Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to analyze through the RSTM typological model the location of the realm of spirituality and assess its character. The basic assumption of this model is that both religiosity and secularity are types of search for meaning. They are parallel, equivalent entities and constructs, and not opposites. Both contain a spiritual aspect which is “located” in a different place within the human capacity. Spirituality in this regard is engaged with the loftier functional side of life.
Spirituality is an expression of human longing to approach a supreme entity or power situated beyond human control and grasp, thereby expressing the existential uniqueness of humans our animals. Spirituality is realized in abstract aspects of human life that constitute part of one’s existential secular or religious being. The formal character of human spirituality is derived from one’s mode of existence (“having” or “being”) and the structure of one’s religious or secular world (heritable or conceptual). As such, human spirituality has two fundamental patterns of manifestation: Instrumental and existential.
In the heritable dimension, spirituality is an occasional, fleeting event (associated with one parameter – emotional transcendence), whereas in the conceptual dimension, spirituality is a central, permanent, immanent component of existence, constituting part of one’s definition of self (associated with four parameters – explorative, literacy, autonomy and autarchic legitimacy). Delineation of these parameters and determination of their location render spirituality a concrete, measurable and quantifiable value.
The basic assumption of this model is that both religiosity and secularity are types of search for meaning. They are parallel, equivalent entities and constructs, and not opposites. Both contain a spiritual aspect which is “located” in a different place within the human capacity. Spirituality in this regard is engaged with the loftier functional side of life.
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Gross, Z. (2009). A Quest for the Realm of Spirituality. In: de Souza, M., Francis, L.J., O’Higgins-Norman, J., Scott, D. (eds) International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9018-9_30
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