The poet’s school and the parrot’s cage: the educational spirituality of Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Asia’s first Nobel laureate, was a man of myriad gifts, but he sought to articulate a single global vision. He believed that for our flourishing we must strive towards ‘the other and the beyond’. In so doing we discover that, as we seek, we are ourselves being sought. Tagore believed that we find our meaning and fulfilment relationally; in our relationships one with another, to be sure, but fundamentally in our kinship with all that is. We must be liberated, Tagore believed, from the bounds of our separateness and so discover a wholeness larger than our individual well‐being. That wholeness is ultimately realised in our union with the eternal Divine Spirit. In the establishment of his ‘poet’s school’ at Shantiniketan Tagore sought to make his ideals come true. This paper will focus on Tagore’s understanding of childhood and on the pattern of education by which, he believed, the spirit of the child may be nurtured. It will also enter a plea that we return to someone whose neglect in the West has been much to its loss.     

Divine Encounter

“Divine Encounter” is a poem depicting a place-based religious experience.     

From unity to atonement: Some religious correlates of Hans Loewald's developmental theory

Loewald's understanding of ego development offers a way to conceptualise, from a psychoanalytic perspective, those aspects of religious experience that can reflect or contribute to the enrichment of the ego, in contradistinction to the defensive and regressive elements of religious experience that have been well detailed in the psychoanalytic literature in the past. In Loewald's view, a dynamic and metabolic interplay between ego and reality characterises the developmental process. With increasing levels of internalisation, differentiation, individuation and integration, ego and reality are restructured into increasingly resilient and durable forms. An ongoing dialectical tension between separation and reunion provides the driving force for development. Loewald's emphasis on the synthetic rather than defensive aspects of ego functioning forms the basis for his characterisation of sublimation as a 'genuine appropriation' rather than a defence, thus opening up one way to understand non-defensive aspects of religious experience from a psychoanalytic perspective. In the course of this exploration of Loewald's view of ego development and its implications for an understanding of religious experience, the author offers perspectives on Freud's views of religion, on some extreme forms of religious fundamentalism, and on the dynamics of 'mature' faith as illuminated by Loewald's developmental theory.     

Spiritual Psychotherapy for Antisocial and Psychopathic Personalities: Some Theoretical Building Blocks

Until now a profound theoretical model for spiritual psychotherapy, which is constructed specifically for nonreligious antisocial and psychopathic patients who have spiritual and philosophical interests, is missing. In this paper some important theoretical issues with respect to spiritual psychotherapy for antisocial and psychopathic patients will be discussed such as the links between spirituality on one hand and authenticity, vanity; emotional, moral, and social capacity; reality testing; creativity; and faith in life on the other. Furthermore, the spiritual psychotherapist's attitude towards his or her patients will be explored.     

The Relationship Between Religion, Spirituality, Psychological Adjustment, and Quality of Life Among People with Multiple Sclerosis

The present research was comprised of two studies that aimed to explore the role of religious and spiritual variables in the psychological adjustment and quality of life of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In study 1, religious behavior and objective levels of spirituality and religiosity were not significantly related to psychological adjustment or quality of life among people with MS. Positive religious coping was negatively related to psychological adjustment and quality of life. In study 2, Intrinsic religious orientation and Quest religious orientation were related to poor psychological adjustment. Implications of the present research for people with MS and other chronic illnesses are discussed.     

Religion,Spirituality, and Alternative Health Practices: The Baby Boomer and Cold War Cohorts

Research in religion and health has suggested positive relationships, and most recently has concentrated on the experience of religion, or spirituality. Currently, cohort studies have shown that the baby boomers differ significantly from their elders in their approach to religion, preferring to explore spirituality rather than the religious doctrine of their elders. They also differ in their approaches to health, including greater acceptance and use of alternative health practices. This study isolates the baby boomer and cold war cohorts in order to explore differences in religion, spirituality and alternative health practices. Findings indicate that, for boomers, increased spirituality is significantly related to increased positive health perceptions, while their elders' health perceptions are related to increased religiosity. Alternative health practices and spirituality, however, are not related for either cohort. However, this study does identify important distinctions between the two cohorts. Future studies must recognize differing cohort constructions of reality concerning the meanings of health, spirituality and religion.     

Personality and Spirituality: Christian Prayer and Eastern Meditation Are Not the Same

A random sample of 1,033 adults in an Australian community survey completed a form containing the abbreviated Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire together with questions about the practice of prayer and Eastern meditation. While prayer was associated with low psychoticism scores, Eastern meditation was associated with high psychoticism scores.     

Religious Addiction: Obsession with Spirituality

Religious addiction is a disease only recently recognized; however, it has been with humanity throughout the ages. This obsession with spirituality not only has harmful effects for the individual but also a devastating effect on his/her family. As with any addiction, recovery is possible. This article covers the history of religious addiction, its symptoms and characteristics, and also its downward spiral. The effects on the addict, the codependent spouse, and children are discussed. Recovery, including intervention and treatment, is also covered.     

Spirituality and Health Outcomes in the Elderly

The purpose of this mail survey was to examine the relationship of attitudinal and behavioral measures of spirituality to physical and mental health outcomes in a sample of elderly community residents. Frequency of prayer, importance of faith, and reliance on religion for their coping were compared for their association with eight categories of physical and mental health. All three measures, prayer, faith and religious coping, correlated strongly with positive mental health, but not with the other seven physical health categories. Multiple regression analyses indicated importance of one's faith had the strongest association with positive mental health, even after controlling for the effect of other significant variables, age and education. The behavioral measure of prayer was a component of importance of faith to mental health, with no independent impact. This study highlights attitudes rather than practices, as the stronger spiritual variables related to mental health in the elderly.     

Spirituality in Disability and Illness

Spirituality appears with increasing frequency in the research literature, and a paradigm involving mind-body-spirit interaction is emerging. The relationship of spirituality to disability and illness is at the center of a growing body of knowledge. A comprehensive literature review supported spirituality as coping method among individuals experiencing a variety of illnesses including hypertension, pulmonary disease, diabetes, chronic renal failure, surgery, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, polio and addictive illnesses. Additionally, spirituality is a resource when dealing with critical illness as well as terminal illness and end of life issues, and it is utilized by both patients, and family members. Discussion of research findings, implications for health care practice and future research is also presented.