The self-revelation of God through His manifested Presence took place in a variety of natural, cultural and historical spaces. Most importantly it was found in the liturgical communion of His people with Him. This was found in the public worship events, which in the Old Testament took place in the Tabernacle, synagogues and the Temple. This Temple of God, as a spiritual and symbolic space, had always been characterised by the indwelling Presence of God. In the New Testament the role of the Temple changed and the Church as God's community became the space where the believer experienced his/her spirituality. From Jesus Christ came forth His glorious Church that would be the dwelling-place of the Presence of God. The historical development of the Church brought about a diversity of theological and spiritual developments. These developments were always aided by the spaces that were created for spiritual experience and liturgical communion. These spaces included grand basilicas, small stone Churches and natural monastic spaces. In these spaces spirituality was nurtured and aided by liturgical activities, music, art and other aesthetic symbols. With the dawning of the 2lst century the world has changed drastically. The process of post-modernism has changed the way people live and also the way people experience their spirituality. Therefore, the Church has a task to think and plan strategically about the spaces for people to experience spirituality that she creates in this postmodern world. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006

<p> This thesis has been written with the interest and concern for the symbolic meaning of the tale of &ldquo;Beauty and the Beast,&rdquo; as it illustrates a young woman&rsquo;s journey of individuating, ultimately in order to meet with her own animus and true Self. The methodology for writing this thesis is hermeneutic, in that it involves a search for meaning from what has been written about the fairy tale among different texts and films that were created based on the original tale. In this thesis, &ldquo;Beauty and the Beast&rdquo; is analyzed by exploring what has been written about it by Jung, the post-Jungians, and Freudian thinkers. Images or objects of significance in the tale that hold meaning or power for the overall analysis of the tale are included and explained.</p>

This study examines how people who have survived trauma have encountered healing following spiritual experiences. The significance of this research lies in its unique findings, contributing to the body of literature on trauma recovery. Qualitative methodology and thematic analysis were used to explore the research question that guided this study. Six individuals who had survived traumatic events participated in narrative interviews and were asked to tell the story of how their spiritual experiences impacted their healing from trauma. Findings show that these participants‘ spiritual experiences helped them to cultivate a foundation to return to in future moments of challenge, impacted the body‘s healing, and served as a guide. Further research in the field is suggested, including investigating how experiences with Kundalini energy impact trauma recovery, the relationship between spiritual experiences and physical healing, and how people from diverse cultural backgrounds experience trauma recovery in the wake of a spiritual experience. / Graduate

The thesis will explore the idea of feeling Japanese spirituality of Shinto through a contemporary work of art, the animated film My Neighbour Totoro (1988). The idea of a felt spirituality revolves around Shinto’s notion of kami, divine entities whose existence becomes manifest through one’s feeling and perception to awe-inspiring things of the natural world and the aesthetic notion of aware, an immediate felt emotional response that coincides as the response/reaction when coming into contact with awe-inspiring things. This thesis conceives aware to be the meeting point in which the human and kami world converge, a Shinto concept known as shinjin-g itsu, or the meeting of the human spirit with kami. This thesis will uncover themes of Shinto spirituality through a close reading of the functionality of specific components of the film: music, setting, characters, character interactions, and symbolism. Themes such as nature, community, symbolism and the role of aesthetics within the film will be discussed to showcase the idea of a spiritual encounter. It is a spiritual encounter/meeting that is facilitated through the aesthetics and components of the film which elicits a response of aware from the viewer. / Graduate / 0322 / 0332 / 0900 / scarbul@gmail.com

<p> The doctoral project was developed to implement a 14-week program of the intentional practice of the spiritual disciplines within the leadership of Calvary Chapel Chelmsford. A curriculum was designed to encourage the use of the spiritual disciplines, thereby increasing spiritual growth in the lives of the leaders. </p><p> Chapter 1 details a ministry problem faced by Calvary Chapel Chelmsford that prompted the development of the program to intentionally practice the spiritual disciplines. It develops the research author's context of ministry, hypothesis, scope of the problem, and theological foundations. </p><p> Chapter 2 provides a literature review of works that are related to the field of inquiry. It examines the types of spiritual disciplines, the practice of the spiritual disciplines, and the types of Christian spirituality. It reviews other scholarly studies in the field of the practicing spiritual disciplines. </p><p> Chapter 3 sets forth the research methodology utilized in approaching the project, including the development of the spiritual disciplines program material, the purpose and goals of the assessment instrument, the method of their administration, and the procedures for data collection. </p><p> Chapter 4 presents the results of the accumulated data and the analysis of the data. Details confirming the project hypothesis are presented. The experience of five participants is delineated, and common experiences are isolated and detailed. The chapter concludes with a summary and interpretation of the results of the study. </p><p> Chapter 5 presents the research author's observations and examines the root cause of the problem. The research author provides recommendations for those who desire to conduct a similar project. The research author concludes by citing the benefits of the program for other churches in a New England context.</p>

This thesis interrogates the interaction between feminist utopianism and altered states of consciousness in fiction from 1970 onwards. The thesis develops further both Lyman Tower Sargent's definition of utopianism as "social dreaming" and Tom Moylan's understanding of critical utopia. It also develops and expands Lucy Sargisson's definition of feminist utopianism as subversive, fluid, ambiguous and committed to ongoing personal and social transformation. Utopianism must challenge society's norms and values, offering both social critique and social vision. I argue throughout this work that transforming individual consciousness is a vital step towards social change. The thesis focuses on four altered states of consciousness: madness, dreaming, spirituality and telepathy. These states are situated within a theoretical context, and are then explicated further through close literary analysis of feminist utopian literature. Altered states offer a metaphor for the need to think differently, and highlight the importance of looking at society in new and alternative ways. In a significant number of feminist utopian texts, utopia is accessed through a dream or a vision, through spiritual meditation, telepathy, or a state of "madness". Within these texts, altered states are not only used as a means of accessing utopia but are also represented within the narrative as a means of maintaining or sustaining the utopian vision. Additionally, I show that altered states refers to the place of utopia, which is altered, or different to, contemporary society. The reader may also enter into an altered state through the process of reading the text, as their beliefs and assumptions about "the way things are" are challenged, denaturalised and subverted.

<p> Researchers have examined reverie and the numinous autonomously; however concomitant studies on reverie and the numinous are nonexistent. Moreover, no research in depth psychotherapy explores reverie or the numinous as essential experiences associated with early childhood psychospiritual awareness. This heuristic investigation examines the experience of reverie as it can lead to the numinous in the context of Child Centered Play Therapy (CCPT). Case history as arts based data conceptualizes this premise. Five nonactive child case histories give an initial glimpse into the researcher's clinical experience of reverie as it can lead to the numinous. </p><p> Reverie is defined as a daydream, and numinous is viewed as an ethereal attribute given to one's personal experience of phenomena. Both descriptions are universal depictions. The researcher includes personal perspective through autobiographical accounts of early childhood experiences and through reflections of reverie as it can lead to the numinous in adulthood. In heuristic inquiry, understanding the researcher's internal frame of reference is essential to understanding the research premise and the unique explorative research process. </p><p> Overall, this research serves as a way to include children and their unique depth psychotherapeutic processes. Understanding how children access unconscious material may help depth psychologists to understand what informs early childhood psychospiritual awareness. </p><p> Ultimately, children can and do access psychological material that can and do lead to transformation and healing at a deep level. Children's psychotherapeutic processes manifest differently and sometimes emanate from a place of reverie; what manifests from those soulful reveries sometimes take on a numinous quality. </p><p> This initial heuristic investigation on reverie as it can lead to the numinous is exploratory in nature and is not intended to be conclusive. More research is likely needed to continue to expand on this dissertation's premise. </p><p> Key words: case history, child centered play therapy, daydream, heuristic, numinous, psychospiritual, reverie, Sol <i>niger.</i></p>

No description available.

<p> This study was conducted to contribute a qualitative inquiry regarding the role of teachers in the education of children who were born into the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty (ITP) cycle in Latin America. Education is key to help students pull themselves out of poverty and yet the drop-out rates in primary school among children born into poverty in Latin America remains high. The purpose of the case study was to discover and describe how teachers can foster agency in students born into poverty. Agency is ability to initiate and carry out activities on one's own. The research focused on teachers' beliefs and assumptions about their students, the teachers' methodologies, the students' expressions of agency, and the construction of a Christian identity in the students. </p><p> Data were collected through focus groups interviews with 3^rd and 4^th grade students, teacher interviews, and observations in a Christian elementary school affiliated with Latin America ChildCare and Fundaci&oacute;n PIEDAD located in a zone of social vulnerability in San Jos&eacute;, Costa Rica. </p><p> Four practices within the educational community emerged from the data as promoting agency within students: (a) the use of adaptive constructivism techniques in education, (b) a focus on agency in the identity development of the students, (c) the use of narrative for meaning making in the lives of the students, and (d) the fostering of an experiential spirituality among the students, teachers, and staff. </p><p> Recommendations for further research include longitudinal studies of students born into poverty, the role of agency in fostering school retention in secondary school, and studies of intrinsic motivations of students born into poverty.</p>

<p> The purposes of this study were to: (1) examine the use of religious/spiritual coping by emerging adults coping with perceived life stressors; (2) assess the relationship between positive and negative forms of religious coping, and overall religious/spiritual coping with perceived stress; and (3) identify the specific religious/spiritual coping behaviors used by emerging adults when in times of perceived stress. The study analyzed self-report data collected from 715 emerging adults from a diverse undergraduate public university in California. Frequency analysis indicated that emerging adults commonly use prayer for self and others, count their blessings, and try not to sin when under moments of stress. Additionally, many of the respondents reported frequently seeking G-d's love and care, asking for forgiveness for sins, and meaning making as a means of coping with stress. Zero-order correlations revealed a positive and significant relationship between negative religious coping and perceived stress. Furthermore, when comparing differences between religious views (conflicted, secure, doubting, seeking, and not interested) t-test results found decreased use of religious coping, spiritual coping and positive religious coping for those who endorsed "conflicted" religious views. Conversely, those who indicated feeling "secure" reported higher use of religious coping, spiritual coping, and positive religious coping. Emerging adults who identified themselves as "doubting" were less likely to use of religious coping, spiritual coping, and positive religious coping and reported greater use of negative religious coping. "Seeking" emerging adults, identified using less spiritual coping. Finally, those who endorsed "not interested" reported less use of religious coping, spiritual coping, and positive and negative religious coping. Clinical implications for emerging adults and clinicians are discussed.</p>