<p> What if it was possible to attain enlightenment, or union with God, in the physical body? What if instead of using meditation or prayer to merely transcend embodied existence, practitioners were to transform the experience of their body in order to bring a sense of transcendence into their very physicality and the world itself? These questions are timely. There is much dialogue around the relationship of enlightenment, or union with God, and the body. Using a hermeneutic methodology, this study first explores 8 spiritual concepts (in 8 different spiritual traditions) that refer to subtle spiritual phenomena occurring in the body. These phenomena are alternatively described as a liquid, oil, nectar, or water that penetrates the body, and hypothesized to relate to consciousness as experienced through somatic awareness or awareness occupying the body. These concepts and traditions are as follows: <i>amata</i> (and rapture and pleasure) in Theravada Buddhism, <i>amr&dotbelow;ita </i> in Vajray&amacr;na Buddhism according to the Nyingma and Geluk school, <i> amr&dotbelow;ita</i> in Hinduism according to Hat&dotbelow;ha Yoga, <i> amr&dotbelow;ita</i> in neo-Advaita Ved&amacr;nta, "the descending force" in &Sacute;ri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga, the "water of life" in Christianity according to St. Teresa of Avila, <i>shefa</i> in Judaism according to the <i>Zohar,</i> and "presence" in A. H. Almaas' Diamond Approach. The first part of the study uses canonical texts and authoritative commentaries for hermeneutical analysis. Subsequently, by adopting a comparative methodological approach, the second part compares and contrasts the findings to understand the differences, similarities, and role of the experiences to which these 8 concepts refer in relation to the body and enlightenment, or union with God, as these spiritual goals are understood by each tradition.</p><p>

<p> Pargament and Sweeney (2011) found that when spiritual coping is applied in healing from trauma, the elements of faith and spirituality can bring about feelings of peace, comfort, hope, and joy. The purpose of this research was to explore how spiritual coping following a trauma may offer positive changes in a person&rsquo;s existential, spiritual, religious, and psychological life (Castella &amp; Simmonds, 2013). This research study implemented the latest research for spiritual coping for trauma survivors into a 2-day psychoeducational program with experiential exercises that taught 10 participants effective spiritual coping constructs and techniques. </p><p> The research was conducted in three parts: 1) create a workshop based on the literature review, 2) provide the workshop to interested individuals who met the criteria for the research study, 3) evaluate the workshop using the feedback provided by participants. The researcher used a mixed methods study using quantitative and qualitative methods: 1) 20-item surveys following each module and 2) 20-minute focus group at the conclusion of the workshop. Surveys were analyzed using a quantitative analysis and comparison of percentages. The focus group was analyzed using a qualitative thematic analysis highlighting the main themes. </p><p> Six modules were created for the workshop using program development: 1) relational trauma and spirituality, 2) spiritual meaning-making, 3) prayer and meditation, 4) hope and happiness, 5) finding meaning through suffering, and 6) integrating spirituality into trauma recovery. Through PAR, participants indicated the following conclusions: 1) addressing spirituality in a group setting highlights the ways spirituality can be a source for human connectedness, self-awareness, strength, and resilience and 2) by utilizing the spiritual coping curriculum participants learned that spirituality can be a healing source by providing opportunities for meaning-making, transformative goals, and post-traumatic growth. </p><p> This research study contributes to understanding of the intersection of spiritual coping and trauma recovery in the field of psychology. Spiritual concerns should be included as a part of treatment planning for trauma survivors (Smith, 2004). More work needs to be done to help incorporate spirituality into mainstream mental health care. Further research should be done to identify the aspects of how spirituality that should be incorporated in trauma care. More research needs to be done to find out how this spiritual coping program may be effective for other clinical populations.</p><p>

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

<p> This thesis explores the healing effects of surrender to and trust in the alchemical nature of the psyche to produce psychospiritual transformation toward wholeness and wellbeing. Through alchemical hermeneutic, heuristic, and intuitive methodologies the research explores healing outcomes of merging with the divine through a relationship with a guru, consciously being in a love relationship, and engaging with astrology as alchemical processes that help to integrate unconscious content into consciousness. The author observes the alchemical process in the merging of heaven and earth, or cosmos and psyche, as it weaves through her own life. She tracks the alchemy through which an interpersonal love relationship and encounters with the guru Mata Amritanandamayi produced both physical and emotional healing. The thesis also explores the psychotherapeutic use of astrology and suggests ways to integrate experiences of the divine, interpersonal love, and one's astrological chart into psychotherapy to support healing and movement toward wholeness.</p><p>

<p> This thesis explores the psychotherapeutic value of working with the archetypal energies of two goddesses from the Hindu pantheon, Saraswati and Lakshmi. Considering that the field of psychotherapy stands on a Eurocentric tradition and that there is a concomitant need for therapists to be culturally sensitive and inclusive, this is significant and worthy of inquiry. This thesis asks what benefit working with Saraswati and Lakshmi would have for clients, as well as what their inclusion would mean for the field of psychotherapy as a whole. A qualitative approach is married with both hermeneutic and heuristic methodology in order to plumb the possibility that constellating Saraswati facilitates the cultivation of a discerning observing ego, whereas invoking Lakshmi supports the scaffolding of a robust sense of self-esteem. </p><p>

<p> The goal of this study was to explore the connection between authentic leadership, spirituality, and human development theory to determine if spirituality contributes to the emergence or formation of an authentic leadership identity. An interdisciplinary research approach was conducted by reviewing literature on authentic leadership, spirituality, and human development. A sequential explanatory mixed method design was used to collect and analyze the personal beliefs and life experiences of individuals who were nominated as authentic leaders. Sixty-one participants completed a questionnaire and a subset of eleven participants completed semi-structured interviews. </p><p> Quantitative findings identified that nearly 94% of participants considered themselves to be spiritual (<i>n</i> = 57). Most participants (90%) believe that spirituality influences their beliefs about leadership and their behaviors as leaders (<i>n</i> = 55). Similarly, most participants (90%) affirmed that their spirituality influences their authenticity and self-awareness as a leader (<i>n</i> = 55). Qualitative findings from semi-structured interviews identified that spirituality, or spiritual influences, experienced during the formative years, influenced participants&rsquo; values and beliefs, defined their principles and ethics, and provided a framework for how to live and behave. For most participants, these values and beliefs were informed by religious parents and/or a religious upbringing. When a participant did not reference a religious parent or religious upbringing, a sense of God, or higher power, or a strong sense of service was acknowledged instead. Findings also credit spirituality, or the belief in a higher power or God with having encouraged a participants&rsquo; journey or purpose. Participants acknowledged that spirituality has helped and continues to help define who they are, who they want to be, and how they want to live and work. Based on these findings, this study offers evidence that values and beliefs link spirituality to the emergence of an authentic leadership identity. While an individual&rsquo;s identity continues to be shaped and influenced across a person&rsquo;s lifespan, core values which influenced their emergence as an authentic leader were established during the early formative years, informed by parental and spiritual (religious) influences. As such, spirituality may be a mediating variable which influences the emergence of authentic leadership identity, as well as, encourages a sense of purpose, life-direction, and/or self-actualization.</p><p>

This essay, accompanied by the first full English translation of the Vajramala or Vajra Rosary, one of the explanatory Tantras of the Buddhist Guhyasamaja, or Secret Community, Tantric system, and a partial translation of Alamkakalasa's Commentary, sets out a novel hermeneutic method by which twenty-first century scholars of religion might approach the interpretation of the Tantra and other texts.

This dissertation claims that Fenelon's political theory is ontologically instead of epistemologically based. His political theory is a moral theory of civic virtue. The ontological focus places the emphasis of his theory on the question of why and how individuals relate and contribute to civic society. This means that inner atonement of independency and dependency is a key to civic society and determination of free will, a connection Rousseau made at a later date. Fenelon does not approach this question from the standpoint of duty or obligation. He claims that the goodness of human nature has the potential of unselfish civic virtue. This goodness is perfected when the motives of action do not end in the self. It is the role of civic education, particularly through the example of words and deeds of those who hold political authority, to inculcate unselfishness. The viability and flourishing of civic society depend upon character development toward unselfishness. Because unselfish members do what they should because they want to do it, there is harmony between the individual and his tendency toward association. There is personal ownership of consciousness and action toward the well being of others. Fenelon's political theory is based on the principle of disinterestedness, a theological term with a rich history in Christian contemplative mysticism. Disinterestedness refers to detachment from selfish interest in sense based, emotional, or temporal acquisitiveness in favor seeking the welfare of others. Indifference to a person's actions stems from his motives. For Fenelon, love is the will's determining motive toward action. Motives vary on a spectrum from interest that is mercenary, or selfish, to that which is purely unselfish. All humans are capable of perfectibility toward unselfishness during temporal life, and social improvement is possible. Fenelon's concept of love provides an alternative to the seventeenth century Jansenist focus on human corruptibility, although Fenelon concedes the influences of social corruption. His concept of disinterestedness brought to a head the question of whether happiness has anything to do with interest. Because he maintains that personal happiness, satisfaction of desire, and utility are not factors in the concept of interest, he detaches happiness from the motive of ethical action. Fenelon's theory of property is a primary example of disinterestedness in his political theory. Fenelon's voluntaristic theory of free will is also crucial to his moral and political thought. Unfettered will determines itself with the impressions of reason, senses, emotions, and experience with that which incorporates all being, Infinite Goodness. Fenelon maintains the Cartesian distinction between the mind and the body. He also maintains Descartes's distinction between la pensa and la volonta. However, Fenelon expands Descartes's concept of will by incorporating influences of Christian contemplative mysticism. Here, Fenelon shifts from epistemology to ontology. The primary source of experience in the will is ontological and is not limited by what reason can ascertain about infinity. Morality stems from the fact that experience is relational. Good will is what is most perfect in man, and the will can experience its goodness only when it is creative and free of encumbrance, including limits of reason. The basis of the morally good will is ontological. The idea of union as Infinite Goodness is the basis of Fenelon's system of ethics One of the goals of this dissertation is to explain the role of language and rhetoric in Fenelon's theology and politics of virtue. Because moral value and inspiration are integral parts of phenomenological being, persuasiveness has a role in inculcating the spirit of association. Through rhetoric, persuasiveness has a vital role in communication within the polis. Rhetorical language is the means of communication among political beings. When moral value is identified as caring for others, rhetoric is the language of civic virtue and education. Civic education of disinterested virtue beckons individuals to bond unselfishly This dissertation uniquely provides an ontological explanation that connects the dots between Fenelon's metaphysics, theology, moral theory, and political theory. It also provides a strong foundation for further research.

<p> Recent accounts of the history of Christian theology tend to neglect material concerning widows in antiquity and their contribution to Christian discipleship. In this dissertation I would like to offer a corrective along the lines of studying the contribution of widows in Jewish and Christian antiquity to the Catholic tradition. In particular, I contend that the Jewish roots of the widows&rsquo; contribution to Christian theology is also overlooked. The idea of the widow as an &ldquo;altar of God,&rdquo; which emerges in early Church literature, requires an understanding of the history of widows and the altar in Jewish and Christian antiquity. </p><p> What can be gleaned from mentions of widows, especially the enrolled widows, in the early Church? Firstly, enrolled widows in the early Church had historical precedents in the Old Testament that are sometimes overlooked by scholars, particularly in the omission of the Old Testament widow Judith. Secondly, the altar in Jewish and early Christian antiquity is significant; the altar has many functions and nuances of meaning, which are essential to understand the motif of the widow as the altar of God. Thirdly, these widows in the early Church offer a challenging Christian <i>ethos</i>, which derives from their good works and from a rootedness in ascetic practices that comprise a whole way of life for Christian discipleship. </p><p> By and large, extant material on the order of widows dwindles after the fourth century A.D. The history of widows in Jewish and Christian antiquity can inform recent endeavors in the Church to revitalize the ancient vocation of widowhood, and that of belonging to an order of widows. This dissertation proposes to trace the trajectory of the contribution of widows in antiquity to Catholic theology. Moreover, by exploring what the early Church meant when it referred to the widow as the &ldquo;altar of God,&rdquo; especially in light of the altar&rsquo;s many functions, I hope to shed light on an ancient and little studied practice in the Church. I will then show how this study of ancient Christian widows can inform two recent endeavors in the United States to renew the order of widows.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation utilizes Merleau-Ponty&rsquo;s theory of the Flesh and Jung&rsquo;s theory of self-realization as a way to integrate the gained understanding into the current approach of psychotherapy as an altered attitude for the treatment of the psyche. The theories of Flesh and self-realization are used to approach a fundamental drive that leads to pathologies and wider consciousness (Merleau-Ponty, 2012; Jung, 1928/1977). This allows for the treatment of the psyche in consideration of this natural drive that enables the client&rsquo;s transformation toward wholeness through the individuation process (Jung, 1959/1969, 1928/1977, 1951/1978). The Flesh is described by Merleau-Ponty as an elemental general manner of &ldquo;being&rdquo; (Merleau-Ponty, 1968), while self-realization is described by Jung as wholeness. This philosophic hermeneutic research recognizes the importance of gaining greater understanding of the phenomenon of self-realization. Merleau-Ponty and Jung understood the significance that opposites and their relationship with one another play in this developmental process, that is, reversibility and tension of opposites (Merleau-Ponty, 2012; Jung, 1928/1977). Jung&rsquo;s depth psychological and Merleau-Ponty&rsquo;s phenomenological understanding of the symbol&rsquo;s capacity synthesize the opposites, thereby widening consciousness ultimately to self-realization are presented. </p><p>