Thesis (M. Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-48).

<p> The present study examined the impact of student involvement, attachment anxiety, attachment avoidant, and spiritual well-being on grade point average, self-esteem, and life satisfaction of college students at a large public university. Two hundred and sixteen students, over the age of eighteen, completed the anonymous online survey. Consistent with previous research, the current study found that spiritual well-being was a significant predictor of student self-esteem and life satisfaction, but was not a significant predictor of grade point average (GPA). Results indicated that attachment anxiety was a significant predictor of self-esteem and life-satisfaction; however, attachment avoidance was not found to be a significant predictor of GPA, self-esteem, or life satisfaction. While student involvement was not a significant predictor, significant differences were found between students who identified as a member of a fraternity and sorority and those who were not. In addition, correlations were found between self-esteem and life satisfaction. The current findings suggest that spiritual well-being and attachment style play an integral role in the development of self-esteem and life satisfaction in college students.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to locate a potential funding source and write a grant proposal to fund a mindfulness-based therapy program, entitled Coping through Mindfulness and Spirituality, for adults experiencing depression at Alma Family Services in Los Angeles County, California. A literature review was conducted to examine topics related to mindfulness and spirituality and their usefulness in coping with symptoms of depression. The purpose of the proposed program was to decrease depressive symptoms using Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). The grant was written to the Weingart Foundation. The actual submission or funding for this grant proposal was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.</p>

<p> While progress towards advancing women to private college and university presidencies now stands at 27.3% (Gagliardi, Espinosa, Turk, &amp; Taylor, 2017), more needs to be done to encourage women to pursue these top leadership positions. This study's purpose was to more fully describe the relationship between the inner lives/spiritual practices of current female private college and university presidents and their leadership. This study may serve to explicate the connection hypothesized by Fry (2008) in his Spiritual Leadership Theory between inner life/spiritual practices of spiritual leaders and the spiritual leadership components of hope/faith, vision, and altruistic love. This study may also provide insight on how spiritual practices support successful presidencies. The research design was a transpersonal phenomenological study using intuitive inquiry methods as developed by Anderson (2011), with roots in Moustakas's (1990) heuristic research and feminist approaches. It features a five-cycle hermeneutical process. The methodology included purposively sampling current female college and university presidents for semi-structured interviews. Intuitive inquiry includes the discernment of preliminary lenses held by the researcher regarding the topic and revised lenses developed during the analysis of the data (Anderson, 2011). Preliminary lenses included <i>intimacy, alignment, immediacy, being present,</i> and <i>resilience.</i> Of the preliminary lenses, all were included in the final presentation of lenses. One, <i>alignment,</i> was unchanged in its definition, while <i> intimacy, immediacy, being present,</i> and <i>resilience</i> were revised. Three new lenses emerged from the Cycle Four process: <i> authentic calling, calling to members,</i> and <i>formation. </i> Linkages between the lenses were also identified and explained in Cycle Five. The Cycle Three findings identified eight overarching themes and 23 related categories of meaning in the data. Theoretical implications of the study confirm the hypothesized relationship in Fry's (2008) Spiritual Leadership Model between spiritual practices and altruistic love. Less evidence was apparent to support hypothesized connections between spiritual practices and hope/faith or hope/faith to vision. Spiritual practices did impact the development of vision for participants working to shift attention to firmer missional and financial footing. The relationships affecting followers' Spiritual Well-Being were also confirmed through the connections evidenced between vision and calling and between altruistic love and membership.</p><p>

<p> This somatic, depth psychological, intuitive inquiry explores the transformative and healing effects of the process of remembrance of blood ancestors in body, heart and mind as the Maya, the researcher&rsquo;s paternal ancestors, understand na&rsquo;b&rsquo;al, blood memory, and the way ancestors are brought into present, living relationship through remembrance of ancestral story, culture, and ceremony. This study, based on personal experience, addresses the current lack of depth psychological research and understanding of the healing process of historical trauma within modern indigenous people who have grown up disconnected from the culture of their heritage. Methods used include data collection through journal entries, data analysis through the summary of somatic, relational, visionary, natural and synchronistic changes, and both intuitive and standard thematic analysis. Findings include changes consistent with a shamanic healing journey resulting in an expanded sense of consciousness, spirit and ancestor communication, and an overall increased sense of purpose, wholeness, and wellness. The study compares and contrasts indigenous with depth psychological understandings of ancestors, spirits, space and time, ceremony, balance, and healing. While many commonalities are found, the study suggests that depth psychological language and theory fall short in their ability to fully explain indigenous spiritual experiences. The study also illuminates the potential dangers of assuming that all cultures are the universal heritage of humanity. Keywords: Maya, Ancestors, Historical Trauma, Native American, Popol Vuh, Depth Psychology, Hero Twins, Lady Blood, Rilaj Mam</p><p>

<p> In searching for restorative stories that elevate understanding and engender the capacity for seeing through the cultural chaos and confusion of modern times, this dissertation turns to Egypt at the beginning of its recorded history, approximately 3100 BCE. The ancient Egyptians faced many of the same challenges facing the world today, and they learned to weather them by creating a resilient cultural model that endured cycles of growth and decline. Their culture perpetuated while adapting and transforming. In their surviving records are some of their rituals, practices, and beliefs that provide much-needed perspectives, observations, and stories that contributed to their own renewal and capacity to regenerate their culture. </p><p> The mythological roots of renewal in ancient Egypt reveals one deity in particular who embodies the capacity to harmonize and balance the opposites&mdash;Ma&lsquo;at. She is central to the act of fostering daily reciprocal relationship and maintaining the flow of energy between the divine and the human realms. She is both the daughter of the solar god Re and his source of life. She is the embodiment of the cosmic patterns and natural laws. She is the incarnation of the offerings to the gods and their reciprocal response flowing back to the human realm. She governs the tides of justice, truth, balance, and harmony. </p><p> The collective psyche&rsquo;s inherent capacity for renewal and resilience is revealed through Ma&lsquo;at&rsquo;s story and prominence in Egyptian history. Their images and literature reveal that in the presence of Ma&lsquo;at, it is possible for human consciousness to discover the transcendent space where opposites reconcile to initiate new harmony, create unity, and guide all things to their rightful place. Balancing and harmonizing any duality creates a continuous circulation of energy in the psyche. This circulation has the potential to birth a conscious, ethical heart, an awakened heart which&mdash;as these ancient people would say&mdash;directs our saying and our doing. By recognizing Ma&lsquo;at&rsquo;s essential characteristics, understanding her relationship with her fellow deities, and identifying her foundational role within the ancient Egyptian civilization it is possible to participate in the awakening of Ma&lsquo;at&rsquo;s roots of renewal in our own times.</p><p>

There are certain texts and certain ways of writing which when we encounter, we feel we are touching the edge of mystery. What obtains in such texts is the revelation of spirit, the resonance of the holy. The creation of texts that capture and display this sense is an artistic capability. To read receptively in a manner that uncovers this sense of spirit is also an artistic capability. These two approaches to writing and reading form the background of this study. Together they describe what is identified in the study as textual spirituality. The foreground of the study is a consideration of the unique aspects of the textual approach to spirituality with a view to how it can be cultivated and recognized in the academy and so contribute to the clearer organizing of spirituality as a discipline. There are three parts to the study. Part One deals with the challenges of understanding and studying spirituality and spirituality texts in general. It then explores, specifically, the philosophical bases and rationale forwriting spirituality texts as a mode of communicating the sense of spirit. Part Two of the study is demonstrative. It displays an example of the writing of an original spirituality text using the frameworks of the poetic, the narrative and the intuitive. Part Three, following, is largely concerned with those approaches to reading that facilitate the garnering of the sense of spirit from written texts. It then revisits the question of the disciplinary identity of textual spirituality and how it may have a cogent contribution in the academy. Overall, the study is an argument for the possibility of the artistic inscription and transcription of spirit through the agency of written texts. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

<p> The author presents conflict resolution as a problem in ministry for the 10 churches within the G. R.A.C.E. INC. organization that are scattered in various parts of the country. He created an intervention, which consists of pre and post evaluation after Leadership Building Blocks Seminar has been taught and implemented. The author recruited 20 participants from the churches. He used qualitative method to measure the pre and post interviews. He interviewed the 20 participants and searched for indicators of effective conflict resolution based on the Leadership Building Blocks Seminar criteria of Quality A, B, and C. The author discovered that after the training, the participants were more equipped to resolve conflict peacefully.</p><p>

No description available.

<p> In 2016, over 277,000 pilgrims walked the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Of that number, 53,704 walked the Camino in August of that year. Very few of those pilgrims &ndash; 400 &ndash; came from Caribbean countries. Two of them were from Jamaica. I was one of them. This first-person Gadamerian hermeneutic phenomenological study interprets a Jamaican man&rsquo;s meaning-making before, during, and after walking the Camino pilgrimage. In the study, I explored meaning-making through a constructive-developmental lens. I explained how I made meaning, as a border-dweller, or as someone who lives in-between worlds and in the borderlands. I described and interpreted my spiritual-awakening experiences and transition. I conducted this study, partly, to add the voice of an Afro-Caribbean person to the bodies of literature on development of meaning-making and spiritual-awakening experiences. Data for the study consisted of journal entries, blog posts, and photographs that I wrote, published, and took before, during, and after my Camino pilgrimage. The results from the study revealed what I made meaning of, the meanings I made, and how I expressed those meanings. Findings from the study &ndash; Camino as metaphor, Being In-Limbo-land, Self in transition, and Trans-Afro spiritualization &ndash; could help Afro-Caribbean people validate their spiritual experiences. They could also inform professionals, such as educators, leaders, and developmental coaches, and parents about efficacious ways of supporting and serving Afro-Caribbean people.</p><p>