Academic literature on the topic 'The relationship between contemplative and active spirituality'

As a language of devotion, poetry can help people gain peace and understanding about themselves, each other, and the world around them. This article explores a number of world poetry that tells about the presence of God. Based on the contemplative relationship between poetry and spirituality, the aim of this study is to examine how God the Creator is present and represented in poetry. Using the hermeneutic-interpretative method of analysis, the research data which include six poems from various countries were analyzed with the conceptual framework being (1) poetry as a prayer and (2) Ignatian Spirituality, i.e., a spiritual practice to affirm that God is present in our world and active in our lives. The reading of the selected poems shows that God can indeed be found in everything. First, God is present in the universe and everything living in it. Second, having gone through various struggles, the characters or speakers in the poems find God within themselves. Third, the face of God is visible in others because humans are created in His image. The conclusion is that studying God's presence in poetry can contribute to the narratives of one's spiritual journey. Abstrak Sebagai bahasa pengabdian, puisi dapat membantu orang memperoleh kedamaian dan pengertian tentang diri sendiri, sesamanya, dan dunia di sekitarnya. Artikel ini membahas sejumlah puisi lintas negara yang mengkisahkan kehadiran Tuhan. Bertumpu pada relasi yang berpatutan antara puisi dan spiritualitas, tujuan studi ini adalah meneliti bagaimana Sang Pencipta hadir dan direpresentasikan dalam puisi. Metode interpretasi hermeneutik dipakai untuk menganalisis data yang berupa enam puisi dari berbagai negara dengan kerangka pikir (1) puisi sebagai doa dan (2) Spiritualitas Ignasian, yaitu latihan rohani yang menegaskan bahwa Tuhan hadir di dunia dan aktif dalam kehidupan kita. Hasil pembacaan sejumlah puisi tersebut menunjukkan bahwa Tuhan sungguh dapat ditemukan dalam segalanya. Pertama, di alam raya dan segala isinya Tuhan hadir. Kedua, setelah melalui pelbagai pergumulan, tokoh atau pembicara dalam puisi menemukan Tuhan dalam dirinya sendiri. Ketiga, wajah Tuhan terlihat dalam diri sesama karena manusia diciptakan sesuai citraNya. Sebagai simpulan, kajian puisi tentang kehadiran Tuhan dapat menambah alur kisah perjalanan spiritual seseorang

AbstractBackgroundPrevious research has shown prospectively that religiosity/spirituality protects against depression, but these findings are commonly critiqued on two grounds, namely: (1) apparent religiosity/spirituality reflects merely an original absence of depression or elevated mood and (2) religiosity/spirituality too often is measured as a global construct. The current study investigates the relationship between depression and religiosity/spirituality by examining its multidimensional structural integrity.MethodConfirmatory factor analyses with a previously observed cross-cultural factor structure of religiosity/spirituality variables were conducted on an independent sample, diagnostic and familial risk subgroups from this sample, and a subsample of the original cross-cultural sample. Linear regressions onto a previous diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) 5 years prior to assess the potential attenuating impact of a previous depression was explored.ResultsAcross familial risk groups and clinical subgroups, each of the previously validated religiosity/spirituality domains was confirmed, namely: religious/spiritual commitment, contemplative practice, sense of interconnectedness, the experience of love, and altruistic engagement. Previous MDD diagnosis was associated with a lower religious/spiritual commitment among high-risk individuals, higher contemplation among low-risk individuals, and lower importance of religion or spirituality regardless of risk group.ConclusionsStructural integrity was found across familial risk groups and diagnostic history for a multidimensional structure of religiosity/spirituality. Differential associations between a previous diagnosis of MDD and level of religiosity/spirituality across domains suggest a complex and interactive relation between depression, familial risk, and religiosity/spirituality. Accounting for an empirically valid, multidimensional understanding of religiosity/spirituality may advance research on mechanisms underlying the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and mental health.

Background and objective: Suicide still constitutes to be a critical and risky issue requiring preventive strategies. There is evidence to suggest that spirituality is vital to the process of discovering meaning in life and plays an important role in dealing with suicidal desire. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between spirituality and suicidal ideations among patients with major depressive disorder.Methods: Design and participants: A descriptive correlational design was utilized in the current study. A purposive sample of 181 patients with major depressive disorder was recruited. Setting: The study was conducted at inpatient psychiatric department of Tanta University and Neurology, Psychiatry, and Neuro-Surgery Center. Both hospitals are under the supervision and direction of the ministry of higher education. Tools: Four tools were used to collect data; socio-demographic and clinical characteristics structured interview schedule, Beck Depression Inventory, Daily Spiritual Experience Scale, and Scale for Suicide Ideation.Results: The current study indicated a statistical significant negative correlation between depression and spirituality. Also, a statistical significant negative correlation was found between spirituality and one subscale of suicide which is active suicide desire subscale. On the other side, there was a statistical significant positive correlation between depression and total score of suicide.Conclusions: Higher levels of spirituality may help buffer risk of active suicide desire and promote protective effect against depression. Recommendation: interventions that aim at increasing spiritual involvement and practice may be beneficial in reducing depressive symptoms and suicide desire.

Aquinas teaches that the acquired moral virtues associated with the civil life are to be differentiated from the gratuitous moral virtues associated with the spiritual life. An interpretation of Aquinas will benefit from situating his various remarks on the moral virtues within the context of his teaching regarding how Christian persons develop in virtue over time. In this account, Aquinas makes a distinction between the moral virtues exercised in this life (in via) and in heaven (in patria), as well as between three stages of the Christian moral life in via (active, intermediate, and contemplative). I argue that Aquinas indicates that for Christian persons the acquired moral virtues are retained in the active life in via, but not in patria. Further, claims that Aquinas makes regarding the relationship between the contemplative moral virtues and the active moral virtues provide an analogy for understanding how infused charity might relate to the acquired moral virtues.

Understanding the role of spirituality as a potential coping mechanism for military personnel is important given growing concern about the mental health issues of personnel returning from war. This study seeks to determine the extent to which spirituality is associated with selected mental health problems among active duty military personnel and whether it moderates the relationship between combat exposure/deployment and (a) depression, (b) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and (c) suicidality in active duty military personnel. Data were drawn from the 2008 Department of Defense Survey of Health Related Behaviors Among Active Duty Military Personnel. Over 24,000 randomly selected active duty personnel worldwide completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire. High spirituality had a significant protective effect only for depression symptoms. Medium, as opposed to high or low, levels of spirituality buffered each of the mental health outcomes to some degree. Medium and low spirituality levels predicted depression symptoms but only among those with moderate combat exposure. Medium spirituality levels also predicted PTSD symptoms among those with moderate levels of combat exposure and predicted self-reported suicidal ideation/attempt among those never deployed. These results point to the complex relationship between spirituality and mental health, particularly among military personnel and the need for further research.

ABSTRACTAlthough philosophical and contemplative traditions suggest that religiousness and spirituality are associated with wisdom, few empirical studies have examined the relationship. This paper investigates the associations between spirituality and mystical experiences and two types of wisdom: practical wisdom, primarily the ability to understand and resolve difficult life dilemmas (or an ‘expert’ knowledge system and the highest level of synthesised mental functioning), and transcendent wisdom, which goes beyond personal self-interests, biases and perceptions, and involves the ability to see things or others as they are directly. Two studies are reported. The first is of mostly older European-American and Vietnamese-American adults. It was found that mystical experiences promoted transcendent wisdom, but that the effect was moderated by self-enhancement values of power, status and achievement. The Vietnamese-American adults who reported mystical experiences and endorsed high self-enhancement values scored the lowest on transcendent wisdom. Being part of a religious or spiritual community positively associated with transcendent wisdom. On the other hand, religiousness, spirituality and mystical experiences did not relate to practical wisdom. The second study was of European-American and Vietnamese-American young adult students. It found that institutional and personal religious/spiritual practice was associated with two self-report measures of wisdom. Regardless of the mechanisms and processes associated with spirituality and mystical experiences, its fruits appear to be associated with transcendent wisdom.

Contemporary mission is still struggling with how to connect the contemplative inward journey of the spiritual practices, the outward actions of social justice, and the proclamation of the good news in the ongoing activities of the church today and specifically in its missional task. While the Protestant church is divided over the issue, this paper proposes that there is a possibility of significant convergence of the inner and outer lives of the church, which results in an inner spiritual liberation of mission. This article examines the correlation of spirituality and mission from the “writings” of selected Protestant Latin American scholar-practitioners focusing on the relationship between the inner and outer dimensions of Christian mission, wholeness and integrity of mission, spiritual practices and mission, and worship and mission. In their integration, these emphases provide insights that answer the ecclesiastical question that exists in mission today and provides renovated foundations for the continuing development of the global missional force.

The recovery of important historical texts in the last half century has provoked a reevaluation of the features of Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises that have been described as “mystical” (especially their contemplative dimension and their implicit pneumatology), inviting us to reconsider the history of their composition and first reception, including the relationship between the spirituality of Ignatius to which they give expression, and the teachings of the illuminists or alumbrados. This article furthers this discussion by examining criticisms directed against the Spiritual Exercises during the last decade of Ignatius’s life by two Spanish Dominicans, Melchor Cano and Tomás de Pedroche, who found parallels between the Exercises and the theology of the illuminists. These criticisms were serious enough to affect the received interpretation of what we now call the mystical aspects of the Exercises leading up to its codification in the Official Directory of 1599, particularly regarding the place, if any, of contemplation in the lives of the laity, the role of consolation in prayer, and the experience of direct divine guidance.

The prophetic and the mystical are two key theological concepts in St. John of the Cross. The aim of this article is precisely to shed light on the essential role that St. John of the Cross played in the history of Christianity by acknowledging the prophetic and the mystical dimensions of his life testimonies and writings. The notion of prophetic mysticism is not altogether foreign to the Carmelite tradition, especially following the prophetic example of Elijah. This article will then explore the intrinsic relationship that exists between the active life (Martha) and the contemplative life (Mary) in St. John of the Cross and in the Teresian Carmelite tradition.

It is well documented that the search for spirituality or spiritual transcendence is a defining characteristic of contemporary society. Paralleling this theme, it has also been argued that tourism, as a pervasive social activity, may be considered a modern sacred experience, a search for spiritual transcendence. However, few attempts have been made to explore empirically this alleged relationship between tourism and spirituality, particularly in the context of space-specific tourist activities, such as rural tourism. Once the domain of philosophers, academic knowledge of place, sense of place and place attachment has largely become the territory of human geographers who have contributed to defining these concepts and who, moreover, are responsible for classifying the complex interactions of humans with space and place. Present research undertaken has been directed at wilderness and outdoor environments and the concept of spirituality has, largely, been indirectly studied or purely arises as an outcome of the research. To date, limited academic attention has been paid to enhancing understanding of the role that ‘place’, specifically rural place, as a social construct, has in influencing physically active tourists’ emotive outcomes and in particular, spiritual expressions. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to explore critically the concept of place with reference to the countryside, seeking in particular to identify the impact of constructed place on the emotive/spiritual experience of tourists engaging in physical pursuits in rural areas. More specifically, the location of the study focus is the Lake District National Park, a unique and popular rural landscape that embodies the socially constructed image of a rural idyll. Rural tourism, a prevalent contemporary activity offering a sharp contrast to the urban experience, is largely under-researched in respect to the potential spirituality of such experiences. This study facilitates the building of a contextual framework reflecting the dynamic tripartite relationship of place meaning, setting and physical activity and how these three concepts link to spiritual experience. It addresses a gap in academic literature by exploring rural tourism and the potential spiritual dimension of this activity drawing attention to the role that sense of place and physical activity plays in spiritual experiences. Academic research has, largely, focussed on tourists’ overall experiences of place and activity, only noting spirituality as a response to certain environments and activities. In addressing this gap, this research seeks to clarify understanding of contemporary spirituality and identify clearly the spiritual dimension of the active rural tourist, pinpointing the external and internal elements influencing these experiences. The research in this thesis incorporates phenomenological processes. These are employed initially in focus groups to develop emergent themes and, in the second stage, by way of a conversational interview format to encourage the flow of subjective commentary, thereby eliciting rich, thick data necessary for understanding the complexities of spiritual occurrence in a specific 'place’. The findings show that the rural tourist does not consciously search for spirituality but there is a spiritual dimension to rural visitors’ experiences of the countryside. Place plays an important part in these experiences but sense of place, although frequently intensifying spiritual experiences, is not shown to be the embodiment of spiritual experience. Spirituality, as a dimension of rural tourism, develops from a tri-partite relationship incorporating aspects of physical location, physical activity and place meaning.

English abstract The present dissertation Spirituality of Presence: the Significance of R. Voillaume s Work focuses on the life and work of R. Voillaume (1905-2003). His work is understood as spirituality of presence , or to be more precise of double presence: presence to God and presence to man. After the introductory part dealing with Voillaume s life, historical context and a survey of his work, the dissertation continues with an analysis of his literary work. The main theme is a relecture of Foucauld s spirituality of Nazareth in the light of the mentioned concept of presence: the hidden and silent presence in the midst of men refers not only to the significance of hidden life in Catholic spirituality, it also points out to the deep openness to the situation of modern man and to the search of an authentic Christian life as a life of presence trying to make the life of faith accessible to a contemporary man in a creative and nonconformist way. The conclusion puts Foucauldian spirituality (whose main interpreter is R. Voillaume) into the context of Catholic spirituality and confronts his spirituality of presence with the findings of biblical theology. Theoretically, the dissertation combines personalistic and systematic approaches. Voillaume s work is understood as a major manifestation of Catholic...

Contemplation, according to Thomas Aquinas, is the central goal of our life; yet a scholarly study on this topic has not appeared for over seventy years. This book fills that obvious gap. From an interdisciplinary perspective this study considers the epistemological and metaphysical foundations of the contemplative act; the nature of the active and contemplative lives in light of Aquinas’s Dominican calling; the role of faith, charity, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in contemplation; and contemplation and the beatific vision. Key questions addressed are: What is contemplation? What is truth? How can we know God? How do faith and reason relate to one another? How does Aquinas envisage the relations between theology and philosophy? What role does charity play in contemplation? Throughout this book the author argues that Aquinas espouses a profoundly intellective notion of contemplation in the strictly speculative sense, which culminates in a non-discursive moment of insight (intuitus simplex). In marked contrast to his contemporaries Aquinas therefore rejects a sapiential or affective brand of theology. He also employs a broader notion of contemplation, which can be enjoyed by all Christians, in which the gifts of the Holy Spirit are of central importance. This book should appeal to all those who are interested in this key aspect of Aquinas’s thought. It provides a lucid account of central aspects of Aquinas’s metaphysics, epistemology, theology, and spirituality. It also offers new insights into the nature of the theological discipline as Aquinas sees it, and how theology relates to philosophy.