east'00

8/14/2019 East'00

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/east00 1/15

45

“ One of the most poignant moments of the conference came with the opening panel, when a 1997graduate of Wellesley, Bergen Nelson, described with great clarity and self-knowledge her personalstruggle to heal the split in her own education and integrate theory and practice, or inquiry andengagement in the terms Andrés G. Niño, discusses later in this book. As we enter the next millennium,we know we will need more Bergen Nelsons, people working honestly to achieve Andrés Niño’s“authentic reflective stance” that unifies head and heart. We will need people dedicated to living in ways

that will ensure a sustainable future, people committed to combining the life of the mind with work forthe common good. We will need leaders who can reason well and bring diverse communities together,who can inspire a shared sense of participation and mutual accountability, who can be critical thinkers,who ignite hope”

( Diana Chapman Walsh, President of Wellesley College. From the Introduction, pp.2-3)

Spir i tual Quest among Young Adult sAndrés G. Niño, Ph.D .

One important factor that makes the Education as Transformation Project socompelling is that it focuses on issues encountered by people who spend some oftheir most critical formative years in the self-contained environment of the academicworld. Here, most activities are valued in reference to the absorbing task of learning,and unfold in an apparently coordinated fashion. But that process, rather than beingfluent and cohesive, often becomes compartmentalized and overly constricted, partlybecause of the insidious demand for specialization and the emphasis on the value ofpractical knowledge and marketable skills. Spiritual life becomes the victim of thatcompartmentalization, and is not viewed as an integral part of the whole educationalprogram.

The larger socio-political context that has evolved at the end of the twentieth

century adds the impact of rapid and profound changes and technological advancesthat undermine an individual's sense of personal progress and control. As a result,young adults who are simultaneously negotiating important developmental tasks inrelationships, career choices, and identity feel overwhelmed and disoriented. This is acommon phenomenon that students often describe as the experience of leading"fragmented lives."

Human experience, when it is unified through meaningful engagements,becomes life enhancing and enduring. Fragmentation, on the other hand, is always athreatening prospect. Today we observe a widespread longing for internal coherence,a sense of purpose, and a desire for greater global harmony expressed openlythrough recent autobiographies, films and other forms of public discussion.

______________________ (*) From: Reflections on Religious Pluralism and Spirituality. Victor H. Kazanjian Jr andPeter E. Laurence (Eds). New York: Peter Lang Publishing. (2000) .

8/14/2019 East'00


8/14/2019 East'00


47

It’s underlying dynamic is not a transitional state of doubt or conflict, but a persistentsearching that moves forward throughout life.

In my research work I have identified some basic characteristics that haveemerged from analysis of narratives. They can be summarized in these terms:

1. The spiritual quest is rooted in a normal developmental process in which aperson negotiates questions and concerns regarding personal destiny, happiness,God, the ethical implications of one's behavior, suffering, and death. These are "bigquestions" in the sense that they carry the potential for meaning-making at a profoundlevel, both personally and communally. From these questions derive, directly or insubtle association, a myriad of reflections that permeate a person's daily life. Thewhole process is often nourished by a particular religion or faith community that bringsinto the experience the input of beliefs, motivations, and practices. In those cases,the individual spiritual quest may benefit from the support and guidance available inthe present or historical experience of the community. 5

2. Many experiences reported and emphasized by people as central to their

spiritual life appear to be confined to discrete events or moments, specific rituals,gestures, and exercises designed to enhance and refine the cognitive or emotionalresponse of the individual. Meaningful and valuable as they might be, they cannotreflect the full extent of an individual's important life events.

The significance of a spiritual quest, by contrast, depends on being integratedwithin the larger pattern of concerns, tasks, and engagements of adulthood. Aspiritual quest is a main component of one’s overall life structure, requiring variousdegrees of involvement and attention in order to maintain its vitality, balance andinternal coherence. It becomes a pattern of personal engagement at many levelsthroughout the course of living.

As a consequence, the spiritual quest can only find adequate expression in atotal life narrative. Whether it is verbalized or framed within other forms available tothe individual, the narrative allows for an ample margin of vision that reveals thesequence and variety of situations which convey the quality of one's fundamentalstrivings. 6 In this essay, I will expand upon this central characteristic in order toestablish the groundwork for an interdisciplinary approach.

3. Although the process of a spiritual quest takes shape and strength from theindividual's own motivation, it is also greatly influenced by the socio-cultural context inwhich it takes place. Observers from different disciplines have noted the increasingcomplexity and impact of the interplay between societal transformations and thechanging life courses of the individual. Analysis of the so-called postmodern periodshows cultural trends that cause confusion and make one's strivings toward "meaningwith a sense of transcendence" particularly difficult. For example, we have seen (or atleast been made aware of) totalitarianism, ethnic cleansing, and violence in this

8/14/2019 East'00


48

century, in addition to an overwhelming display of materialism and widespreaddisruption in families and institutions. Yet, even in the face of these obstacles we finda strong sense of spiritual striving among many individuals.

This fact has a bearing on our understanding of the human condition and thegradual shifts in the thinking and feeling that influence the way individuals and groupsof different generations negotiate the spiritual quest. Although ideas and experiencesassociated with spirituality may suggest a character of permanency there is, in fact, agreat deal of variability within this phenomenon.

4. An active engagement with the concerns and tasks of the spiritual questbuilds internal coherence and strength in the individual. Although theoreticalperspectives vary on this issue, this finding is consistent across health-relateddisciplines. Some recent publications have emphasized the importance of therelationship between spirituality and physical, mental, and social health. 7

Coherence and stability in the course of personal development reflect to agreat extent the depth of one's engagement with life experiences and the degree of

motivation invested in facing the challenges that unfold at different periods ofadulthood. This is particularly relevant to the idea of education as transformation. Thebest hopes lie with those institutions that promote a dialogue about what is reallymeaningful to young adults involved in the task of learning, living, and building afuture.

A Life Structure Perspective

The relevance of a psychological developmental perspective on the dimensionof spirituality is based on practical considerations. Although not free from thecommon difficulties of identifying and characterizing this domain within the whole ofhuman experience, it allows for a focused approach to issues derived from studies of

adulthood. The findings bring us as close as can be expected from rigorous butlimited explorations to an understanding of major tasks and issues pertinent to variousperiods of the life cycle. This is actually a significant advantage when we try toestablish an interdisciplinary common ground for dialogue.

In the study of adulthood I use the unifying approach to personality offered bycontemporary developmentalists and clinicians. Among them, Kohut, 8 one of the mostcreative and influential in recent years, focuses on the significance of the search forthe realization of one's most enduring values and ideas, together with cherishedgoals, purposes, and ambitions. He also emphasizes the crucial role played byempathic relationships in the psychological well being of the individual and on one'ssense of continuity through time.

Expanding on the basis of such core self, Levinson's work explores the lifestructure of adulthood. 9 His emphasis is on the self in relation to the world, supported

8/14/2019 East'00


49

by the dynamics of both central and peripheral components such as family, work, andpolitical and social activities, through the various periods of the life cycle. In thatmanner, one sees the whole person rather than compartmentalized elements.

Levinson spent most of his professional life studying narratives of adult menand women. He saw a continuity through different periods and eras of the life cycleand identified general human characteristics for both genders. He clarified, however,that the genders differ with regard to the kind of life circumstances they encounterand the ways in which they progress through each developmental period. Women, forexample, tend to build life structures with "different resources and constraints,external as well as internal.” 10

In this essay I make reference mainly to that large period between lateadolescence and the mid-thirties, which essentially corresponds to the formativeperiod encompassing the years that may be spent in higher education. This is a timewhich produces a fundamental turning point in the life cycle as young adults moveaway from parental homes and fairly well-defined rotes and frames of reference into arather uncharted territory where they begin to build a provisional life structure through

choices in relationships, career orientation and work, organization of their priorities,and even through personal life style. Gradually, as the college years come to an end,those tasks become a definite hallmark of progress. Crises in this developmentalcontext will occur when a person is having great difficulty negotiating the tasks and,due to internal and external factors, cannot build an adequate structure which wouldfacilitate moving ahead. This experience is different in scope and quality from thosecrises associated with problems related to coping with a particular situation or event.

Researchers of adulthood, however, have not generally considered the role ofspirituality per se as a relevant part of the whole. It is necessary to go beyond sometraditional concepts of personality structure and function in order to have a largerpicture of the total human experience.

Fundamental Striving

Early in my work I emphasized a concept of the self as an open system thatincludes the capacity for transcendence as a vital element in the process of meaning-making, I posed critical questions regarding the modem self, which appears to sufferfrom a condition of widespread emptiness and fragmentation that eludes clinicalcategories. Spiritual quests have emerged from narratives and seem to be afundamental striving of human beings that ought to be explored and integrated intonew, broader treatment considerations. Such striving constitutes a basic dimension ofhuman experience with a potential for creating cohesiveness at various levels ofpersonality function.

8/14/2019 East'00


50

In order to develop an idea of what sort of unified experience a person has, Iinvite individuals to glance at the synopsis of a life structure (Figure 1) and consider afew questions:

Fig. 1. PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTAL AXIS@ Andres G. Nino, Ph.D. (after Levinson, 1976/1996)

Creative WorkLearning Occupation Political/SocialTeaching Causes

Friendships SELF-IN RELATION-TO-WORLD Health &Groups Fundamental strivings Life Style

toward meaning/transcendence(spiritual quest)

Marriage Past experienceFamily Faith community

1. What are the most important components of your life (major sources of meaningand satisfaction) at the present time and how are they interrelated?2. What particular events or situations have been the most influential in some of yourcritical decisions, changes, gains and losses?3. Do you have a sense that the balance of your life structure allows for theexpression of your real self'?4. What sort of modifications do you think would be needed for you to have a deepersense of internal coherence, long-term purpose, and meaning?

The Reflective Stance

In my approach, a major emphasis is placed between inquiry and engagement

as a powerful source of motivation that keeps alive the process of meaning makingthrough the various periods of adulthood. Primarily this approach underscores thevalue of inwardness and its relevance within those contexts of living that promote

8/14/2019 East'00


51

detrimental forms of dispersion and fragmentation. In order to encourage thedevelopment of the self, aided by the wisdom of spiritual writers and modernpsychologists and philosophers, 11,12 it is imperative to create a protective zone ofsilence and solitude that provides a favorable environment for personal growth, andwhich in turn may improve the quality of relationships with the outside world.

Throughout adulthood an authentic reflective stance produces a realistic andrecurrent appraisal of one’s life structure, which then allows for modifications uponforms of knowing and relating that regulate a person’s ways of being. Such areflective stance enriches emerging sets priorities, goals, and ideals, helping tosustain a vital motivation in the face of unavoidable failures and temptations to giveup. One's spiritual quest has the potential to sustain the effort to negotiate failures,simultaneously balancing dreams and flights of imagination, and always preserving asense of coherence against chaos.

The spiritual quest can be considered to be an assertion of one' s fundamentalstrivings. Such an activity provides a thread to keep together the ever-changing viewsand interpretations of the surrounding world as a person goes through adulthood. I

have observed that when this is effectively integrated in one's life structure, thespiritual quest becomes a major determinant of resilience, and of physical andemotional health.

A Relational World

Relationships are at the center of one's psychological universe. Someintellectual paradigms have focused too closely upon the individual self at theexpense of providing a fuller and more enriching vision. Women in general havesuffered as a result of such distortion. It is only in the past two decades that thescholarly and consistent work of some female theorists and practitioners has reversedthis trend and made a definitive impact, the relational model proposed at the

Wellesley Stone Center is a major contribution to progress in this area. It emphasizes"the yearning for connection" in contrast to the limited and fragile model of theindependent self. 7,13

The process of a spiritual quest, in this perspective, emphasizes the return tothe self-- to the inmost zone of being, to preserve the self’s cohesiveness andcontinuity while at the same time strengthening the capacity to transcend its ownboundaries in relationship. A person's quest is anchored in that perennial tensionbetween inwardness and the search for an empathic other.

In Search of the Unfailing Other

The task that connects the different periods of adulthood is that oftranscending oneself, gradually establishing a balance of cognitive and affectiveinvestment in response to the other. Everyone experiences the meaning oftranscendence through the quality of the exchanges that take place between people.

8/14/2019 East'00


8/14/2019 East'00


53

have defused or even at times eclipsed the influence of religion, we see moreindividual quests taking place without such attachments to tradition. 15

Beyond Us and Our TimeFrom a developmental perspective, the spiritual quest emphasizes a

fundamental engagement in which the individuals extend toward others thesignificance of their experience. Implied is the adulthood task of reaching out to alarger context beyond the boundaries of personal time and space.

It is, of course, important to be aware of both the potential and problems ofone's own generation, as Beaudoin 16 has described recently while examining his ownspiritual quest. However, it is equally important to stress the fact that eachgeneration's character and journey builds upon the impact of the previous and othergenerations. A person's life structure is played out in the crossroads ofmultigenerational realities. This fact demands mutual interest and respect, awillingness to listen, and a steady effort to maintain forms of continuity and mutualenrichment.

There are two critical aspects from which this matter takes its relevance andurgency:

1. Awareness of a global dimension to our individual quest. Parallel to theinterdependence that underlies relationships in dyads or small intimate groups, thereis a global dimension to the human experience that is especially characteristic of theend of the twentieth century. The concept of "globalization," which in the past oftenhad little effect on one's preoccupation’s, has now become an inescapable reality. Ithas become obvious that the self is embedded in more than just a cultural context,but rather in a global context. In this regard it is critical for each of us to increase ourindividual and communal awareness of the environmental factors that shape people'slife experiences.

Recent psychosocial analysis 17 has pointed out the impact of a number ofmajor factors, from massive and accessible forms of communication to appliedscientific and technological advances, and from inequality in the distribution of wealthand resources to social problems like crime and substance abuse. All of this occurs atthe same time that different cultures interact at close range, bringing their ways ofthought, expression and living into a formidable tug of war. Globalization, more thanany other social phenomenon, has compelled, almost suddenly, different generationsto look at each other and wonder: How do we respond to this predicament? Kung 18 has offered a response with the "global ethics" project, which stands as one of themost concerted and relevant statements of postmodern time.

2. The imperative to cultivate an empathic response with regard to the bigquestions raised by some harsh realities of life. A genuine spiritual quest will thrivethrough engagements beyond oneself and one's safe surroundings. Spiritual quests

8/14/2019 East'00


54

imply movement and transcendence, creating conditions that allow people to buildviable life structures on their own. Rather than complacency and isolation, a questfosters taking a courageous stance vis-à-vis the contrasting realities of wealth andpoverty, the massive urgent problems related to ecological exploitation, politics ofdiscrimination, cultural wars, and the impact of violence in the media.

Such an empathic position can be useful for building common ground for anintergenerational experience of spirituality. In some ways it would also resonate withefforts stemming from a theological foundation, such as Hans Kung's work on theconcept of "global ethics."

Working through the Task

In the past decade there has been an explosion of interest in and awidespread eagerness for spirituality. Ironically, this century, which has seen so muchmaterialism, cruelty, and arrogance on a grand scale, seems to have developed ageneral concern for things that really matter. A certain eagerness for the spiritual hascome to dominate the spirit of this fin de siecle . We have been taken by surprise

when writers preoccupied with the big questions of the human condition are includedin the best-seller lists of major newspapers. On this side of the Atlantic, authors likeThomas Moron and Henry Nouwen have become a rich source of inspiration tocountless people from all walks of life. Narratives of spiritual journeys are publishedwith consistent frequency.

This trend is indicative of the fact that people are willing to engage themselvesand others in the process described in this essay. The task is to help people exploreand cultivate the potential of their quest in a manner that steadily contributes to thegrowth of the whole person.

Deciphering Transcendence

In education, as in therapy, the fundamental task is to work through the issuesin a systematic way, building up through exploration, dialogue, confrontation, andreview. It is important to note that, from a developmental perspective, the process of aspiritual quest, rather than being offset by intellectual work, is actually nourished by it.Intellectual inquiry is another major engagement of the self that is striving for therealization of the inner development of ideals, ambitions, and values. Reasoning,which is central to the dynamics of alt forms of inquiry, plays a crucial role in thegradual testing and correction through which an individual cultivates spiritualconcerns. The challenge here resides in a delicate balancing and coordination thatpermits the transferring and application of findings in different areas of knowledge intoa unified understanding of both self and the world.

Every discipline, in its own way, contributes to the noble pursuit of truth andknowledge. As long as a person is directly involved in the discovery, construction, and

8/14/2019 East'00


55

interpretation of meaning around the subject, there is a potential for raising andresponding to questions of ultimacy. Didactic work can engage the student in aprogressive effort toward deciphering transcendence, that is, searching beyond theaccumulation of data or facts, through the important questions put to the mind byeach discipline, and integrating the results into an overall meaning-making processthat is both relevant to the individual's life and to forming a connection with the worldbeyond.

The divorce between fact and value has always been an impediment in botheducation and psychotherapy. The prevailing trend has been an attempt to avoid anypotential entanglement with subjectivity, which has been seen as standing outside ofthe province of the academy. In recent years, however, there has been a shift in thisposition. A systematic effort is in progress toward working through issues of value inthe curriculum. I have been able to integrate questions of ultimacy into my regularcourses on "Personality and Psychopathology" as the subject matter leads thestudents into inquiry beyond the initial proposition: "Why do we behave the way wedo?" Stump and Murray 19 have published a series that has taken a similar approachthrough various disciplines.

A Mentoring Role

There is a task that is just as important as the transmission of knowledgeabout a particular subject. It is to offer support to individuals in pursuing the importanttask of defining and focusing an early design of their life structure and then to sustainthose persons' motivation to give their life structure adequate expression. This is thearea in which mentors play a critical role. Mentors are those who can provideguidance and can convey the message that we are all engaged in a quest for therealization of our aspirations while caring for the effects on other people's lives. Thisbasic empathy is essential in the arts of both education and healing.

Mentoring requires a great deal of vision, honesty and willingness to engage.Mentoring support is optimally offered toward:

- exploring and working through those questions that establish links with contexts ofsignificance and that are responsive to personal and communal concerns, and

- Integrating discoveries and progress into a unified concept of a well functioning personality. In this manner the individual can reach a realistic measure of success andsatisfaction.

Mentoring helps students to move from fragmented knowledge to a broaderaccomplishment, which Wink and Henson call transcendent wisdom. 20

Conclusion and Future Directions

8/14/2019 East'00


56

Throughout the years of academic learning, young adults constitute a largegroup of people who face "a fundamental turning point in the life-cycle.'' 21 The thesisof this essay is that their central task is to build life structures with a sense of internalcoherence, meaning, and purpose. Both spiritual and intellectual inquiry need to becultivated as a unifying process and an integral part of that task. It is the degree,quality, and balance of activity present, in such a process that has the potential forpersonal transformation and development.

The role that the Education as Transformation Project can play along this linemay be critical. The momentum for a national dialogue and a certain urgency tofollow that dialogue with practical programs has been created. The goals of theProject will be achieved mainly by developing a sustained interest in the academiccommunity. Elsewhere 22 I have offered guidelines derived from my work that can beadopted for implementation through seminar and workshop formats. As a brief review,I will summarize these guidelines here so that they can be utilized by colleges anduniversities that wish to integrate them into their programs and structures.

8/14/2019 East'00


57

1. A Seminar

In a workshop on "A Developmental Perspective on Spirituality" that Ipresented at the Education as Transformation National Gathering in 1998,participating students emphasized the need for an integration of ongoing discussionsabout spirituality into the institutional culture within a safe environment. It is, indeed, ofcritical importance to create a context of reflection, study, and dialogue on the issuesrelated to spiritual quests. I find that the format of a seminar or a course that expandson the basic ideas presented in this essay can be the starting point for a guidedpersonal exploration and exchange.

During my recent two-year appointment as a Visiting Scholar at the WellesleyCenters for Research I developed the syllabus for such a seminar. It is designed tooffer, in twelve sessions, an understanding of the role of spiritual quests in the

process of adult development. It includes an introduction to methods of inquiry typicalof the behavioral sciences. Specifically, those methods which emphasize qualitativedescription and narrative modes of exposition as most adequate for the exploration ofsubjective phenomena, such as those unfolding in the process of the construction ofmeaning in adulthood.

Using both theoretical and applied perspectives, the seminar focuses primarilyon three areas of activity, which I have defined as inwardness, relatedness, andgenerativity. Selected readings help the student to graduall y deepen herunderstanding of the spiritual dimension of personality.

Interested faculty may be invited to participate, presenting views on the topic

from the perspective of their own discipline. The seminar, in this manner, has thepotential to become an inspirational resource, accumulating relevant literature andsystematically incorporating issues and themes uncovered through long-term

8/14/2019 East'00


58

participation in the Education as Transformation Project.

2. A Workshop

In my writing I propose that engagement in the process of a spiritual quest findadequate expression in a life narrative. The format of a workshop is best suited forthat purpose. Participants take their own personal experiences as a narrative text.Students who have participated in such workshops have urged others to explore andshare ideas and experiences about spirituality that allow a vital involvement in life andeducation, and serve as a means for support, sustenance, and survival, offering achance for story-telling, connection, and spiritual discovery.

In addition, participants use a questionnaire and other instruments designed toexplore spiritual quests. The results can be elaborated further through a personalnarrative project as a follow-up. This in-depth working through the issues providesvaluable material, not only for the individual but also for continued research.

Good research, which usually facilitates good teaching and practice, takes itsvital questions from real life and people. In that regard, the participation from youngadults is critical for our understanding of how fundamental strivings and questionsassociated with spiritual quests are being formulated and negotiated by differentgenerations. Further discussion on this point would go beyond the limitations of thisessay but I would like to stress the fact that understanding and interpretinggenerational experiences with regard to spiritual quests is vital to the educationalenterprise as a whole, as well as to civic and political life.

Finally, these initiatives derive largely from my personal involvement in aprofessional role. Working through these formats has become a major focus of mycareer.

Endnotes

1. Spretnak, Charlene. Stages of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age.( New York: Harper: San Francisco, 1997)

2. Torrance, Robert, M. The Spiritual Quest: Transcendence in Myth, Religion, and Science .( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994)

3. Coles, Robert. The Secular Mind . (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999)4. Niño, Andrés G. “Assessment of Spiritual Quests in Clinical Practice.” International Journal of

Psychotherapy, vol 2, n. 2, 1997: 193-212. 5. Jones, C., G. Wainwright and E. Yarnold, eds. The Study of Spirituality (Oxford/New York: Oxford

University Press, 1986)6. Niño, Andrés G op. cit.7. Larson, DB.; Swyers, J.P.; and McCullough, M.E., eds. Scientific Research on Spirituality and Health:

A Consensus Report (Rockville, MD: National Institute for Healthcare Research, 1998).8. Kohut, H, The Restoration of the Self (New York: International Universities Press, 1977).9. Levinson, D. J. "A Conception of Adult Development." American Psychologist, 41 (1) 1986: 3-14.

8/14/2019 East'00


59

10. Levinson. D. J. in collaboration with Judy D. Levinson. The Seasons of a Woman's Life (New York:Alfred B. Knopf, 1996): 36.

11. Taylor, C. ,Sources of the Self : The Making of the Modern Identity (Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1989).

12. Modell, Arnold H. The Private Self (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993).13. Jordan, J.V., A.G. Kaplan. J.B. Miller, L.P. Stiver, and J.L. Stiver, eds. Women's Growth in

Connection (New York: Guilford Press, 1991).

14. Augustine. Confessions (New York: Viking Penguin, 1961): 79.15. Roof, Wade Clark. A Generation of Seekers (New York: Harper, 1998).16. Beaudoin, Tom. Virtual Faith. The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X (San Francisco:

Jossey Bass, 1998).17. Marsella, A.J. "Toward a Global Community Psychology: Meeting the Needs of a Changing World,"

American Psychologist, 53 (12), 1998: 1282-1291.18. Kung, Hans. Yes to a Global Ethic (New York: Crossroad, 1995/96).19. Stump, Eleanor and Michael Murray, eds. Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions (Oxford:

Blackwell, 1999).20. Wink, P. and R. Henson. "Practical and Transcendent Wisdom: Their Nature and Some

Longitudinal Findings." Journal of Adult Development, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1997: l-15.21. Levinson, 1996. op. cit.22. Niño, Andrés G. op. cit.

east'00

Documents