of awareness. Being and time are
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
148
indistinguishable as past, present, and future are all part of the presence that is
experienced in the same moment. It is the fullness of the moment that serves as
the source of new cognitive experiences that are encountered as though they are
met for the first time. There is no purpose to the moment of existence in terms of
willing, wanting, or desiring.
Krishnamurti wrote,
To stand alone, without being committed to any course of action, to any
conduct, to any experience, is essential, for this alone frees consciousness
from the bondage of time. Every form of influence is understood and
denied, giving thought no passage in time. Denying time is the essence of
timelessness (Krishnamurti, 1976, p. 39).
Krishnamurti wrote about the conflicts that arise when activity is
characterized by the pursuit of an ambitious “success” agenda.
“Seeing” is only possible when the brain is not actively participating, but
observing, abstaining from classification, judgment and evaluation. There
must be conflict when there is the urge to fulfill, with its inevitable
frustrations; there is conflict when there is ambition, with its subtle and
ruthless competition; envy is part of this ceaseless conflict, to become, to
achieve, to succeed (Krishnamurti, 1976, p. 75).
Ruysbroeck wrote about how this was related to the experience of the new
sense of self. He wrote that,
. . .he must have lost himself in a Waylessness and in a Darkness, in which
all contemplative men wander in fruition and wherein they never again
can find themselves in a creaturely way (Ruysbroeck, 1916, p. 87).
And therefore through this love we are dead to ourselves, and have gone
forth in loving immersion into Waylessness and Darkness (Ruysbroeck,
1916, p. 88).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
149
.. .where all the Divine names, and all conditions, and all the living
images which are reflected in the mirror of Divine Truth, lapse in the
Onefold and Ineffable, in waylessness and without reason. For in this
unfathomable abyss of the Simplicity, all things are wrapped in ffuitive
bliss; and the abyss itself may not be comprehended, unless by the
Essential Unity. To this the Persons, and all that lives in God, must give
place; for here there is nought else but an eternal rest in the ffuitive
embrace of an outpouring Love. And this is that wayless being which all
interior spirits have chosen above all other things. This is the dark silence
in which all lovers lose themselves (Ruysbroeck, 1916, p. 91).
Therefore, the life of one who experiences the mystical moment is one
“without why.” In this way, actions have no explanation. They just “are” in and
of themselves.
Since conditioned cognitive activity has ceased, life is characterized by
surrender. There are no expectations, not even a “mystical” expectation. The
organism is simply sensitive, alive, quiet, and open to the mystery inherent in
each moment. These factors allow for direct sense perceptions to penetrate the
experience of the moment with a deep intensity.
While the mind is engaged directly with what is happening in the moment,
no cognitive resources are used to judge the activity or to see how the activity fits
into the general scheme of future goals. The deep feelings that inform the
experience of compassion act as the glue that binds the organism to the world as
the Infinite Presence. The existing moment is seen as an end in itself. What is
happening NOW is the fulfillment of existence.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
150
Trans-situational Description of the Phenomenology of Mystical Experience
Preparation
From the beginning of the mystical journey, the person presupposes the
existence of a substantial transcendent experience. With this hope in mind, the
person detaches from conditioned interpretations of self and other. While there is
no direct method that is being utilized toward a specific goal, the person redirects
attention away from the conditioned mind in order to passionately plunge into a
new dimension of consciousness. Concurrently, the person practices disciplines
in order to train the mind. Through training and detachment, ordinary habits of
thinking are no longer present. Deep feelings begin to take priority as the person
develops a different relationship to thoughts.
The Mystical Experience
The person becomes immersed into a new dimension. The field of
consciousness becomes silent, still, and empty. There is a heightened sensitivity
within an experience of vastness. Cognition is still present, but is non-
representational. The new form of consciousness is characterized by an
awareness of the world that is prior to conditioned thought. The experience is
outside of time and space. It is as though the person dwells in infinity.
Effects of the Mystical Experience
The mystical experience results in changes in the person with regard to a
different process and content of knowledge. The new process of knowledge
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
151
involves the understanding that comes from the present moment interaction
with the world. The new content of knowledge comes from the experience of
infinity.
Within the experience of infinity, the person who has had a mystical
experience understands a presence which results in the cultivation of a loving
relationship. There is an Infinite Presence that pervades all things and has other
identifiable characteristics. Simultaneously, the experience of the Infinite
Presence is related to a new sense of self. These factors contribute toward
changes in orientation toward being and behaving in the world.
The person who has had a mystical experience no longer judges or
analyzes events and encounters within the region of awareness. He or she is
detached from the pursuit of goals and objectives that are based on the narrative
of an independent self. Self-will is replaced by an attitude of acceptance and
surrender. Each moment holds no ambition and has no motive. Rather, the
mystical mind perceives all things equally and lets things be as they are.
Behavior is characterized by unattached selfless action. The present moment
becomes the arena of existence where the deep feelings that inform compassion
connect the organism to the world as the Infinite Presence.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
152
CHAPTER SIX - DISCUSSION, ANALYSIS, & APPLICATIONS
In this chapter, I will revisit some of the empirical and theoretical work on
religiosity and spirituality in order to compare and contrast the salient features of
that literature with the findings of this study. After that discussion, I will present
the implications of the results of my study as well as its clinical applications.
The literature review in Chapter 2 was divided into several sections. They
are listed in Table 4 below:
Table 4: Sections within the Reviewed Literature_______________________________________
• Quantitative Studies on Religiosity
• Theoretical Research on Religiosity
• Quantitative Studies on Spirituality
• Qualitative Studies on Spirituality
• Theoretical Research on Spirituality
The results from my study diverge considerably from the quantitative
empirical work on religiosity and spirituality as well as the theoretical research on
religiosity. There is a degree of convergence with the qualitative studies on
spirituality. In addition, there is moderate convergence with the theoretical
research on spirituality.
As concluded in the literature review, the quantitative studies on
religiosity, the theoretical research on religiosity, and the quantitative studies on
spirituality used a similar methodological approach and came to nearly identical
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
153
conclusions. Therefore, the results from that literature will be combined as
“Traditional Research Design” when comparing to the results of my study. I will
then separately evaluate the qualitative studies on spirituality and the theoretical
research on spirituality.
In order to determine the points of convergence and divergence of the
reviewed literature with my study, I will put the findings from each study into the
experiential groups of Thoughts, Feelings, Behavior, Knowledge, and Identity.
By grouping the findings in this way, I will determine the scope and depth of each
study in terms of these important elements of experience. Elements of
divergence and convergence with my study will be on the basis of these groups.
Summary of the Results of the Current Study
My study was undertaken in order to bring greater understanding to the
concepts of religiosity and spirituality. In order to do this, mystical experiences
were analyzed. These experiences were drawn from the historical writings of the
major world religions as well as contemporary accounts of mystical experience.
Each account contributed a part to the overall experience that was woven together
in order to provide a general picture of experience.
No one data source provided the complete picture of mystical experience.
In addition, within the chosen texts, there were no two descriptions of experience
that were identical in nature. However, each writer contributed to the
understanding of the process involved in the most intense experience of religiosity
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
154
and spirituality. This process included thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
There were also relevant findings with respect to ways of knowing and personal
identity.
This study extricated seventy-one themes. From those themes, six
categories were developed. These categories were presented in the sequence of
experience and effects. The purpose of the presentation was to capture the
general flow of experience. This flow of experience included the following
categories of the mystical experience:
• Experience of Unitary Consciousness: The experience of unitary
consciousness in which no distinction between subject and object is
experienced.
• Unitary Knowledge: A new process and content of knowing the
world characterized by unitary knowledge.
• The Infinite Presence: The mind is absorbed in an Infinite Presence
that has identifiable characteristics.
• Feeling States Prior to Thoughts: Feelings that are experienced in the
absence of conditioned thoughts.
• The New Self: Experiencing a new sense of self which is
characterized by the connection with an Infinite Presence.
• Selfless Action: Behaving in ways consistent with this new “selfless”
self.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
155
The categories and themes found in my study can be arranged in a
different way in order to view the results according to elements of experience.
The elements of experience have been put into the following groups: Thoughts,
Feelings, Knowledge, Identity, and Behavior.
Table 5 divides the themes of this study into these groups. The sub-groups
of “detachment from conditioned consciousness” and “experience of new
consciousness” are within the Thoughts group. The Feelings group divides
feelings into “height” and “depth.” Within the Knowledge group contains the
sub-groups of “process” and “content.” The Identity group contains the sub
groups of “Infinite Presence” and “Self.” The Behavior group contains the sub
groups of the “Preparation,” “Intention,” and “Action. ”
In this chapter, I will use these experiential groups to review how the
results in my study converge and diverge with the theoretical and empirical work
on spirituality and religiosity. When putting other studies into the experiential
groups, I use the same sub-groups whenever they apply. However, for greater
clarity, I sometimes change the name of the sub-group to better fit the themes of
the study being analyzed.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
156
Table 5: Results from my study in experiential groups that include Thoughts, Feelings, Knowledge, Identity
and Behavior.
Thoughts
Detachment from conditioned consciousness Experience o f new consciousness
• Free from conditioning
• Renunciation
• Abandonment
• Forgo ordinary habits o f thinking
• Mind is not attached
• Attention redirected
• Plunge into new dimension
• Field o f consciousness empty
• Non-representational cognition
• Mind not fixed
• Mind is silent, still and empty
• Awareness without thought
• M ind is one-pointed
• Experience out o f time-space
• Consciousness is unified
• Intense awareness
• Heightened sensitivity
• Each moment is new
• Life experienced in the ‘now ’
Feelings
Height o f Feeling Depth o f Feeling
• Feeling o f exaltation
• Power
• Beauty, glory, ecstasy
• Fulfillment and joy
• Positive sense o f existence
• Affinnative attitude toward all things
• The experience feels real
• Sacredness
• The feeling o f vastness
• Experience o f freedom
• Equanimity, Bliss
• Stillness, Silence, Emptiness
• Woundedness
• Compassion
■ T T T m 'TT i i ; ! . . : inT/T- Know ledge
Process o f Knowledge Content o f Knowledge
• Previous knowledge forgotten
• A different type o f “seeing”
• Mind cannot captured new knowledge
• Realization is not a product o f reason
• Intuitive not analytical knowledge
• Knowledge is authoritative
• Heartfelt sense
• The Infinite Presence
• The Self
Identity
The Infinite Presence The Self
• Mind absorbed in Infinite Presence
• Language cannot describe Infinite Presence
• Infinite Presence is pure consciousness
• Originates in silence
• Pervades all things
• Everything is a manifestation o f Infinite Presence
• Omnipresent and transcendent
• Loving Activity
• Solid, inexhaustible being
• Origin o f intelligence, strength, and passion
• The Infinite Presence dwells within
• The Infinite Presence is identity
• The Infinite Presence is the source o f life
• The Infinite Presence is the Self
• The Infinite Presence is the basis o f personality
• No feeling of separation
• Individual personality dissolves
• Self is not thoughts
• Self is experienced as infinite
■ . Behavior
Preparation Intention A ction
• Disciplining the Mind
• Meditation
• Recollection
• No ambition
• No motive or puipose
• No planned course o f action
• Spontaneity
• Infinite Presence is the source of
activity
• Action based on duty, not results
• Selfless Action
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
157
Definitions vs. Experiential Processes
The quantitative literature that was reviewed in my study identified twelve
dimensions of religiosity and ten dimensions of spirituality. All of the spirituality
dimensions overlapped with the religiosity dimensions except Religious/Spiritual
support. Therefore, there were a total of thirteen unique dimensions. In Table 6,
these dimensions are grouped in terms of Feelings, Knowledge, and Behavior.
As Table 6 indicates, there are no dimensions in the Traditional Research
Design for the Thoughts and Identity groups. In the findings of my study,
however, there is considerable information concerning how the person’s
relationship to thoughts dramatically changes after a mystical experience. This
change is characterized by a transformation from the conditioned consciousness to
a new way of being in the world characterized by a different relationship to
thought.
In Table 6, the Feelings group includes the dimension of “Religious Well-
Being.” Exploring this dimension could elicit some of the height and depth of
feeling that was found in this study. However, the way that the dimension of
“Religious Well-Being” is typically used in quantitative studies is by simply
asking the yes/no question of, “Do you have a personally meaningful, satisfying,
and fulfilling relationship with God?” If the specific meaning of this question is
explored by an experiential narrative rather than a “yes/no” question, it will yield
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
158
a more complete understanding of the religious feelings that are experienced
when one answers this question. Seeking a more comprehensive answer to
Table 6: Traditional Research Design dimensions grouped according to
feelings, knowledge, and behavior.
Feelings
Height of Feeling Depth of Feeling
• Religious well-being • NONE
Knowledge
Process of Knowledge Content of Knowledge
• NONE • Belief in God (Religious Belief)
• Degree of religiousness (Subjective
Religiosity)
• Questions about the meaning to life
(Religious Quest)
• Information about religion
(Religious Knowledge)
Behavior
Preparation Intention Action
• Participation in
church activities
(Organizational
Religiosity)
• Participation in
private religious
activities (Non-
Organizational
Religiosity)
• Religious affiliation
• Religious
Commitment/
Motivation
• Religious experience
• Religious coping
• Religious consequences
• Religious/Spiritual
support
the current “yes/no” question format will provide the researcher with more
detailed information. A more comprehensive answer will assist the researcher
to find out what it means to have a personally meaningful, satisfying, and
fulfilling relationship with the divine. It will also assist in understanding how
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
159
it works out in one’s actual experience. More comprehensive answers like
these may yield results similar to my study.
In Table 6, the Knowledge group contains four dimensions. The first
dimension pertains to “Religious Belief.” This is the easiest dimension to
measure religiosity in quantitative studies. The person is asked the “yes/no”
question, “Do you believe in God?” In my study, this question was not directly
addressed. Differing from traditional concepts of religiosity and spirituality,
reference to a “transcendent being” or “God” is understood in my study in an
experiential way. Most of the writers in my study presupposed the existence of a
transcendent being. However, after the mystical experience, there is a realization
that cognitive conceptions of the transcendent being are only part of the totality
of that being. For the person who has had a mystical experience, the totality of
the transcendent being encompasses all of existence including self, other,
knowledge, and behavior. The name “Infinite Presence” takes this experience
into account.
The second dimension in the Knowledge group is “Subjective
Religiosity. ” This dimension is an indicator of how religious a person thinks that
he or she is. This information is acquired by asking the person the question,
“How religious are you?”
The third dimension in the Knowledge group is “Religious Knowledge.” It
involves the amount of knowledge that is known about the religion. This includes
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
160
both theology and religious procedures. The dimensions of “Subjective
Religiosity” and “Religious Knowledge” are difficult to compare to my study
because they are not related to experiential structures.
The last dimension in the Knowledge group of the traditional research
design is “Religious Quest.” This dimension is marginally related to an
experiential aspect of religion. Seeking to find the truth regarding the ultimate
realties that are investigated in religious practice can be one aspect that leads one
to the mystical journey. The religious quest may be a precursor to the mystical
experience; however, mystical authors do not write about it.
There are many dimensions from the Traditional Research Design that fit
into the Behavior group. In the sub-group of preparation, I put participation in
church activities (“Organizational Religiosity”), participation in private religious
activities (“Non-Organizational Religiosity”), and “Religious Affiliation.” These
preparatory behavioral activities could ultimately be intended to elicit mystical
experience. However, mystical experience is not typically the goal of church
members. “Non-organizational religiosity” activities such as prayer and
meditation are most closely linked to the preparation for the mystical experience.
In the sub-group of Intention within the Behavior group, “Religious
commitment/motivation” is listed. “Religious commitment/motivation” could
take into consideration intentional aspects of one’s religious experience.
However the “yes/no” question format is practically useless to elicit relevant
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
161
information. If this aspect were studied phenomenologically, important
information would be extricated.
Under the Behavior group there is a sub-group called Action, which has
four dimensions. The “Religious Experience” dimension could yield some
relevance to my study. The mystical experience is considered a religious
experience. However, explaining the nature of the experience itself produces more
pertinent information than simply asking a “yes/no” question to ascertain whether
or not a person has had a religious experience.
The next dimensions under the Action sub-group of Behavior, listed
“Religious Coping” and “Religious Consequences.” These dimensions involve
the details of how a person uses religiosity to cope with difficult life situations
and how a person’s real life experiences are related to the core of religiosity. In
my study, the mystical experience has a profound effect how one copes with
difficult life situations. However, the mystical orientation would be only one way
that a person can cope and relate religiosity to difficult life situations. Once
again, the quantitative studies do not get into the details concerning the nature of
the coping experiences.
Conclusion. The dimensions of religiosity that are found in the traditional
research design have little to do with experience as it occurs in a holistic and
contextual way. Therefore, there is virtually no convergence with the results of
my study. In order to fit the positivistic worldview, traditional research design
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
162
had to alter, ignore, or simplify the experience. The procedure used in this
methodology involved asking simple “yes/no” questions in order to determine if
the research participant thought that the behavior occurred at least one time in his
or her life.
The “yes/no” question format creates constructs that can more easily fit
into the research framework. An important part of this framework is the ease of
constructing operationalizations in a way to facilitate the measurement process by
fitting the construct into instruments that are easy to administer. This allows the
research to take place. However, the results of the quantitative research cited
above have marginal construct validity because the conceptualization of
religiosity and spirituality does not provide a holistic understanding of the
experience.
Unlike the dimensions found in the traditional research design, the six
categories of mystical experience revealed in my study can not be used separately
to identify religious and spiritual experience. Instead, each category of
experience found in the results of my study is part of a flow of overall experience.
The results of my study help to shift the conversation away from a concern
for defining the terms of religiosity and spirituality toward a conceptual
understanding of the meaning of the concepts based on holistic and contextual
experience. The quantitative methodological process of defining the terms in a
way that can be easily operationalized for quantitative studies only isolates one
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
163
aspect of the overall experience. The quantitative research, therefore, does not
grasp the entire experience as it is in itself.
However, as noted above, there are a few dimensions provided by the
traditional research design that could be pursued and explored
phenomenologically in order to understand religiosity and spirituality in a more
holistic way.
Convergent Findings
Three Qualitative Studies
In the preceding literature review, there was not any research to date that
qualitatively studied religiosity. However, there were three qualitative studies
that involved spirituality.
Spirituality and Holistic Health. Using a qualitative design, Hamilton and
Jackson (1998) investigated how spirituality was a vital component of holistic
health. In their study, focus groups were interviewed in order to determine the
nature of spirituality and how it became a conscious component of one's life. The
personal meaning of spirituality was one of the questions asked to the
participants.
The themes of Hamilton and Jackson’s (1998) study have been put into
experiential groups in Table 7 below. The groups include Thoughts, Feelings,
Identity, and Behavior. There were no themes in the Knowledge group for this
study.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
164
In the following section, I will analyze each of these experiential
groups. As the analysis indicates, my study has considerable convergence with
Hamilton and Jackson’s findings.
Table 7: Hamilton and Jackson’s results in experiential groups.
1 houghts
Non Spiritual Mind
• Unable to Focus Attention
• Racing Thoughts
Feelings
Height of Feeling Depth of Feeling
NONE • Adversity
• Transcendence
Identity
Inner Self
•
• Self Awareness
• Interconnectedness
Connection with Higher Power
Behavior
Preparation Action
• Introspection
• Self-contemplation
• Generativity (bringing new life to others)
Thoughts. According to Hamilton and Jackson (1998), a significant
inhibitor of spirituality involved the inability to focus attention long enough to
have a sense of the experience of spirituality. Participants used the terms
“monkey mind” or “racing thoughts” to describe this experience. This result
converges with one of the processes found in my study concerning the detachment
from the previous consciousness. The results of my study found that the mind
becomes unattached from conditioned thinking and one’s attention is redirected
away from thoughts and toward present moment awareness.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
165
Feelings. Hamilton and Jackson’s study did not have any results that
described the sub-group of Height o f Feeling. However, under the sub-group of
Depth o f Feeling their study included the experiences of adversity and
transcendence.
Many participants in Hamilton and Jackson’s study found adversity to be
an important vehicle for facilitating spiritual awareness. Health problems,
childhood trauma, and life tragedies were all experiences that brought about a
greater spiritual awareness. This corresponds to the result found in my study
concerning the experience of woundedness. However, while woundedness is an
adversarial experience, it has less to do with the circumstances of life than an
overall visceral existential experience that is characterized by uncomfortable
bodily sensations.
The experience of transcendence was also described in the sub-group of
Depth o f Feeling. Transcendence was a factor that was related to spiritual
awareness in Hamilton and Jackson’s study. Several participants felt as though
they went beyond the limits of human understanding and experience. One
participant noted this when taking care of dying patients.
Transcendence is an experience that goes beyond the ordinary range of
perception. It is above and independent of the material universe. The experience
of transcendence is consistent with many of the findings from my study - in
several sections. In the Thoughts group, the experience of plunging into a new
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
166
dimension is the experiential movement from the material to the transcendent.
The entire experience of the new unitary consciousness is transcendent since the
usual mode of consciousness is not operating at any level including mind,
emotion, or even the sense of self. Therefore, although the word transcendent is
rarely used to describe the themes of the mystical experience (this word is only
used in the preparation stage of my study) there are many themes found in my
study (see Table 8) that could be characterized as transcendent experiences.
Table 8: Themes from my study that involve the experience of transcendence.
• Plunge into new dimension
• Field of consciousness empty
• Non-representational cognition
• Mind is silent, still and empty
• Awareness without thought
• Mind is one-pointed
• Experience out of time-space
• Consciousness is unified
• Intense awareness
• Heightened sensitivity
• Life experienced in the ‘now’
• Sacredness
• The feeling of vastness
• Bliss
• Previous knowledge forgotten
• A different type of “seeing”
• Mind cannot captured new knowledge
• Realization is not a product of reason
• The Infinite Presence dwells within
• The Infinite Presence is identity
• The Infinite Presence is the source of life
• The Infinite Presence is the Self
• No feeling of separation
• Individual p erson ality d isso lv es
• Self is not thoughts
• Self is experienced as infinite
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
167
Identity. The experience of self awareness was important to all of the
participants of the Hamilton and Jackson’s study. Descriptions such as “being in
tune with self’ were used. In place of the term “self,” some participants used the
terms “soul”, “inner self’, and “energy within.”
Another theme of spirituality found in Hamilton and Jackson’s study was
a sense of interconnectedness with others. In addition, frequent references were
made to the centrality of a connection with a higher power. One participant said,
“When I think of spirituality I think mainly of what is someone's relationship to
the universe or whatever they may call a higher power or God, the universe or
universal energy” (p. 267). Another theme of spirituality involved a felt sense of
an external power or life force. Connecting with this “higher power” was
important to many participants.
Behavior. Introspection or self-contemplation proved to be another
vehicle to spiritual awareness for participants of Hamilton and Jackson’s study.
Although a more detailed description of these experiences would be helpful, this
finding converges with mystical preparation behaviors such as meditation and
other disciplines that train the mind.
Generativity is listed in the sub-group of Action. Generativity was found
to be involved with spiritual awareness as participants noticed that their
spirituality involved both the spirit of “bringing new life into existence” and an
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
168
awareness of the impact of passing on spiritual values as well as a positive life
approach. There is some convergence of this finding with my study, with the
behavior of acting in a selfless way. However, the results diverged in emphasis.
In my study, the emphasis of action was on the present moment mindset and not
on goals. While this perspective was conducive to activity that enhanced others,
the behavior characterized by “generativity” is not the intention of the person who
has had a mystical experience.
The Meaning of Spirituality. Gould (2002) sought to find the meaning of
spirituality in a qualitative study that used grounded theory to acquire and analyze
interviews from eight participants. In response to the question, “How do you
conceive of spirituality?” Gould developed four core categories of meaning. Each
of these core categories involved the experience of connection (either toward or
away from): Reconnecting/Coming Home, Moving Away From Reconnecting,
Readiness to Reconnect, and Movement Towards Reconnecting.
The first core category was Reconnecting/Coming Home. This was
described as the state of connection involving encounters with spirit, other, and
“all creation” (p. 91). Participants reconnected with themselves, with the divine,
and with the moment of ‘now.’ This was a non-temporal experience that people
wanted to repeat. It involved an enhanced acceptance of self, a sense of
equanimity, and an intuitive knowledge that all things would be well.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
169
The second core category in Gould’s study involved the experiences
that prevented reconnecting. She called this category Moving away from
Reconnecting. Gould (2002) noted that most participants spent much time away
from the spiritual center because the sense of spirituality usually involved trying
to reconnect rather than the experience of being connected. This experience of
disconnection was caused by behavior such as “going through the motions,”
experiences that distracted one’s attention, and certain elevated emotional states.
The third core category was Readiness to Reconnect. This category
involved the capacity and context that people felt were needed to get ready to
reconnect spiritually.
The fourth and final core category involved those processes that were
needed for Moving Towards Reconnecting. This category involved the
acquisition of a principled methodology, achieving an increased awareness, and
“letting go” of a sense of control.
Each of the core categories had numerous subcategories. The
subcategories are listed in Table 9 according to the established experiential
groups.
In the following section, I will analyze each of the experiential groups. As
the analysis indicates, my study has considerable convergence with Gould’s study
especially when taking into account different levels of intensity.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
170
Table 9: Gould’s results in experiential groups.
Thoughts
Old consciousness New consciousness
• Being distracted
• Interfering thoughts
• Meaningless thoughts
• Shifting thoughts toward connecting
• Meaningful integration of thoughts
• Releasing attachment to thoughts
• Non-temporal
1 eelings
Height of Feeling Depth of Feeling
• Happy
• Not worried
• Not angry
• Not fearful
• Equanimity
• Quiet center
• Stillness
• Acceptance
• Calm
• Compassion
• Aching spirit
• Confronting mortality
• Adversarial experience
Knowledge
Process of Knowing Content of Knowledge
• Intuitive
• Transcendent
• Visceral
• All things would be well
• Acceptance of Self
Identity
Self Infinite Presence
• Spiritual basis to self • Self connected to divine
Behavior
Preparation Intention Action
• Prayer
• Chanting
• Meditation
• Moments of Quiet
• Incorporating experience
into everyday life
• Staying alert
• Practices that facilitate
connection to spirit
• Letting go
• Relinquish control
• Connecting to self, divine,
and present moment
• Treat others as self
• Help others get connected
Thoughts. In Gould’s study, thoughts were addressed from a process
(interfering and distracting thoughts) and from a content (meaningless thoughts)
perspective. Although in my study, there was no mention of the problematic
aspect of thoughts before the advent of the mystical experience, the experience of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
171
“forgoing ordinary habits of thinking” found in my study has a degree of
convergence with Gould’s findings. Gould’s study refers to the development of a
new consciousness that is characterized by a detachment from the old way of
thinking toward a meaningful integration of thoughts that are geared toward
connecting to self, other, and the divine. This finding neither converges nor
diverges from my study. In my study, within the new consciousness there is less
emphasis on addressing the content of thoughts and more emphasis on the
person’s relationship to thought. In Gould’s study the findings concerning the
“new consciousness” could be seen as an intermediate point between the
conditioned consciousness and the unitary consciousness. In her study, thoughts
move from distracting and meaningless toward connecting to something other and
better. The mystical consciousness may culminate that process.
Feelings. While Gould’s findings present some pleasant feeling states
such as “happy” and “not worried,” the sub-group of Height o f Feeling does not
approach the ecstatic states of the mystical experience such as “beauty,” “glory,”
“intense joy,” and “an affirmative attitude toward all things.” There are more
points of convergence with the sub-group of Depth o f Feeling as the experience
of equanimity was found in both studies. In my study, the more extreme term
“bliss” can be compared to the “calm” used in Gould’s study. The “quiet
center” and “stillness” of Gould’s study can be compared to the “stillness,”
“silence,” and “emptiness” of my study. However, once again, as would be
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
172
expected, the more extreme experience such as “vastness,” and “freedom” are
experienced by the mystic. Gould’s study also includes other feelings such as
“aching spirit” and feelings induced by “confronting mortality” and “experiencing
adversity.” These experiences are less intense but comparable to the
“woundedness” noted in my study.
Knowledge. Gould’s results also yielded information pertaining to the
process and content of knowledge. Her study found those engaged in the spiritual
life knew the world on an intuitive basis rather than in an analytical way. The
results from my study came to the same conclusion. Gould’s study also described
the Process o f Knowledge to be both “transcendent” and “visceral.” This finding
converges with my study’s conclusions of a “different type of seeing” and the fact
that the “mind cannot capture new knowledge.” The “visceral” knowledge found
in Gould’ results can be compared to the “heartfelt sense” found in my study.
With regard to the Content o f Knowledge, my study found that within the
mystical consciousness, in the context of the new process of knowledge, the
person experienced an “Infinite Presence.” This was found to be something that
was experienced and known at the same time. This experience was the core of the
mystical experience. The Infinite Presence had numerous qualities such as
omnipresence and benevolence. Gould’s results concerning the knowledge that
“all things would be well” and “acceptance of self’ probably converge with my
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
173
findings since these experiences are clearly part of the new knowledge that
results from the emerging mystical knowing of the Infinite Presence and the self.
This finding regarding the process and content of knowledge presents
evidence of a continuum of experience between the experience of spirituality
found in Gould’s study and the mystical experience.
Identity. In Gould’s study, there was found to be a “spiritual basis to the
self.” This converges to a degree with the “self being experienced as infinite”
finding of my study. In addition, Gould’s study found that the “self’ was seen as
connected to the “divine.” My study, once again, found the more extreme
experience of the unity of the Infinite Presence with the self. This continues to
confirm the degree of intensity theory that was proposed at the beginning of my
study.
Behavior. In the Preparation sub-group, there is a high degree of
convergence with my study. The behavior of meditation and the practice of
spiritual disciplines are in both studies. This demonstrates that preparation for the
practice of spirituality in the low, average, and high intensities are about the same
in the Preparation sub-group. There is some convergence in the Intention sub
group as well. Themes used to describe experiences such as: “Letting go” and
“relinquishing control,” have similarities to the more extreme experiences of “no
ambition,” “no seeking,” and “no motive or purpose.” My study includes the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
174
experience of spontaneity. The experience of spontaneity was not found in
Gould’s study.
In the Action sub-group, both studies contained positive action toward
others. In my study, it is the Infinite Presence that is acting, not the “self’ of the
person. In my study, there is an emphasis on the mind being in the present
moment. This facilitates concentration on the task at hand. There is no “will” to
do anything except respond to the dictates of the moment. This will likely result
in benevolent actions toward others; however, there is no emphasis on the type of
action taken. Gould’s study mentions the type of action taken by those practicing
spirituality, but it is not clear if this is simply a description or a prescription for
behavior.
Spritualitv and Healing. The third qualitative study that I will analyze was
conducted by Phillips (1998). In order to study the effect of spirituality on
healing of cancer patients, Phillips (1998) qualitatively analyzed the lived
experiences of spirituality among the five participants in her study. She
summarized spirituality to mean the process of opening up to “one’s inner self
and connecting with something larger” (p. 145). This process involved a
movement away from identifying with a narrow sense of self toward a
transcendent sense that was interconnected with more than the subject of one’s
existence. This involved letting go of conditioned thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors that were barriers to spiritual growth. At the same time, people
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
175
experienced an “opening up” by practicing forgiveness, acceptance, trust, and
spiritual exercises.
Table 10: Phillip’s results in experiential groups.
Thoughts
Old Consciousness New Consciousness
• Let go o f negative thoughts
• Needing to change patterns o f thinking
• Heightened perception
• Altered consciousness
• Deep absorption
• Sense o f oneness
• Sense o f connectedness
• Being in present moment
• Mindfulness
; .. • . : : : pgC
ings
Height o f Feeling Depth o f Feeling
• Love
• Hope
• Joy
• Aliveness
• Excitement
• Let go o f conditioned feelings
• Sacredness
• Silence
• Peacefulness
• Calm
• Expansiveness
• Sense o f comfort/contentedness
Knowledge
Process o f Knowledge Content o f K nowledge
• Awareness o f inner voice or knowing
• Focused awareness
• Heart not mind
• New sense o f meaning and puipose
• Clarity o f important things in life
• The spiritual self
Identity
Spiritual Self
• From narrow toward transcendent self
• True, real self
• Meaning and purpose
• Connected to something larger
• Open up to inner self
• N ew sense o f discovery o f self
• Connection to divine
• NONE
Behavior
Preparation Intention Action
• Practice forgiveness,
acceptance, trust
• Practice spiritual exercises
• Practice meditation
• Let go o f conditioned
behavior
• No need to achieve
• No need to be busy
• No longer task oriented
• No longer judgmental
toward self or others
• No need to be perfect
• Need to be authentic
• Ease o f relationship to self
and others
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
176
In Table 10, the results of Phillips’ study are put into the experiential
groups for the purpose of comparison with my study.
In the following section, I will analyze each of these experiential groups in
order to compare and contrast them with my study. As the analysis will indicate,
my study has considerable convergence with Phillip’s study. Once again, the
primary differences are based on differing levels of intensity.
Thoughts. In Phillip’s study, participants describe experiences of a
regular practice of letting go of negative thoughts. In my study, the process of
detachment from the conditioned consciousness involves the cessation of all
habits of thinking, not simply the negative ones. This means that in the results of
my study, there is a greater focus on the “process” of thought compared to the
“content” of thought.
In Phillip’s study, participants experienced an altered consciousness when
in the midst of spiritual experience. Being deeply absorbed by this presence, they
experienced a heightened perception and a sense of union and connectedness with
others. These results offer much convergence with my study. After the process
of detaching from the conditioned consciousness, the results of my study found
there to be an experience of a unified consciousness that was characterized by a
silent, still, and empty mind. With this experience, the person had a heightened
sensitivity to present moment perception.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
177
Feelings. The participants in Phillip’s study experienced increased
feelings of love, hope, joy, aliveness, and excitement when they were connected
to the experience of spirituality. My study did not specifically find increased
hope, but found an intense joy and love to be predominant aspects of the mystical
experience. While Phillip’s study found a sense of aliveness and excitement, my
study found even more extreme (but similar) feelings such as exaltation, glory,
beauty, and ecstasy. In addition, my study found the feeling of power to be part
of the experience. With regard to the Depth o f Feeling, Phillip’s participants
reported convergent experiences of sacredness and silence. The experience of
bliss found in my study is the more extreme counterpart to the peacefulness and
calm found in Phillip’s study. The experience of expansiveness found in Phillips
study is convergent with the feeling of vastness found in my study.
Knowledge. Concurrent with the increased sense of spiritual
development, participants in Phillip’s study expressed an increased “awareness of
an inner voice or knowing and experiences of focused awareness” (p. 146).
Explaining this process, participants commented that the experience of spirituality
was accessed through “heart” rather than “mind” ways. This way of knowing
became more acute as the people developed spiritually. It was like a connection
to something divine. My study also found that the process of knowledge was not
the same type of cognitive understanding that occurred in the non-mystical mode
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
178
of knowing. Phillip’s used the description of the “awareness of an inner
voice.” My study called this type of knowing, “intuitive, not analytical
knowledge.”
The Content o f Knowledge sub-group for Phillip’s study involved a
spiritual self which corresponded to a transcendent experience. This finding
converged with my study. However, in my study, the mystical experience was
characterized by an Infinite Presence. This experience sets the mystical
experience apart from less intense levels of spiritual experience. The closest that
the participants in Phillip’s study came to the experience of a sense of infinity was
the experience of expansiveness. For the mystic, the experience of the Infinite
Presence is so clear and real, that it results in knowledge of an Other as though it
is an entity in its own right. The knowledge of this entity as well as the nature of
the entity involves union with the subject of existence, thus, identity and
knowledge are corresponding experiences.
Identity. Phillips (1998) concluded that the “spiritual self’ was
experienced in a different way from the usual sense of self for her participants. It
was described as the “true” or the “real” self as there was a greater sense of ease
experienced in relationship to self and others. In my study, it was found that the
individual personality dissolves as the Infinite Presence unites with the subject of
existence to form a new self. This experience from my study has similarities to
Phillip’s findings. However, it does not appear that the experience was as
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
179
dramatic for Phillip’s participants as their sense of self was only “different”
and not as though the old sense of self was completely “dissolved.”
For Phillip’s participants, this different sense of self experienced,
“meaning and purpose, greater connectedness with something larger than oneself
and greater peace” (p. 146). In the case of some participants, knowledge of self
was inextricably bound to knowledge of the transcendent other. The connection
to this “higher power” or “higher spirit” was always evolving and emerging in
new ways. It was often difficult to put it into words. The emphasis in Phillip’s
study was that of “connectedness with something larger,” while in my study it
was “unity with something infinite.” Once again, these findings appear to be
convergent, only different in their level of intensity.
Behavior. Participants in Phillip’s study experienced letting go of the
“baggage” brought about by thoughts and feelings that were based on events in
the past and the future. There was a relationship to the amount of time spent in
meditation and the degree that the mind was able to place attention in the present
moment. This finding converges with my study. The preparation for the
mystical experience does appear to be similar to the preparation for spirituality in
general. There does not appear to be differences in degree of intensity in this
area.
The participants in Phillip’s study reported the need to cease negative
behaviors. This included controlling patterns of behavior, such as needing to be
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
180
perfect, or being critical and judgmental. This often involved components
such as forgiveness, acceptance, and trust. At the point that participants in
Phillip’s study recognized the importance of spirituality, they recognized the
importance of the need to change patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that
were seen to be impeding desired spiritual growth. The items that needed
changing were “needing to achieve,” “being busy - task oriented,” “not
recognizing own needs,” “being judgmental toward self and others,” and “feeling
obliged to do or be in ways that felt inauthentic.” Some of these findings
converge with my study. The findings of “busyness,” “achievement,” and “task-
oriented behaviors” are a less extreme form of the findings of my study which is
characterized by behavior that has “no planned course of action.”
For the participants in Phillip’s study, there was an increased ease in the
relationships with others. This finding could be included as one of the aspects of
“selfless action.” However, in my study there is a direct emphasis of
incorporating the new sense of “selfless” self into action. In addition, the focus is
only on attention to the present moment while activity occurs only as a by
product.
Conclusion
These three qualitative studies recognized that spirituality is not easily
reduced into measurable units. In general, these three studies realized that
qualitative research was more compatible with spirituality because of its focus on
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
181
holistic descriptions of lived experience. The richness and complexity of
spirituality was not captured with quantitative studies and their overattention to
categorization and objectivity.
These qualitative studies were able to emphasize learning from
participants rather than approaching them through the filter of a preexisting
hypothesis. In this way, the fundamental assumptions of researchers are held in
abeyance while the unique life experience of participants is extricated. It is of
central importance to listen carefully and respectfully to the unique point of view
of each person. It is significant to note that qualitative studies chose not to
explore the experience of religiosity or even spirituality in a religious context.
In the preceding analysis with the reviewed qualitative literature on
spirituality, there were some areas of direct convergence with my study.
However, most of the convergence was based on differing levels of intensity
regarding similar experiences of spirituality.
Spirituality Theoretical
Elkins’s (2001) approach to spirituality is made up of three constructs: the
soul, the sacred, and spirituality itself. He described the soul as an abstract word
that represents a quality of life experience that deals with “depth, value,
relatedness, heart, and personal substance” (p. 206). The soul points to
dimensions of experience that are in the imagination such as awe, wonder, and
reverence. It is the soul that can be “touched, stirred, and nourished” (p. 206) by
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
182
the sacred. Taking his ideas from the work of Rudolph Otto (1923), Elkins
wrote that sacred experiences are characterized by “a feeling of being
overwhelmed, a sense of mystical awe, a feeling of fascination, and an experience
of intense energy” (p. 206).
Theoretical research done by Elkins, Hedstrom, Hughes, Leaf, and
Saunders (1988) attempted to create a universal definition of spirituality that
would incorporate basic human characteristics that were not identified with
traditional religious roots.
This research led to a multidimensional construct of spirituality that
consisted of nine major components. They are: transcendent dimension, meaning
and purpose in life, mission in life, sacredness of life, material values, altruism,
idealism, awareness of the tragic, and fruits of spirituality. Elkins research can be
put in the experiential groups of Table 11.
Elkins et al. (1988) study does not contain any themes in the Thoughts
group or Identity group. The themes that fit into the Feelings group are all
positive feelings. However, in the sub-group of Height o f Feeling, Elkins’ found
the “sense of awe,” “reverence,” and “wonder.” These feelings are only remotely
convergent with the feelings of “exaltation,” “beauty,” “glory,” and “ecstasy”
found in my study. There is a qualitative difference between these feelings. It is
not simply due to a different level of intensity. In the sub-group of Depth o f
Feeling, Elkins’ finding of “consciousness of existential pain” could correspond
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
183
to my study’s finding of “woundedness.” However, the specific
correspondence is unknown because there is no description of what is meant by
“existential pain.” The statement of “all of life is holy” in Elkins’ study could
correspond to my study’s finding of “affirmative attitude toward all things.”
However, Elkins’ finding is more theoretical in nature.
Table 11: Elkins research in experiential groups.
Feelings
Height of feeling Depth of feeling
• Sense of awe
• Sense of reverence
• Sense of wonder
• Experience of life is enhanced
• Consciousness of existential pain
• All life is holy
Knowledge
Process of Knowledge Content of Knowledge
• Experiential belief in transcendent
dimension
• Life is Meaningful
• Contact with transcendent is beneficial
• Spiritual elements more important than
material elements
: Behavior...
Intention Action
• Sense of destiny
• Sense of responsibility to life
• A calling to answer
• A mission to accomplish
• Experience of empathy towards the
suffering of others
• Commitment to making the world a better
place
For the P rocess o f Knowledge sub-group, Elkins found an “experiential
belief in the transcendent dimension.” Elkin’s research did not attempt to
discover the phenomenological structures of this finding. If this attempt had been
made, he may have found that “knowledge is not a product of reason,” or that it is
“intuitive rather than analytical knowledge.” The Content o f Knowledge sub-
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
184
group from Elkins’ work was more evaluative in nature than the results of my
study.
With regard to the Behavior group, there is little in Elkins’ work that
converges with my study. It is clear that although Elkins’ intent was to provide
phenomenological structures, due to the theoretical nature of his study, the
phenomenological structures are somewhat removed from the language that he
used. Overall, Elkins work is more abstract than my study and is hard to compare
on this basis.
Levels of Spirituality
Other theoretical work by Elkins (1998) proposes levels of spirituality (see
Table 12). In this research, he postulates a continuum of experiences that begins
with “poignant moments,” continues with “peak experiences,” and culminates in
the “mystical encounter.” His descriptions of these events involve language such
as “touch our hearts and nourish our souls.” He refers to feelings such as
“gratitude,” “humility,” and “awe” that are experienced at different levels of
intensity depending if the experience is a mystical encounter or a poignant
moment. Although it is helpful that Elkins’ research confirms the levels of
intensity theory used in my study, the cursory level of phenomenological analysis
in Elkins work makes it difficult to compare to this study.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
185
Table 12: Elkins theory of levels of spirituality
Levels of Spirituality
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Poignant moments Peak experiences Mystical experiences
• Gratitude, humility,
awe
• Deeper than poignant
moments
• Produce lasting
changes
• Intense form of the
sacred
• Transition from one
way of life to another
Implications of the Convergent Continuum
From the onset, my study has theorized that the experience of religiosity
and spirituality occurs on a continuum according to different levels of intensity.
This means that the findings for those who have had mystical experiences apply
in some way to all levels of religiosity and spirituality. The only variability is the
degree of intensity. For this reason, it is likely that there are psychological
structures that correspond to both the mystical experience and general religious
experience.
These structures were extricated from the literature that was reviewed and
compared to my study. In order to better understand how the literature may fit
together it would be helpful to construct a general model of religiosity and
spirituality that takes into account the stages of intensity that were uncovered in
the preceding analysis. The model will take into account each of the experiential
groups of Thoughts, Feelings, Knowledge (Process and Content), Identity, and
Behavior. Each of these groups will contain four stages which represent the
degree of intensity of the experience. Next to the theme is the initial that
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
186
corresponds to the analyzed study as follows: Quantitative Studies (Q); Gould
(2002) (G); Phillips (1998) (P); and Hamilton and Jackson (1998) (HJ). My study
is identified by (O). The following provides a brief narrative of how the stages
may fit together. There is also a corresponding table that lists the themes in the
respective groups according to the particular stage.
A Stage Model of Religiosity and Spirituality
Thoughts. In the first stage of the Thoughts group, the mind is distracted
and unable to focus attention. Thoughts of meaningless content are often racing
through the mind. In stage two, the person begins to realize that there is a need to
change patterns of thinking. There is the beginning of a release from the
attachment to thoughts, as negative thoughts are no longer immediately identified
with the person’s sense of self.
During this stage, there is a shift in thoughts toward connecting with
others within the field of perception. In the third stage, there is a greater sense of
connectedness, as perception begins to be heightened. Elements of altered
consciousness and deep absorption begin to be experienced. In the final stage of
this group, the mind becomes silent and still within an empty field of
consciousness. Time and space are no longer anchors to reality. Awareness is
intensified as perception engages with the present moment (see Table 13).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
187
Table 13: Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Thoughts
Thoughts
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
• Being distracted • Let go of • Heightened perception • Field of consciousness
(G) negative
(P)
empty fO)
• Interfering thoughts (P) • Altered • Non-representational
thoughts (G) • Needing to consciousness(p) cognitionff?)
• Meaningless change patterns • Deep absorption (P) • Mind is silent, stillfO)
thoughts (G) of thinking (P)
• Sense of • Awareness without
• Unable to Focus • Shifting connectedness (P) thought (0)
Attention (HJ) thoughts toward • Experience out of
• Racing Thoughts
connecting (G) time-spacefOj
(HJ)
• Meaningful • Consciousness is
integration of unifiedfO)
thoughts (G)
• Intense awarenessfO)
• Releasing
• Heightened
attachment to
sensitivity^0)
thoughts (G)
• Life experienced in
the ‘now’f0)
• Transcendence (HJ)
[Quantitative Studies (Q); Gould (2002) (G); Phillips (1998) (P); and Hamilton and Jackson (1998) (HJ). My study
is identified by (O )|.
Feelings. In the first stage of the Feelings group, there is a sense of well
being that is experienced as one is rooted in one’s religious environment. Stage
two finds less fear, anger, and worry.
In stage three, there is an increasing experience of a quiet center. This
produces a greater sense of aliveness and excitement, while at the same time there
is a greater calmness and peacefulness. Perception takes on a greater expansive
quality. In the final stage, there is a general feeling of vastness. The calmness of
the previous stage has turned into bliss and acceptance is now equanimity. A
heightened sense of perception creates a greater attunement to beauty. Experience
is fulfilled and intensely joyful. The aliveness and excitement of the previous
stage turns into exaltation and ecstasy (see Table 14).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
188
Table 14: Four stages of Religious/Spiritual Feelings
Feelings
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
• Religious well
being (Q)
• Not worried (G)
• Not angry (G)
• Not fearful (G)
• Let go of
conditioned
feelings (P)
• Aliveness (P)
• Excitement (P)
• Peacefulness (P)
• Calm (P)
• Expansiveness (P)
• Sense of comfort/
contentedness (P)
• Quiet center (G)
• Acceptance (G)
• Calm (G)
• Compassion (O)
• Feeling of
exaltation (0)
• Power/0)
• Beauty, glory,
ecstasy (0)
• Fulfillment and
joy/O;
• Affirmative attitude
toward all things/0)
• Sacredness/D)
• The feeling of
vastness/D)
• Equanimity (0)
• Bliss/0)
[Quantitative Studies (Q); Gouid (2002) (G); Phillips (1998) (P); and Hamilton and Jackson (1998) (HJ). My study
is identified by (0)\.
Process of knowledge. With regard to the process of knowing the world,
in the first stage, the person perceives a world that is seen to be separate from the
subject. In stage two, knowledge is intuitive and visceral. Stage three sees a
growing awareness of an inner voice. The nature of this voice is less cognitive
and more of a knowledge within the general sensations of the body. In this stage,
awareness becomes more focused and less distracted by wandering thoughts. In
the fourth stage, there is no reliance on memory based conditioned cognition to
provide knowledge. This “knowledge” is now forgotten as a new type of “seeing”
replaces it. The heartfelt sense now knows the world after gently letting it be
what it is. Knowledge occurs as a result of “being with” the region of awareness
(See Table 15).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
189
Table 15: Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Knowledge Process
Knowledge Process
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
Dualistic knowing
(Q )
Intuitive (HJ)
Visceral (HJ)
• Awareness of inner
voice or knowing
(P)
• Focused awareness
(P)
• Heart not mind (P)
• Previous
knowledge
forgottenfO)
• A different type of
“seeing” (0)
• Mind cannot
captured new
knowledgefO)
• Realization is not a
product of
reasonfO)
• Intuitive not
analytical
knowledgefO)
• Knowledge is
authoritative((9)
• Heartfelt sensefO)
• Letting be(0)
• Being with(O)
[Q uantitative Studies (Q); Gould (2002) (G); Phillips (1998) (P); and Hamilton and Jackson (1998) (HJ). My study
is identified by ( 0 )|.
Content of knowledge. In the first stage, the content of knowledge
involves facts about religion. One of the main facts is the existence of a divine
being. The person at this stage acknowledges the existence of this being. This
acknowledgement is more a mental assent than a true belief because it has little
influence over the person’s behavior. In stage two, there is a growing acceptance
of the individual organism and a sense that one’s circumstances will have an
acceptable outcome. At this stage, there are questions concerning life’s meaning.
Stage three involves an inner sense that the self is spiritual. There is a new sense
of meaning and purpose to life as there is a greater clarity concerning life’s
ultimate concerns. In the final stage, one is immersed in the Infinite Presence.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
190
This immersion causes this presence to be known as pervading all things
including the core of the self (See Table 16).
Table 16 - Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Knowledge Content
Knowledge Content
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
• Belief in God • All things would be • New sense of • The Infinite
(Religious Belief) well (G) meaning and Presence(D)
(Q )
• Acceptance of Self purpose (P) • The SelfyOj
• Information about (G ) • Clarity of • The Infinite
religion (Religious • Questions about the important things in Presence dwells
Knowledge) (Q) meaning to life life(P) withinfO)
(Religious Quest) • The spiritual self • The Infinite
(Q ) (P) Presence is
identity (O)
• The Infinite
Presence is the
source of life(O)
[Quantitative Studies (Q); Gould (2002) (G); Phillips (1998) (P); and Hamilton and Jackson (1998) (HJ). My study
is identified by (O )|.
Identity. In the first stage of the Identity group of experience, the divine
being and the self are seen as separate. However, there is the nascent sense of
openness to an inner sense of self as the self is seen to have a spiritual basis. In
stage two, there is a growing awareness that the self is connected to something
greater. This is a result of a deeper understanding regarding the
interconnectedness of all things with the self.
In stage three there is a new sense of discovery of self. This self is
experienced as more true and real. There is a movement toward the experience of
the self in more transcendent ways as it is experienced as more connected to
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
191
something divine. In stage four there is no sense of separation as the
individual personality dissolves and the self is experienced as infinite (See Table
17).
Table 17 - Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Identity
Identity
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
• Separation
between God and
self (E)
• self awareness (HJ)
• interconnectedness
(HJ)
• Spiritual basis to self
(G )
• open up to inner self
(P)
• From narrow
toward
transcendent self
(P)
• true, real self
• meaning and
purpose(P)
• connected to
something larger
(P)
• new sense of
discovery of self
(P)
• connection to
divine (P)
• Self connected to
divine (G)
• connection with
higher power (HJ)
• No feeling of
separationfO)
• Individual
personality
dissolvesfO)
• Self is experienced
as infinite (0)
[Quantitative Studies (Q); Gould (2002) (G); Phillips (1998) (P); and Hamilton and Jackson (1998) (HJ). My study
is identified by (O )].
Behavior. In the first stage, behavior is characterized by affiliation with
church and the social activities that correspond to this affiliation. In the second
stage, one’s religion is seen as relevant to more everyday experiences as religious
teachings are used to help cope with difficult circumstances. In this stage, there
are more private religious activities as there is a higher interest in integrating
religion with everyday life. With the increased level of integration, there is a
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
192
sense of relinquishing control of life and accepting circumstances as they
happen. Introspection and self-contemplation begin to be part of experience.
In stage three, one begins to train the mind by practicing spiritual disciplines
such as prayer, chanting, meditation, and recollection in order to foster a greater
connection to a sense of spirituality. At this stage, there is the movement toward
connecting to the self, the present moment, and the divine. In the final stage, all
strategic thinking has ceased as the connection to the present moment is fully
experienced. Behavior is characterized by selfless action as the Infinite Presence
is understood to be the source of all behavior (see Table 18).
Table 18: Four Stages of Religious/Spiritual Behavior
Behavior
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
• Participation in
church activities
(Organizational
Religiosity) (Q)
• Religious
affiliation (Q)
• Religious coping
(Q )
• Participation in
private religious
activities (Non-
Organizational
Religiosity) (Q)
• Religious
consequences(Q)
• Introspection (HJ)
• Self-contemplation
(HJ)
• Letting go (G)
• Relinquish control
(G)
• Treat others as self
(G)
• Moments of Quiet
(P)
• Incorporating
experience into
everyday life (P)
• Disciplining the
Mind (0)
• Meditation (0)
• Recollection
• Generativity
(bringing new life
to others) (HJ)
• Prayer(P)
• Chanting (P)
• Staying alert (P)
• Practices that
facilitate
connection to spirit
(P)
• Connecting to self,
divine, and present
moment (G)
• No ambitionfO)
• No seeking(C>)
• No motive (0)
• No planned course
of action(0)
• Spontaneity (O)
• Infinite Presence is
the source of
activityfO)
• Action based on
duty, not resultsfO)
• Selfless Act ion ((9)
[Quantitative Studies (Q); Gould (2002) (G); Phillips (1998) (P); and Hamilton and Jackson (1998) (HJ). My study
is identified by (0 )|.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
193
The preceding stages can be described in a different way in order to
capture each of the groups within their respective stages. The following
narratives include most of the information from the stages. The titles of the stages
are my personal conclusions based on my reading of the literature that reported
the information.
Stage 1: Practicing Religious Teachings
The person in stage one is affiliated with a religious institution and
participates in the expected activities that are encouraged by this organization.
They are knowledgeable of the information that is pertinent to the religion. They
profess a belief in a divine being according to the teachings of the religion. These
social and religious activities often are directly related to a general sense of well
being. There is a dualistic way of knowing the world that sees the self as a
separate entity from the divine identified by the religion.
Stage 2: Integrating Religion with Everyday Experience
During stage two, religious experience becomes more integrated into
everyday experience. There is a general openness toward addressing questions
that do not have ready answers. However, the resolutions to these questions are
approached differently. Instead of simple conclusions using religious language,
more of life is experienced through the filter of a religious worldview. Part of this
worldview development involves incorporating some of the religious activities
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
194
from stage one into private experiences. This religious worldview is used to
cope with difficult situations as well as other pertinent life events.
There are increased times of quiet where a degree of introspective analysis
takes place. This prompts the process of beginning to relinquish some control
over life events. The focus of attention begins to move from an egocentric
existence to one that begins to incorporate others into the general worldview.
Stage 3: Personal Transformation
While the practice of religion may still be in the center of life’s activities,
the experience of one’s religion begins to take a more personal overtone. Private
religious activities become spiritual practices that are integrated into the flow of
everyday life. With the realization of a growing need to discipline the mind,
regular experiences of practices that facilitate the connection to spirit are
performed. These may include prayer, meditation, and chanting. More time is
spent in silence and solitude. During stage three, there is a movement toward
knowing from the heart and not the mind. This is facilitated by a more focused
awareness of events and encounters within the field of perception. More attention
begins to be placed on the present moment. At this time, there is an increased
awareness of an inner “voice.”
The person begins to locate a spiritual self within everyday life. The
spiritual self is no longer the self that was defined by thoughts within the mind - it
is now a self that is defined by experiences that are transcendent in nature. The
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
195
spiritual self seems more connected to the divine being that was only mentally
assented to during stage one. This self seems truer and more real than the other
self. The connection to this “truer” self leads to an increased clarity of life’s
ultimate issues which brings more meaning and purpose to life.
Taken together, these experiences result in greater calm, contentment, and
peacefulness. There is also a greater sense of aliveness and passion for the
experience of the ultimate. At the same time, within the core of one’s being there
is a deep experience of woundedness. This felt sense is fully accepted. It is
attended to and explored based on the bodily sensation that is experienced. The
understanding of the felt sense takes into consideration its divine origin.
Stage 4 - Unitary Existence
The divine being that was “believed in” during stage one is “dwelt in”
during stage four. The very nature of this divine being is experienced in all of its
profundity. Life is now characterized by an “Infinite Presence” which is known
to pervade all of existence. This leads to acceptance of all events and encounters
within the region of awareness. The qualities of the Infinite Presence are known
and understood. At the same time, they are not distinct from the very source of
the self. Everything is abandoned. All that remains is the present moment in
which the person dwells in bliss with a heart of compassion.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
196
Conclusion: From Separation to Unity via Connecting
The qualitative studies on spirituality have a common element: that of
connection. According to Paragment (1998), the term spirituality encompassed a
search for connectedness as well as for unity. It also involved the search for
meaning, transcendence, and for the higher of human potential. The movement
toward the mystical experience (unity) is away from separation through the
experience of connecting.
The word separation is an antonym to both connection and unity. The
words connection and unity are synonyms. The main difference is the degree of
intensity. According to my stage model of religiosity and spirituality, there is an
experience that goes from separation to unity through the process of connection.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
197
Clinical Applications
Research on the Self
In his review of the literature on the self, Baumeister (1998) wrote that one
of the primary roots of selfhood was reflexive consciousness. In reflexive
consciousness, mental attention turned back on itself and used concepts to
construct the self. He added that this was the point where the self began.
Baumeister commented that the reflexive aspect of selfhood was so important that
without it, “self would have no meaning or value.” (p. 680).
The data from my study demonstrate that unitary consciousness is
characterized by an experience of “self ’ which is devoid of conceptual attributes.
The experience of unitary consciousness repositions the understanding of self that
is described by Baumeister. According to the data found in my study, the self is
in unity with an Infinite Presence, not simply the empirical self that is constructed
by cognition.
Baumeister (2002) was well aware of this alternative experience of self as
he admitted that if there was indeed some aspect of self that is only revealed by
mystical experience. He commented that elucidating the nature of this self may
substantially advance self theory. Baumeister (2002) went on to say that, “given
the increased attention to religious issues within psychology, this is a perfect time
to start looking at ways that religious understanding of self can contribute to our
basic understanding of the self’ (p. 19).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
198
The research of Hayes, et al. (1999) is a relevant place to begin this
research. Hayes, et al. (1999) explained the difference between the two ways of
existing in the world: one way involved manipulating symbolic stimuli with the
mind, the other emphasized contextual functioning in the world. Hayes et al.
(1999) distinguished between three senses of self: the conceptualized self,
ongoing self-awareness, and the self as perspective (or observing self).
Understanding the observing self requires a fundamental distinction
between the content of language in the mind and the “place” in which the
language resides. This sense of “self as perspective” holds the verbal
constructions created by thought, but is not experienced as content. It can not be
an object of thought. For the “self as perspective,” there are no known limits and
no end. The “self as perspective” can not be an object for the person who is
experiencing it. Even the act of imagining a different perspective is from the
local perspective. It is not possible to be conscious of the limits of this
perspective. Hayes et al. (1999) wrote that, “one can be conscious of the limits of
everything except one’s own consciousness” (p. 186). This sense of unity has no
edges or distinctions and cannot be an object of thought. The “you as
perspective” has no stable edges or limits and thus is not experienced as a thing.
According to Hayes et al. (1999), the terms wholeness, awareness, and presence
described contact with the “self as perspective.”
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
199
According to Hayes, et al. (1999), the cause of human suffering was
domination of analytical language over experience. It was this analytical
language that creates the filters that make up the conditioned consciousness.
Hayes, et al. noted that a greater understanding of non-language based experience
and how it is reflected in every day experience can begin the process of dealing
with human suffering.
In the context of psychotherapy, therapeutic intervention consists of
teaching clients to be aware of content within the mind, but not to be preoccupied
with it as a matter of personal identity. Therapists try to undermine client
attachment to the conceptualized self. Clients are taught to notice thoughts and
feelings from the perspective of the observing self. In this way, the person is not
defined by the private experiences within the mind; instead the self is seen to be a
vessel that contains these verbal experiences. The experience of the observing
self has no evaluative features. It does not change. When it is experienced,
feelings of peace and safety are present.
Clients are taught to build awareness of the observing self. This is done by
providing opportunities for clients to make experiential contact with it. This is
done through metaphors and exercises that are designed to help clients to notice
the process of consciousness and sense of perspective.
This type of therapeutic intervention can be contrasted with traditional
cognitive psychotherapy. The primary objective of cognitive psychotherapy
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
200
addresses the content of thought. This comes from the paradigm that equates
thought with the contents of reality concerning self and world. If there is a
primary experience of consciousness that precedes the conditioned consciousness,
then the task of psychotherapy is to train clients to have a new relationship to
thought rather than modify the conditioned consciousness.
The Felt Sense and the Infinite Presence
In conjunction with research on the self, Eugene Gendlin’s (1996) work
can complement an understanding of existence that is not based on the
conditioned consciousness. Gendlin’s theory of psychotherapy is called
Focusing. Focusing Oriented Psychotherapy is called one of the best innovations
of Carl Roger’s Client Centered Therapy (Massens et al., 1995).
Focusing is based on Gendlin’s philosophical and psychological research.
Gendlin et al. (1978) found evidence that high levels of client experiencing was
directly related to success in therapy. Therapeutic intervention, according to
Gendlin, involves assisting clients to fully experience what he terms as the “felt
sense.” This is an experience (usually in the center of the body) that is on the
border of the conscious and the unconscious. The felt sense is experienced as a
“whole.” It is not simply client feelings. It is often unclear as it represents the
self that has no content. The felt sense is experienced in steps.
The first step is called “clearing a space.” This involves finding a quiet,
silent place where the person can relax so that it is possible to pay attention to the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
201
body regions of the stomach or chest. The person then senses within the body
when thinking about the nature of his or her present life situation.
The second step is the “felt sense.” This involves feeling the way the
body experiences the specific situation that is focused on in step one. The person
feels the unclear sense of the situation.
The third step is getting a “handle.” This step determines the quality of
the unclear felt sense. This quality may be expressed in a word, phrase, or image
of the felt sense itself. The quality of the felt sense is within the person’s
awareness until the right word seems to explain it.
The fourth step is called “resonating.” This is the process of going back
and forth between the felt sense and the word. The person checks to see if there is
a bodily signal that lets him or her know if the word fits.
The fifth step is called “asking.” This step involves sensing the quality
again in a fresh and vivid way. When the sense is felt, the person relates it back
to the original situation. The person then reflects about the nature of the situation
that causes the felt sense. This may cause the sense to shift and give a slight
feeling of release.
The sixth step is called “receiving.” This involves receiving whatever
comes with a shift in a friendly way. This new sense is experienced for a while,
even if it is only a slight release. The person remains open to other shifts as the
focusing process continues.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
202
Gendlin (1996) argued regarding the primacy of the felt sense. He
noted that it informed cognition rather than the other way around. The concept of
the primacy of the felt sense comes from Heidegger’s (1927/1961) concept of
Befindlekeit - one of Heidegger’s three fundamental characteristics of existence.
Befindlekeit means state of mind or literally, “how one finds oneself.” In
Gendlin’s theory, psychopathology was a result of not living life in a way that
was informed by the felt sense. Gendlin’s therapeutic intervention suggested
teaching the client to experience the felt sense through the six steps discussed
above.
Based on Gendlin’s research, the root of existence lies in the heartfelt
sense of any given event and encounter within the field of perception. The
heartfelt sense operates in place of the conditioned consciousness. The deep
feeling or “felt sense” serves as a guide to being and acting rather than the web of
thought contained in the conditioned consciousness.
There is a sense of assurance that the heartfelt sense is a superior guide.
This experience is noted in the poem, “The Dark Night,” by John of the Cross,
On that glad night,
In secret, for no one saw me,
Nor did I look at anything,
With no other light or guide
Than the one that burned in my heart;
This guided me
More surely than the light of noon. (Kavanaugh & Rodriguez, 1979, p.
295)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
203
Instead of clinging to certain desirable emotional states, there is an
acceptance to fully experience the emotional state as it is without cognitive
appraisal. There is an overall optimistic acceptance of these states.
It is the interpretation of the felt sense that is the crucial factor that
defines individual personality. The mystics interpret this root of existence as
originating from the Infinite Presence which is understood to be the source of life
that is manifesting in the moment of now.
The interpretation of the felt sense is always based on the sense of the
expression of the Infinite Presence within the particular moment. The most
important factor is the complete acceptance of this felt sense regardless of its
nature. While the conditioned consciousness habitually interprets the felt sense
based on past experiences and acts according to this interpretation, the mystical
consciousness interprets the felt sense in light of its origin: the Infinite Presence.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
204
REFERENCES
Allport, G. W. (1950). The individual and his religion: a psychological
interpretation. Oxford, England: Macmillan.
Allport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. (1967). Personal religious orientation and prejudice.
Journal o f Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 432-443.
Anandarajah, G. (1999). Spirituality and medicine. Journal o f Family Practice,
48(5), 389.
Barks, C. (1995). The essential rumi. San Francisco: Harper Collins.
Barnard, G. W. (2002). The Varieities of Religious Experience: Reflections on its
enduring value. Journal o f Consciousness Studies, 9(9-10), 57-77.
Batson, C. D. (1976). Religion as prosocial: Agent or double agent? Journal for
the Scientific Study o f Religion, 75(1), 29-45.
Batson, C. D., Schoenrade, P., & Ventis, W. L. (1993). Religion and the
individual: A social-psychological perspective. London: Oxford
University Press.
Baumeister, R. F. (2002). Religion and psychology: Introduction to special issue.
Psychological Inquiry, 73(3), 165.
Beit-Hallahmi, B. (1974). Psychology of religion 1880-1930: The rise and fall of
a psychological movement. The Journal o f the History o f the Behavioral
Sciences, 70(1), 84-90.
Blakney, (1955). Tao teh ching. Retrieved April 15, 2004 from
http://terebess.hU/english/tao/blakney.html#Kap01
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
205
Bolletino, R. C. (2001). A model of spirituality for psychotherapy and other
fields of mind-body medicine. Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, 17, 90-
107.
Bristow-Braitman, A. (1995). Addiction Recovery: 12-step programs and
cognitive-behavioral psychology. Journal o f Counseling & Development,
73(4)414-419.
Bruce, S. (1996). Religion in the modem world: From cathedrals to cults.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buber, M. (1909/1996). Ecstatic Confessions: the heart o f mysticism. San
Francisco: Harper & Row.
Carlson, T. D., & Erickson, M. J. (2002). A conversation about spirituality in
marriage and family therapy: Exploring the possibilities. Journal o f
Family Psychotherapy, 73(1-), 1-11.
Carlson, T. D., Kirkpatrick, D., Hecker, L., & Killmer, M. (2002). Religion,
spirituality, and marriage and family therapy: A study of family therapists'
beliefs about the appropriateness of addressing religious and spiritual
issues in therapy. American Journal o f Family Therapy, 30, 157-171.
Carmody, D. L., & Carmody, J. T. (1996). Mysticism: Holiness east and west.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Coke, M. M. (1992). Correlates of life satisfaction among elderly African
Americans. Journal o f Gerontology, 47, 316-320.
Colledge, E., & McGinn, B. (1981). Meister Eckhart: The essential sermons,
commentaries, treatises, and defense. New York: Paulist Press.
Deikman, A. J. (2000). A functional approach to mysticism. In Andresen, J &
Forman, R. (Eds.)., Cognitive models and spiritual maps. Bowling Green:
Imprint Academic Press.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
206
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1998). Entering the field of qualitative
research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Collecting and
interpreting qualitative materials. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Diener, E., & Clifton, D. (2002). Life satisfaction and religiosity in broad
probability samples. Psychological Inquiry, 13(3), 206-209.
Dittes, J. E. (1971). Typing the typologies: Some parallels in the career of
church-sect and extrinsic-intrinsic. Journal for the Scientific Study o f
Religion, 10, 375-383.
Donahue, M. J. (1985). Intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness: Review and meta
analysis. Journal o f Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 400-419.
Duska, R. (1999). The religious roots of business ethics. In M. L. Pava & P.
Primeaux (Eds.), Research in ethical issues in organizations (pp. 79-103).
Stamford, CT, US: JAI Press.
Easwaran, E. (1987). The Upanishads. Tomales, California: Nilgiri Press.
Easwaran, E. (2000). The bhagavad gita. New York: Random House.
Elkins, D. (1998). Beyond religion. Wheaton: Quest Books.
Elkins, D. (2001). Beyond religion: Toward a humanistic spirituality. In K.
Schneider, J. Bugental & J. Pierson (Eds.), The Handbook o f Humanistic
Psychology: The Leading Edges in Theory, Research, and Practice, (pp.
210-212). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Elkins, D., Hedstrom, L., Hughes, L, Leaf, J., Saunders, C. (1988). Toward a
humanistic-phenomenological spirituality: Definitions, description, and
measurement. Journal o f Humanistic Psychology, 28(4), 5-18.
Ellwood, R. S. (1999). Mysticism and religion. New York: Seven Bridges Press.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
207
Emmons, R. A., & Paloutzian, R. F. (2003). The psychology of religion.
Annual Review o f Psychology, 54, 377-402.
Engels, D. W. (2001). Special issue: Spirituality in counseling. Counseling &
Values, 45(3), 162.
Faiver, C. M., O'Brien, E. M., & Ingersoll, R. E. (2000). Religion, guilt, and
mental health. Journal o f Counseling & Development, 78, 155-161.
Feng G.F; English, J.(1972). Tao teh ching. London:
Wildwood House: 1972
Ferraro, K. F. (1998). Firm believers? Religion, body weight, and well-being.
Review o f Religious Research, 30, 193-202.
Foster, R. (1992) Prayer: Finding the heart’ s true home. San Francisco: Harper
Collins.
Francis, L. J., & Bolger, J. (1997). Religion and psychological well-being in later
life. Psychological Reports, 80(3, Pt 1), 1050.
Gallup, G. (2002). Medicine finds religion. Princeton, NJ: The Gallup
Organization.
Gallup, G. (2003). New index tracks spiritual state o f the union. Princeton, NJ:
The Gallup Organization.
George, L. K., Larson, D. B., Koenig, H. G., & McCullough, M. E. (2000).
Spirituality and health: What we know, what we need to know. Journal o f
Social & Clinical Psychology, 79(1), 102-116.
Gendlin, E.T. (1996). Focusing-oriented psychotherapy: A manual o f the
experiential method. New York: The Guilford Press.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
208
Gendlin, E.T. (1978). Focusing. New York: Bantam Books.
Gilbert, M. C. (2000). Spirituality in social work groups: Practitioners speak out.
Social Work with Groups, 22(4), 67-84.
Giorgi, A. (1985). The phenomenological psychology of learning and the verbal
learning tradition. In A. Giorgi (Ed.), Phenomenology and psychological
research. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.
Goddard, D. (1932). The buddhist bible: The favorite scriptures of the zen sect.
Vermont: Dwight Goddard.
Gorsuch, R.L. (1984). Measurement: The boon and bane of
investigating religion. American Psychologist. 39, 228-236.
Gorsuch, R.L. (1988). Psychology of religion. Annual Review of Psychology. 39, 210-221.
Gotterer, R. (2001). The spiritual dimension in clinical social work practice: A
client perspective. Families in Society, 82, 187-193.
Gould, J.A. (2002). Reconnecting/Coming home: A qualitative exploration of the
experience of spirituality (Doctoral dissertation, York University, 2002).
Dissertation Abstracts International, 63, 09B.
Graham, S., Furr, S., Flowers, C., & Burke, M. T. (2001). Religion and
spirituality in coping with stress. Counseling & Values, 46( 1), 2-14.
Hackney, C. H., & Sanders, G. S. (2003). Religiosity and mental health: A meta
analysis of recent studies. Journal for the Scientific Study o f Religion,
42(1), 43-55.
Hall, G. S. (1904). Adolescence: its Psychology and its Relation to Physiology,
Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education: Appletons:
New York.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
209
Hamilton, D.M., Jackson, M.H. (1998). Spiritual development: Paths and
processes. Journal o f Instructional Psychology, 25(4), 262-270.
Happold, F. C. (1963/1990). Mysticism: A study and an anthology. London:
Penguin Books.
Harrington, W. J., Preziosi, R. C., & Gooden, D. J. (2001). Perceptions of
workplace spirituality among professionals and executives. Employee
Responsibilities & Rights Journal, 13(3), 155-163.
Hayes, S.C., Strosahl, K.D, & Wilson, K.G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment
therapy. New York: The Guilford Press
Heelas, P. (1985). Social anthropology and the psychology of religion. In Brown,
L. (editor), Advances in the psychology o f religion, (pp. 34-51) Elmsford:
Pergamon Press.
Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time. San Francisco: Harper-Collins
Helminiak, D. A. (2001). Treating spiritual issues in secular psychotherapy.
Counseling & Values, 45(3), 163-189.
Hill, P. C. (1999). Giving religion away: What the study of religion offers
psychology. International Journal for the Psychology o f Religion, 9(4),
229-249.
Hill, P. C., & Hood, R. W. (1999). Measures o f religiosity. Birmingham:
Religious Education Press.
Hill, P. C., Pargament, K. I., Hood, R. W., Jr., McCullough, M. E., Swyers, J. P.,
Larson, D. B., et al. (2000). Conceptualizing religion and spirituality:
Points of commonality, points of departure. Journal for the Theory o f
Social Behaviour, 30( 1), 51-77.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
210
Hodge, D. R. (2000). Spiritual ecomaps: A new diagrammatic tool for
assessing marital and family spirituality. Journal o f Marital & Family
Therapy, 26, 217-228.
Hoge, D. R. (1972). A validated intrinsic religious motivation scale. Journal for
the Scientific Study o f Religion, Vol. 77(4), 369-376.
Hood,R. W., Spilka, B., Hunsberger, B., Gorsuch, R. (1996).
The psychology o f religion: An empirical approach. New York: Guilford
Press.
Horowitz, J. L., & Garber, J. (2003). Relation of intelligence and religiosity to
depressive disorders in offspring of depressed and nondepressed mothers.
Journal o f the American Academy o f Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,
42(5), 578-586.
Hunt, R. A., & King, M. B. (1971). The intrinsic-extrinsic concept. Journal for
the Scientific Study o f Religion, 10, 339-356.
Husaini, B. A., Blasi, A. J., & Miller, O. (1999). Does public and private
religiosity have a moderating effect on depression? A bi-racial study of
elders in the American south. International Journal o f Aging & Human
Development, 48(1), 63-72.
James, W. (1902). The Varieties o f Religious Experience A Study in Human
Nature (Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion, Edinburgh, -). Oxford,
England: Longmans, Green.
Kavanaugh, K. & Rodriguez, O. (1979). The collected works o f st.john o f the
cross. Washington: ICS Publications
Kendler, K. S., Gardner, C. O., & Prescott, C. A. (1997). Religion,
psychopathology, and substance use and abuse: A multimeasure, genetic-
epidemiologic study. American Journal o f Psychiatry, 154(3), 322-329.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
211
Kendler, K. S., Liu, X.-Q., Gardner, C. O., McCullough, M. E., Larson, D., &
Prescott, C. A. (2003). Dimensions of religiosity and their relationship to
lifetime psychiatric and substance use disorders. American Journal o f
Psychiatry, 160(3), 496-503.
Kim, J., Heinemann, A. W., Bode, R. K., Sliwa, J., & King, R. B. (2000).
Spirituality, quality of life, and functional recovery after medical
rehabilitation. Rehabilitation Psychology, 45(4), 365-385.
King, M. B., & Hunt, R. A. (1972). Measuring the religious variable: Replication.
Journal for the Scientific Study o f Religion, Vol. 77(3), 240-251.
Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Hood, R. W. (1990). Intrinsic-extrinsic religious orientation:
The boon or bane of contemporary psychology of religion? Journal fo r the
Scientific Study o f Religion, 29(4), 442-462.
Koenig, H. G., & Larson, D. (2001). Religion and mental health: Evidence of an
association. International Review o f Psychiatry, 73(67-78).
Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Handbook o f religion
and health. London: Oxford University Press.
Koenig, H. G., Pargament, K. I., & Nielsen, J. (1998). Religious coping and
health status in medically ill hospitalized older adults. Journal o f Nervous
& Mental Disease, 186(9), 513-521.
Krause, N. (1992). Stress, religiosity, and psychological well-being among older
Blacks. Journal o f Aging & Health, 4(3), 412-439.
Krause, N. (1993). Measuring religiosity in later life. Research on Aging, 15, 170-
197.
Krishnakumar, S., & Neck, C. P. (2002). The 'what', 'why' and 'how' of spirituality
in the workplace. Journal o f Managerial Psychology, 17(3), 153-164.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
212
Krishnamurti, J. (1976). Krishnamurti's notebook. New York: Harper and
Row.
Lau, D. C. (1963). Tao Te Ching. London: Penguin Books.
Lines, D. (2002). Counseling within a new spiritual paradigm. Journal o f
Humanistic Psychology, 42(3), 102-123.
Low, J. F. (1997). Religious orientation and pain management. American Journal
o f Occupational Therapy, 51(3), 215-219.
MacDonald, D. A., & Holland, D. (2003). Spirituality and the MMPI-3. Journal
o f Clinical Psychology, 59(4), 399-410.
Mahoney, M. J., & Graci, G. M. (1999). The meanings and correlates of
spirituality: Suggestions from an exploratory survey of experts. Death
Studies, 23(6), 521-528.
Marler, P. L., & Hadaway, C. K. (2002). "Being religious" or "being spiritual" in
America: A zero-sum proposition? Journal for the Scientific Study o f
Religion, 41, 289-300.
Maslow, A. H. (1964). Religions, values, andpeak-experiences. Columbus, OH:
Ohio State University Press.
Matt, D. C. (1996). The essential kabbalah. San Francisco: Harper.
McGinn, B. (1991). The foundations o f mysticism. New York: Crossroad.
McLeod, D. L., & Wright, L. M. (2001). Conversations of spirituality: Spirituality
in family systems nursing— making the case with four clinical vignettes.
Journal o f Family Nursing, 7(4), 391-415.
Meadow, M. J., & Kahoe, R. D. (1984). Psychology o f religion: Religion in
individual lives. New York: Harper & Row.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
213
Mertzel, D.G. (1991). The eye never sleeps: Striking to the heart o f zen.
Boston: Shambala.
Miller, W. R., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Spirituality, religion, and health: An
emerging research field. American Psychologist, 55(1), 24-35.
Mitchell, S. (1991). Tao teh ching: A new english version. New York: Perennial
Library)
Moberg, D. O., & Brusek, P. M. (1978). Spiritual well-being: A neglected subject
in quality of life research. Social Indicators Research, 5, 303-323.
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks:
Sage.
Musick, M. A., Koenig, H. G., Hays, J. C., & Cohen, H. J. (1998). Religious
activity and depression among community-dwelling elderly persons with
cancer: The moderating effect of race. Journals o f Gerontology: Series B:
Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences, 53B(4), S218-S227.
Mytko, J. J., & Knight, S. J. (1999). Body, mind and spirit: Towards the
integration of religiosity and spirituality in cancer quality of life research.
Psycho-Oncology, 5(5), 439-450.
Narayanasamy, A. (1999). A review of spirituality as applied to nursing.
International Journal o f Nursing Studies, 36, 117-125.
Nicholson, R. A. (1898). Selected poems from the divani shamsi tabriz. Retrieved
September 21, 2004 from www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1270rumi-
poemsl.html.
Nyaponika, T. (1962). The heart ofbuddhist meditation. London: Rider.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
214
Otis-Green, S., Sherman, R., Perez, M., & Baird, P. (2002). An integrated
psychosocial-spiritual model for cancer pain management. Cancer
Practice, iO(Suppll), s58-s65.
Otto, R. (1923). The idea o f the holy. London: Oxford University Press.
Paloutzian, R. F., & Ellison, C. W. (1982). Loneliness, spiritual well-being and
quality of life. In L. A. Peplau & D. Perlman (Eds.), Loneliness: A
sourcebook o f current theory, research and therapy (pp. 224-237). New
York: Wiley.
Pargament, K. I. (1999). The psychology of religion and spirituality? Yes and no.
International Journal for the Psychology o f Religion, 9(1), 3-16.
Pargament, K. I. (1999). The psychology of religion and spirituality? Yes and no:
A response to Stifoss-Hannsen and Helminiak. International Journal for
the Psychology o f Religion, 2, 201-229.
Pargament, K. I., Ensing, D. S., Falgout, K., Olsen, H., & al., e. (1990). God help
me: I Religious coping efforts as predictors of the outcomes to significant
negative life events. American Journal o f Community Psychology, 18(6),
793-824.
Pargament, K. I., Sullivan, M. S., Balzer, W. K., Van Haitsma, K. S., & Raymark,
P. FI. (1995). The many meanings of religiousness: A policy capturing
approach. Journal o f Personality, 63(4), 973-983.
Parker, M., Roff, L. L., Klemmack, D. L., Koenig, H. G., Baker, P., & Allman, R.
M. (2003). Religiosity and mental health in southern, community-dwelling
older adults. Aging & Mental Health, 7(5), 390-397.
Phillips, C. (1998). The lived experience of spirituality and healing among
persons with life threatening cancer: Making it real (Doctoral dissertation,
University of Toronto, 1998). Dissertation Abstracts International, 59,
12A.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
215
Polkinghome, D. (1989). Phenomenological research methods. In R. S. Valle
& S. Hailing (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological perspectives in
psychology. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Poulan, R.P. (1910). Graces o f interior prayer. Montana: Kessinger Publishing.
Prasad, R. (1988). The bhagavad gita. Retrieved May 6, 2004 from
www.indiaoz.com.au/hinduism/gita/beginnersgita. shtml.
Pratt, J. B. (1920). The religious consciousness: a psychological study. Oxford,
England: Macmillan.
Pressman, P., Lyons, J. S., Larson, D. B., & Strain, J. J. (1990). Religious belief,
depression, and ambulation status in elderly women with broken hips.
American Journal o f Psychiatry, 147(6), 758-760.
Primeaux, P., & Mullen, M. (1999). Transformation and interdependence for
spirituality in business. In M. L. Pava & P. Primeaux (Eds.), Research in
ethical issues in organizations (pp. 119-148). Stamford, CT, US: JAI
Press.
Principe, W. (1983). Toward Defining Spirituality. Studies in Religion-Sciences
Religieuses, 12, 127-141.
Rolt, C.E. (1920). Dionysius the areopagite: On the divine names
and the mystical theology. Retrieved March 11, 2004 from
http://www.ccel.Org/r/rolt/dionysius/cache/dionysius.txt.
Roof, W. C. (1993). A generation o f seekers: The spiritual journeys o f the baby-
boomer generation. San Francisco: Harper Collins.
Roof, W. C. (1999). Spiritual marketplace: Baby boomers and the remaking o f
american religion. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
216
Ruysbroeck, J. (1916). The adornment o f the spiritual marriage. Retrieved
April 8, 2004 from www.ccel.org/r/ruysbroeck/adomment/adomment.html
Schurmann, R. (1978). Meister Eckhart: Mystic and philosopher. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press.
Scott, R. O. (2001). Are you religious or are you spiritual: A look in the mirror.
Spirituality and Health, 26-28.
Sheldrake, P. (1995). Sprituality and History. New York: Orbis.
Singh, J. (1979). Vijnanabhairava or divine consciousness. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass.
Slater, W., Hall, T. W., & Edwards, K. J. (2001). Measuring religion and
spirituality: Where are we and where are we going? Journal o f Psychology
& Theology, 29(1), 4-21.
Slife, B. D., Hope, C., & Nebeker, R. S. (1999). Examining the relationship
between religious spirituality and psychological science. Journal o f
Humanistic Psychology, 39, 51-85.
Sloan, R. P., & Bagiella, E. (2002). Claims about religious involvement and
health outcomes. Annals o f Behavioral Medicine, 24(1), 14-21.
Smith, W. C. (1963). The meaning and end o f religion: A new approach to the
religious traditions o f mankind. New York: Macmillan.
Soho, T. (1986). The unfettered mind. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
Spilka, B., Kojetin, B. A., & McIntosh, D. N. (1985). Forms and measures of
personal faith: Questions, correlates and distinctions. Journal for the
Scientific Study o f Religion, 24, 437-442.
Stace, W. T. (1960). The teachings o f the mystics. New York, NY: Mentor Press.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
217
Stander, V., Piercy, F. P., Mackinnon, D., & Helmeke, K. (1994). Spirituality,
religion and family therapy: Competing or complementary worlds?
American Journal o f Family Therapy, 22(1), 27-41.
Starbuck, E. D., & James, W. (1899). The Psychology o f Religion An Empirical
Study o f the Growth o f Religious Consciousness: W. Scott: London.
Stifoss-Hanssen, H. (1999). Religion and spirituality: What a European ear hears.
International Journal for the Psychology o f Religion, 9(1), 25-33.
Strawbridge, W. J., Shema, S. J., Cohen, R. D., Roberts, R. E., & Kaplan, G. A.
(1998). Religiosity buffers effects of some stressors on depression but
exacerbates others. Journals o f Gerontology: Series B: Psychological
Sciences & Social Sciences, 53B(3), SI 18-S126.
Strayhom, J. M., Weidman, C. S., & Larson, D. B. (1990). A measure of
religiousness, and its relation to parent and child mental health variables.
Journal o f Community Psychology, 75(34-43).
Sulmasy, D. P. (1999). Is medicine a spiritual practice? Academic Medicine,
74(9), 1002-1005.
Suzuki, D. T. (1957/2002). Mysticism: Christian and buddhist. New York:
Routledge.
Suzuki, D.T. (1956). Zen buddhism. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Swinton, J. (2002). Spiritual care in forensic nursing: Spiritual interventions and
future directions for care. In A. M. Kettles, P. Woods & e. al. (Eds.),
Therapeutic interventions for forensic mental health nurses (pp. 206-224).
Philadelphia, PA, US: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Thera, N. (1962). Satipatthana: The heart o f buddhist meditation. Samuel
Weiser: New York.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
218
Trimble, D. E. (1997). The Religious Orientation Scale: Review and meta
analysis of social desirability effects. Educational & Psychological
Measurement, 57(6), 970-986.
Underhill, E. (1911). Mysticism, a Study on the Nature and Development o f Man's
Spiritual Consciousness
New York, NY, US: Methuen.
Vande Kemp, H. (1999). Commentary on the special issue: Religion in the
psychology of personality. Journal o f Personality, 67(6), 1195-1207.
von Hugel, F. (1908). The Mystical Element o f Religion as studied in Saint
Catherine o f Genoa and her Friends. Oxford, England: Dent.
Watson, P. J., Hood, R. W., & Morris, R. J. (1985). Dimensions of religiosity and
empathy. Journal o f Psychology & Christianity, 4(3), 73-85.
Watts, A. (1973). The philosophy o f the tao I. Electronic University Publishing
Werner, H. (1957). Comparative psychology o f mental development. New York:
International Universities Press.
Whinfield, E.H. (1898). The Masnavi i ma'navi
by maulana jalalu-'d-din muhammad rumi. Retrieved June 4, 2004 from
http ://www. sacred-hastexts. com/isl/masnavi/msnO 1-05 .htm
Woods, T. E., & Ironson, G. H. (1999). Religion and spirituality in the face of
illness: How cancer, cardiac, and HIV patients describe their
spirituality/religiosity. Journal o f Health Psychology, 4(3), 393-412.
Wulff, D. M. (1997). Psychology o f religion: Classic and contemporary (2nd ed.).
Oxford, England: John Wiley & Sons.
Young, J. S., Cashwell, C. S., & Shcherbakova, J. (2000). The moderating
relationship of spirituality on negative life events and psychological
adjustment. Counseling & Values, 45(1), 49-57.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
219
Zaehner, R. C. (1959). Hindu and muslim mysticism. London: Athlone Press.
Zinnbauer, B. J., Pargament, K. I., Cole, B., Rye, M. S., Butter, E. M., Belavich,
T. G., et al. (1997). Religion and spirituality: Unfuzzying the fuzzy.
Journal for the Scientific Study o f Religion, 36(4), 549-564.
Zinnbauer, B. J., Pargament, K. I., & Scott, A. B. (1999). The emerging meanings
of religiousness and spirituality: Problems and prospects. Journal o f
Personality, 67(6), 889-919.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
220
APPENDIX
The following are two short mystical documents. They are presented in
their entirety. One is from a Western source named Dionysius the Areopagite. It
was written at the end of the fifth century in Greece. The other is from an Eastern
source named Sosan Zenji. It was written about the same time in China.
Although neither document was used as data for this study, they both include
many of the themes that were found.
Dionysius the Areopagite. the Mystical Theology
CHAPTER I
What is the Divine Darkness?
Supernal Triad, Deity above all essence, knowledge and goodness; Guide of
Christians to Divine Wisdom; direct our path to the ultimate summit of your
mystical knowledge, most incomprehensible, most luminous and most exalted,
where the pure, absolute and immutable mysteries of theology are veiled in the
dazzling obscurity of the secret Silence, outshining all brilliance with the intensity
of their Darkness, and surcharging our blinded intellects with the utterly
impalpable and invisible fairness of glories surpassing all beauty.
Let this be my prayer; but do, dear Timothy, in the diligent exercise of mystical
contemplation, leave behind the senses and the operations of the intellect, and all
things sensible and intellectual, and all things in the world of being and nonbeing,
that you may arise by unknowing towards the union, as far as is attainable, with it
that transcends all being and all knowledge. For by the unceasing and absolute
renunciation of yourself and of all things you may be borne on high, through pure
and entire self-abnegation, into the superessential Radiance of the Divine
Darkness.
But these things are not to be disclosed to the uninitiated, by whom I mean those
attached to the objects of human thought, and who believe there is no
superessential Reality beyond, and who imagine that by their own understanding
they know it that has made Darkness Its secret place. And if the principles of the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
221
divine Mysteries are beyond the understanding of these, what is to be said of
others still more incapable thereof, who describe the transcendental First Cause of
all by characteristics drawn from the lowest order of beings, while they deny that
it is in any way above the images which they fashion after various designs;
whereas they should affirm that, while it possesses all the positive attributes of the
universe (being the Universal Cause) yet, in a more strict sense, it does not
possess them, since it transcends them all; wherefore there is no contradiction
between the affirmations and the negations, inasmuch as it infinitely precedes all
conceptions of deprivation, being beyond all positive and negative distinctions.
Thus the blessed Bartholomew asserts that the divine science is both vast and
minute, and that the Gospel is great and broad, yet concise and short; signifying
by this, that the beneficent Cause of all is most eloquent, yet utters few words, or
rather is altogether silent, as having neither (human) speech nor (human)
understanding, because it is super-essentially exalted above created things, and
reveals itself in Its naked Truth to those alone who pass beyond all that is pure or
impure, and ascend above the topmost altitudes of holy things, and who, leaving
behind them all divine light and sound and heavenly utterances, plunge into the
Darkness where truly dwells, as the Oracles declare, that ONE who is beyond all.
It was not without reason that the blessed Moses was commanded first to purify
himself and then to separate himself from those who had not undergone
purification; and after the entire purification heard many trumpets and saw many
lights streaming forth with pure and manifold rays; and that he was thereafter
separated from the multitude, with the elect priests, and pressed forward to the
summit of the divine ascent. Nevertheless, he did not attain to the Presence of
God itself; he saw not it (for it cannot be looked upon) but the Place where it
dwells. And this I take to signify that the divinest and highest things seen by the
eyes or contemplated by the mind are but the symbolical expressions of those that
are immediately beneath it that is above all. Through these, Its incomprehensible
Presence is manifested upon those heights of Its Holy Places; that then It breaks
forth, even from that which is seen and that which sees, and plunges the mystic
into the Darkness of Unknowing, whence all perfection of understanding is
excluded, and he is enwrapped in that which is altogether intangible, wholly
absorbed in it that is beyond all, and in none else (whether himself or another);
and through the inactivity of all his reasoning powers is united by his highest
faculty to it that is wholly unknowable; thus by knowing nothing he knows That
which is beyond his knowledge.
CHAPTER II
The necessity o f being united with and o f rendering praise to it that is the Cause
o f all and above all.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
222
We pray that we may come unto this Darkness which is beyond light, and,
without seeing and without knowing, to see and to know that which is above
vision and knowledge through the realization that by not-seeing and by
unknowing we attain to true vision and knowledge; and thus praise,
superessentially, it that is superessential, by the transcendence of all things; even
as those who, carving a statue out of marble, abstract or remove all the
surrounding material that hinders the vision which the marble conceals and, by
that abstraction, bring to light the hidden beauty.
It is necessary to distinguish this negative method of abstraction from the positive
method of affirmation, in which we deal with the Divine Attributes. For with
these latter we begin with the universal and primary, and pass through the
intermediate and secondary to the particular and ultimate attributes; but now we
ascend from the particular to the universal conceptions, abstracting all attributes
in order that, without veil, we may know that Unknowing which is enshrouded
under all that is known and all that can be known, and that we may begin to
contemplate the superessential Darkness which is hidden by all the light that is in
existing things.
CHAPTER III
What are the affirmations and the negations concerning God?
In the Theological Outlines we have set forth the principal affirmative
expressions concerning God, and have shown in what sense God's Holy Nature is
One, and in what sense Three; what is within It which is called Paternity, what
Filiation, and what is signified by the name Spirit; how from the uncreated and
indivisible Good, the blessed and perfect Rays of its Goodness proceed, and yet
abide immutably one both within their Origin and within themselves and each
other, co-etemal with the act by which they spring from it; how the superessential
Jesus enters in essential state in which the truths of human nature meet; and other
matters made known by the Oracles are expounded in the same place.
Again, in the treatise on Divine Names, we have considered the meaning, as
concerning God, of the titles of Good, of Being, of Life, of Wisdom, of Power,
and of such other names as are applied to it; further, in Symbolical Theology we
have considered what are the metaphorical titles drawn from the world of sense
and applied to the nature of God; what is meant by the material and intellectual
images we form of it, or the functions and instruments of activity attributed to it;
what are the places where it dwells and the raiment in which it is adorned; what is
meant by God's anger, grief and indignation, or the divine inebriation; what is
meant by God's oaths and threats, by Its slumber and waking; and all sacred and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
223
symbolical representations. And it will be observed how far more copious and
diffused are the last terms than the first, for the theological doctrine and the
exposition of the Divine Names are necessarily more brief than the Symbolical
Theology.
For the higher we soar in contemplation the more limited become our expressions
of that which is purely intelligible; even as now, when plunging into the Darkness
that is above the intellect, we pass not merely into brevity of speech, but even into
absolute silence of thoughts and of words. Thus, in the former discourse, our
contemplations descended from the highest to the lowest, embracing an ever-
widening number of conceptions, which increased at each stage of the descent;
but in the present discourse we mount upwards from below to that which is the
highest, and, according to the degree of transcendence, so our speech is restrained
until, the entire ascent being accomplished, we become wholly voiceless,
inasmuch as we are absorbed in it that is totally ineffable. But why, you will ask,
'does the affirmative method begin from the highest attributions, and the negative
method with the lowest abstractions?' The reason is because, when affirming the
subsistence of That which transcends all affirmation, we necessarily start from the
attributes most closely related to It and upon which the remaining affirmations
depend; but when pursuing the negative method to reach That which is beyond all
abstraction, we must begin by applying our negations to things which are most
remote from It.
For is it not more true to affirm that God is Life and Goodness than that God is air
or stone; and must we not deny to God more emphatically the attributes of
inebriation and wrath than the applications of human speech and thought?
CHAPTER IV
That it that is the pre-eminent Cause o f all things sensibly perceived is not itself
any o f those things.
We therefore maintain that the universal and transcendent Cause of all things is
neither without being nor without life, nor without reason or intelligence; nor is it
a body, nor has it form or shape, quality, quantity or weight; nor has it any
localized, visible or tangible existence; it is not sensible or perceptible; nor is it
subject to any disorder or inordination nor influenced by any earthly passion;
neither is it rendered impotent through the effects of material causes and events; it
needs no light; it suffers no change, corruption, division, privation or flux; none of
these things can either be identified with or attributed unto it.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
224
CHAPTER V
That it that is the pre-eminent Cause o f all things intelligibly perceived is not
itself any o f those things.
Again, ascending yet higher, we maintain that it is neither soul nor intellect; nor
has it imagination, opinion reason or understanding; nor can it be expressed or
conceived, since it is neither number nor order; nor greatness nor smallness; nor
equality nor inequality; nor similarity nor dissimilarity; neither is it standing, nor
moving, nor at rest; neither has it power nor is power, nor is light; neither does it
live nor is it life; neither is it essence, nor eternity nor time; nor is it subject to
intelligible contact; nor is it science nor truth, nor kingship nor wisdom; neither
one nor oneness, nor godhead nor goodness; nor is it spirit according to our
understanding, nor filiation, nor paternity; nor anything else known to us or to any
other beings of the things that are or the things that are not; neither does anything
that is, know it as it is; nor does it know existing things according to existing
knowledge; neither can the reason attain to it, nor name it, nor know it; neither is
it darkness nor light, nor the false nor the true; nor can any affirmation or negation
be applied to it, for although we may affirm or deny the things below it, we can
neither affirm nor deny it, inasmuch as the all-perfect and unique Cause of all
things transcends all affirmation, and the simple pre-eminence of Its absolute
nature is outside of every negation- free from every limitation and beyond them
all.
Title: Dionysius the Areopagite: On the Divine Names and the Mystical
Theology.
Creator(s): Rolt, Clarence Edwin
Print Basis: London: SPCK, 1920
Rights: Public Domain
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
225
Sosan Zenji. Text of Hsin Hsin Ming
When no discriminating thoughts arise,
The old mind ceases to exist.
When thought objects vanish,
The thinking-subject vanishes,
as when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.
Things are objects because there is a subject or mind;
and the mind is a subject because there are objects.
Understand the relativity of these two
and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.
In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable
And each contains in itself the whole world.
If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine
You will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.
To live in the Great Way
Is neither easy nor difficult.
But those with limited views
Are fearful and irresolute:
The faster they hurry, the slower they go.
Clinging cannot be limited;
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way
and there will be neither coming nor going.
Obey the nature of things
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden,
for everything is murky and unclear.
The burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefit can be derived
from distinctions and separations?
If you wish to move in the One Way
Do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully
is identical with true Enlightenment.
The wise man strives to no goals
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
226
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many;
distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with discriminating mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.
Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
with enlightenment there is no liking and disliking.
All dualities come from ignorant inference.
They are like dreams of flowers in air:
foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong:
such thoughts must finally be abolished at once.
If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things
are as they are, of single essence.
To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider motion in stillness
and stillness in motion,
both movement and stillness disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.
For the unified mind in accord with the Way
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage;
nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illumination,
with no exertion of the mind’s power.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
227
Here thought, feeling knowledge, and imagination are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just simply say when doubt arises, “Not two.”
In this “not two” nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time
or space;
in it a single thought is ten thousand years.
Emptiness here, Emptiness there,
but the infinite universe stands
always before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small;
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Don’t waste time in doubts and arguments
that have nothing to do with this.
One thing, all things:
move among and intermingle,
without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about nonperfection.
To live in this faith is the road of nonduality,
because the nondual is one with the trusting mind.
Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.
(Merzel, 1991, p. 127-131)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Integration of science and practice: A collective case study of scientist -practitioner programs in counseling psychology

PDF

Anorexia nervosa: A developmental perspective

PDF

Identity in midlife lesbians: A kaleidoscopic view

PDF

Considering the impact of culture on the therapeutic relationship: A look at Latino school-age children in a special education setting

PDF

An investigation of a new diagnostic sub-type: Post traumatic stress disorder with psychotic features

PDF

Children and domestic violence: A developmental framework

PDF

A cluster analysis of the differences between expert and novice counselors based on real time training

PDF

A Positive Psychology goal intervention using strengths and values to enhance goals and increase well -being

PDF

Delving into the center: Women's lived experience of spirituality through occupation

PDF

Development and validation of the Cooper Quality of Imagery Scale: A measure of vividness of sporting mental imagery

PDF

A daily diary approach to compare the accuracy of depressed and nondepressed participants' estimation of positive and negative mood: A test of the depressive realism hypothesis

PDF

A two-dimensional model of cognitive empathy: An empirical study

PDF

Change beliefs and academic outcomes: A construct validation

PDF

Inaccuracies in expert self -report: Errors in the description of strategies for designing psychology experiments

PDF

A phenomenological topology of positive interpersonal emotions

PDF

"I'm not much different": Occupation, identity, and spinal cord injury in America

PDF

Factors that influence students' investment of mental effort in academic tasks: A validation and exploratory study

PDF

Husserl's theory of a priori knowledge: A response to the failure of contemporary rationalism

PDF

Harmony as an essential aspect of Leibniz's theory of the universe

PDF

Constructing identities in social worlds: Stories of four adults with autism

Asset Metadata

Creator Otterness, Scott Charles (author)

Core Title A phenomenological inquiry into the essential meanings of the most intense experience of religiosity and spirituality

School Graduate School

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Counseling Psychology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,psychology, developmental

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Polkinghorne, Donald (committee chair), Clark, Richard (committee member), Willard, Dallas (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-451185

Unique identifier UC11340255

Identifier 3196867.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-451185 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 3196867.pdf

Dmrecord 451185

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Otterness, Scott Charles

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA