Sacred practices in highly religious families: Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim perspectives

Quantitative research examining linkages between family relationships and religious experience has increased substantially in recent years. However, related qualitative research, including research that examines the processes and meanings behind recurring religion-family correlations, remains scant. To address this paucity, a racially diverse sample (N = 24) of married, highly religious Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim parents of school-aged children were interviewed regarding the importance of religious family interactions, rituals, and practices in their families. Mothers and fathers discussed several religious practices that were meaningful to them and explained why these practices were meaningful. Parents also identified costs and challenges associated with these practices. Interview data are presented in connection with three themes: (1) "practicing [and parenting] what you preach," (2) religious practices, family connection, and family communion, and (3) costs of family religious practices. The importance of family clinicians and researchers attending to the influence of religious practice in the lives of highly religious individuals and families is discussed.     

Sacred illness: exploring transpersonal aspects in physical affliction and the role of the body in spiritual development

This paper investigates the occurrence of somatic involvement in spiritual development by exploring transpersonal dimensions of physical illness. Using semi-structured interviews and the qualitative method of heuristic inquiry, the transpersonal experiences of seven people with long-term health conditions are reported. Results expand on current literature by revealing that a spiritual perspective in illness can extend much beyond being a coping mechanism into profound experiences of self-transformation and healing, and by illustrating that the body can be intimately involved in the spiritual process. Participants considered the transpersonal dimension to be central to their experiences and as such understood their physical challenge as a state of potency wherein healing and embodiment of transpersonal influences were inextricably linked. Implications are that the body merits our acknowledgement as an integral part of a greater reality of being, and therefore needs to be fully included in the development of an embodied, holistic, and participatory spirituality.     

Spiritual pain: a brief overview and an initial response within the Christian tradition

The author notes that spiritual pain is widespread, both within individuals and society. Drawing on personal experiences and a literature survey, he offers an overview of current work on spiritual pain. As distinct from palliative caregivers, he suggests that spiritual pain can be noticed, but is difficult to define. Drawing on some of the Church's spiritual masters, the author offers a broad typology for spiritual pain, claiming that current methods for attending to spiritual pain are too complex to be useful. He therefore offers, and briefly explores, the image of retreat for attending to spiritual pain--compassionate hospitality, tempered by a form of "tough love" that enables the retreatAnt to embrace, welcome, and dialogue with pain. He suggests that essential features within such an image include an experience of support; a safe and sacred space, a sense of freedom; appropriate expressions of reassurance, and opportunities for forgiveness and reconciliation.     

Tsunami and ghost stories in Thailand: exploring the psychology of ghosts and religious rituals within the context of Thai Buddhism

The post-tsunami ghost phenomena in Thailand may be understood, in Jungian terms, as an expression of the autonomous complex of the collective psyche resulting from traumatic loss. Religious rituals, as in the context of Thai Buddhism, provide an alternative method of dealing with grief, and hence they affirm the place of religious practices in the overall psychological well-being of people from various cultural backgrounds.