Spirituality in Education and Counseling

Artist: Matthew Whitney, for SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship" sdicompanions.org

• "Spiritual development is the process of growing the intrinsic human capacity for self-transcendence, in which the self is embedded in something greater than itself, including the sacred. It is the developmental “engine” that propels the search for connectedness, meaning, purpose, and contribution. It is shaped both within and outside of religious traditions, beliefs, and practices." ~ Counselor educator V. Zakrzewski (2013), The case for discussing spirituality in schools.

• "Religion and spirituality are often part of the client’s problem, but can also be part of the client’s solution. Because spiritual and religious values can play a major part in human life, spiritual values should be viewed as a potential resource in therapy rather than as something to be ignored. During the assessment process, it can be ascertained how certain beliefs and practices of the client can be a useful focal point for exploration."~ Counselor educator Gerald Corey (n.d.). VISTA Online. ACA Knowledge Center. link

• "Positive images of the future are powerful and magnetic force... They draw us on and energize us, give us courage and will to take on important initiatives. Negative images of the future also have a magnetism. They pull the spirit downward in the path of despair." ~Psychologist Patricia Mische (1980, December, pp. 10-11). From Humanistic "Psychology and World Order" published in the Assn. for Humanistic Psychology's, AP Newsletter, pp. 9-13

• “Enhanced awareness of certain features in everyday life can contribute significantly to spiritual life and to happiness.” Nel Noddings (Stanford University, educational philosopher (p. 168). Character and spirituality. ~Educational philosopher N. Noddings (2003). (Ed.), Happiness and education (pp. 157-178). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

• “If communities of other adults who care about youth wish to nurture emerging adult lives of purpose, meaning and character – instead of confusion, drifting, and shallowness – they will need to do better jobs of seriously engaging youth from early on and not cut them adrift as they move through teen years." (p. 299). ~Sociologists Christian Smith and Patricia Snell (2009). Souls in transition: The religious and spiritual lives of emerging adults. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

• "Honest and humble self-critical thinking is necessary to see one’s own shadow and usually well-hidden narcissism. Only when I encounter my shadow do I realize that my biggest problem is me!" ~Franciscan Monk Richard Rohr (Sunday, September 10, 2017) Daily Meditations

• "Memory runs along deep, fixed channels in the brain, like electricity along its conduits; only a cataclysm can make the electrons rear up in shock and slide over into another channel. The human mind seems doomed to believe, as simply as a rooster believes, that where we are now is the only possibility. But it isn't" (p. 269). ~Novelist Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams