Toward a Spiritual Research Paradigm

Toward a Spiritual Research Paradigm

Author: Jing Lin

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2016-07-01

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1681234963

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Spirituality and spiritual experiences have been the bedrock of every civilization and together form one of the highest mechanisms for making sense of the world for billions of people. Current research paradigms, due to their limitation to empirical, sensory, psychologically, or culturally constructed realities, fail to provide a framework for exploring this essential area of human experience. The development of a spiritual research paradigm will provide researchers from the social sciences and education the tools and abilities to systematically explore fundamental questions regarding human spiritual experiences and spiritual growth. A spiritual research paradigm requires an ontology that considers all reality to be multidimensional, interconnected, and interdependent. It requires an epistemology that integrates knowing from outer sources as well as inner contemplation, acknowledging our integration of soul and spirit with the body and mind. Three additional aspects are useful to a spiritual research paradigm: axiology, methodology, and teleology. An axiology concerns what is valued, good, and ethical. A methodology is the appropriate approach to systematic inquiry. A fifth and less frequently mentioned aspect is teleology, an explanation of the goal or end (telos) to which new knowledge is applied, such as gaining wisdom and truth, touching the divine, increasing inner peace, exploring hidden dimensions, or improving society. This book takes the first step to develop such a research paradigm. We draw from world spiritual traditions as well as scholarship that has arisen from contemplative practices. We also attempt to build a bridge between science and spirituality. Spiritual research is not necessarily opposed to scientific research; in fact, each can shed light on the other.


Workplace Spirituality

Workplace Spirituality

Author: Yochanan Altman

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2022-01-19

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 3110711400

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Workplace spirituality is an emerging field of study and practice and this book asks the questions: Where have we been in the last ten years as a field and where should we be headed in the next ten years? The editors asked these questions of thought leaders from around the globe, leaders who represent different sectors, faith traditions, worldviews and organizational functions. This volume represents the best of current thinking about the state of the field of workplace spirituality and of what the future holds. There are four themes: (1) management themes such as leadership, ethics, change management, and diversity; (2) workplace spirituality in sectors such as health and wellbeing, policing and creative industries, (3) key issues that are emerging, such as self-spirituality, mindfulness, storytelling and the importance of nature, and (4) cutting edge epistemologies and methodologies including indigenous studies, relational ontology, ethnography, and psychodynamics. These articles were chosen to provoke new thinking, new research, and new practice in the field of workplace spirituality, with the goal of helping the field mature in the next decade.


On Spiritual Strivings

On Spiritual Strivings

Author: Cynthia B. Dillard

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2007-03-15

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 9780791468128

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Offers both a theoretical and concrete example of what W. E. B. Du Bois called “spiritual strivings.”


The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Spirituality and Contemplative Studies

The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Spirituality and Contemplative Studies

Author: Bernadette Flanagan

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-09-03

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 104011346X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Spirituality and Contemplative Studies provides the first authoritative overview of methodology in this growing field. Against the background of the pandemic and other global challenges, spirituality is expanding as an agreed term with which to discuss the efforts people make to be fully present to deeper, invisible dimensions of their personal identity and external reality, but until now there have been few resources exploring the different methodological approaches researchers take. This book explores the primary methodologies emerging: First Person, Second Person, and Third Person, and provides a systematisation of spirituality research in applied contexts for the first time. Comprising 33 chapters by a team of international contributors, the book is divided into seven parts: Foundations Approaches to Contemplative Research Contemplative Research in Education Contemplative Research in Work and Leadership Contemplative Research in Science, Health, and Healing Contemplative Research in Social Sciences Contemplative Research and the Way Forward The Handbook provides readers, practitioners, and policymakers with methods and approaches which can facilitate a spiritual and contemplative stance in research activities. It is an essential resource for researchers and students of Religion, Spirituality, and Research Methods.


Developing Women Leaders in the Academy through Enhanced Communication Strategies

Developing Women Leaders in the Academy through Enhanced Communication Strategies

Author: Jayne Cubbage

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-01-21

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1498595324

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Developing Women Leaders in the Academy through Enhanced Communication Strategies explores the experiences, strategies, and triumphs of women who have attained leadership roles within the academy as well as the shortfalls, disappointments, and battle scars many women leaders have experienced in their quest to lead. Clear direction, focused strategies, and enhanced communication are necessary to increase the ever-growing number of women in leadership positions in the academy. Contributions to this book discuss the ways in which these concepts have been employed to transcend the “academic ceiling” by creating mentoring networks for women, training programs, and other “ladders of ascension,” encouraging future leaders to be more assertive, self-assured, and strategic within the academic terrain. Scholars of communication, education, and women’s studies will find this volume particularly useful.


Daoist Cultivation of Qi and Virtue for Life, Wisdom, and Learning

Daoist Cultivation of Qi and Virtue for Life, Wisdom, and Learning

Author: Tom Culham

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-07-03

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 3030449475

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book explores Daoist philosophies of qi and virtue through inquiry into their potential as technologies for cultivating good among individuals and society within educational settings, as well as in the modern world. The first part of the book, authored by Jing Lin, examines Daoist cosmology, axiology, and epistemology. She illuminates qi cultivation’s reliance on the accumulation of virtues, leading to transformation of the body and even—extraordinarily—the abilities of Daoist masters to transcend physical limitations to achieve health, longevity, and immortality. The second part of the book, authored by Tom Culham, establishes an understanding of qi and virtue as a technology within the Daoist paradigm, outlining the benefits of its cultivation while illuminating how contemporary Western philosophy and science support this paradigm. Both authors explore new forms of education to incorporate Daoist wisdom in schooling.


Transrational Peace Research and Elicitive Facilitation

Transrational Peace Research and Elicitive Facilitation

Author: Norbert Koppensteiner

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-06-22

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 3030460673

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book sheds new light on transrational approaches to peace research and highlights elicitive approaches to facilitation. Rather than encouraging researchers, teachers and practitioners to control and suppress their own positionality, the book argues that they can see themselves as a potential (re)source that can be creatively tapped for their work. Using dance as a central metaphor, it seeks to reposition research and facilitation as a truly experiential process where the entirety of human experiences and epistemologies can be brought into interplay, opening up new sources of knowledge. Providing a cutting-edge theoretical framework and based on his practical experience, the author demonstrates that facilitation and research are not just cognitive, but can also be(come) embodied, emotional, intuitive, relational and spiritual. By proposing a systematic, methodological framework for research and facilitation, the book offers practical guidance for peace practitioners, facilitators and researchers interested in working through all dimensions of their being and engaging with conflict transformation in a holistic way.


Awakening

Awakening

Author: Vern Neufeld Redekop

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-11-12

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1498593100

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Even if all of the elements we know to be significant in the process of reconciliation were present, reconciliation would not necessarily take place. Reconciliation is a nonlinear, nonalgorithmic process that involves “matters of the heart.” From emergent creativity and its links to mysticism, to the evolution of emotions as drivers of thought, Awakening weaves cutting-edge discoveries in complexity theory with philosophical reflections on consciousness and language, drawing on Lonergan and Wittgenstein. Awakening as a phenomenon takes on a vibrant vitality as an aspect of transpersonal psychology and it manifests as imperatives to take responsibility for our relationships, to address complex challenges of justice, and to adopt a heart-based approach to peacebuilding.


The Dunhuang Grottoes and Global Education

The Dunhuang Grottoes and Global Education

Author: Xu Di

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-05-15

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 3030133567

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book analyzes the murals and texts of the Dunhuang Grottoes, one of the most famous sites of cultural heritage on the Silk Road in Northwest China, from an educational perspective. The Dunhuang Grottoes are well-known in the world for their stunning beauty and magnificence, but the teaching of Dunhuang advocates a philosophical perspective that cosmos, nature, and humanity are an interconnected whole, and that all elements function interactively according to universal and relational principles of continuity, cause-and-effect, spiritual connection, and enlightenment. Xu Di and volume contributors highlight the moral education and ethics found throughout the Dunhuang with numerous stories of the personal journeys and growth of the Buddha and bodhisattvas, discussing and analyzing these teachings, and their possible implications for modern education systems throughout China and the world today.


International Handbook of Holistic Education

International Handbook of Holistic Education

Author: John P. Miller

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-09-14

Total Pages: 809

ISBN-13: 1351621890

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Providing a comprehensive overview of holistic education’s history, conceptions, practices, and research, this Handbook presents an up-to-date, global picture of the field. Organized in five sections, the Handbook lays out the field’s theoretical and historical foundations; offers examples of holistic education in practice with regard to schools, programs, and pedagogies at all levels; presents research methods used in holistic education; outlines the growing effort among holistic educators to connect holistic teaching and learning with research practice; and examines present trends and future areas of interest in program development, inquiry, and research. This volume is a must-have resource for researchers and practitioners and serves as an essential foundational text for courses in the field.