Life, death, and spirituality: A conceptual analysis for educational research development

Abstract

Life education , also known as life and death education , is an important subject in Taiwan. Life education is more than just the study of a person's development throughout the lifespan (e.g., cognitive development). Within the learning and sociocultural contexts of Taiwan, interestingly, the study of life and death education is concerned with the premise of the promotion and fulfillment of life qualities (e.g., a person's state of contentment), and the meaningful understanding of the nature of death. To facilitate appreciation and deep, meaningful understanding of the subject, and to emphasize its uniqueness, educators have included in their teaching the importance of Eastern-derived philosophical beliefs and religious faiths (e.g., Buddhism). For example, relatively significant in its emphasis, the teaching of this subject involves detailed examination of theoretical accounts of spiritual cultivation and its positive effect on a person's interpretation and enlightenment of life wisdom. The study of life education, or life and death education, we contend, is of significance as it provides life-related insights and theoretical understanding into the intricate nature of life and death. One notable aspect of the subject entails a person's acquired life wisdom, which in turn may shape his/her life practice on a daily basis (e.g., the proactive engagement in Buddhist meditation). Importantly, the study of life education may assist individuals with their coping of grief, and to approach death with a sense of peace, calmness, and dignity. In this analysis, coupled with Buddhist faith (or any other religious faith for that matter) and facilitated by spiritual cultivation (e.g., the belief in the notion of transcendence experience ), a person may overcome grief by believing in the possibility that there is some form of post-death experience and the presence of a loved one's spiritual being. Given this emphasis, we consider an important focus for discussion in this article: to explore the significance of life and death education and to determine how its ‘positive nature’ could potentially yield two comparable implications for development: (i) to engage in appropriate pedagogical practices that would encourage and promote the study of life and death education, and (ii) to advance innovative research inquiries, theoretical, methodological, and/or empirical, which could highlight the significance of life education for life purposes (e.g., the significance of Chinese ideograms, such as 孝).

Interrelationships Between Psychosocial, Motivational, and Psychological Processes for Effective Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Study

“…An interesting observation that we note, which has potential methodological relevance relates to in situ observations may complement the use of “meditative reflection” and subsequent self-reporting of personal feelings and experiences ( Phan et al, 2021c ). Meditative reflection and self-reporting, as a whole, is internal and arises from within a student (i.e., subjective in nature), whereas a teacher’s in situ observation of the student is external (i.e., objective in nature).…”

“…One aspect of life and death education, reflecting both quality teaching and research development, is the incorporation of Buddhist teaching ( Yeshe and Rinpoche, 1976 ; Master Sheng, 2010 ; Thanissaro, 2015 ), which may encompass Buddhist mindfulness and meditation practice (e.g., “walking meditation”). The underlying premise of Buddhist teaching, in accordance with the study of life and death education, is related to the notion of “spiritual cultivation” ( Phan et al, 2020c , 2021c ). Buddhist meditation, in this sense, may instill and cultivate a “purified mindset,” directing and assisting a person to feel more enlightened and spiritual.…”

“…This theoretical paradigm reflects and entails the reliance and use of personal intuition, logical reasoning, philosophical understanding, and previous research development to conceptualize new ideas and viewpoints. For example, our recent research focus on the subject of life and death education ( Chen, 2012 , 2017 ; Huang, 2014 ) led to our use of philosophical reasoning and the proposed concept of “esoteric psychology” ( Phan et al, 2020d , 2021c ). In a similar manner, in tandem with extensive research studies reviewed so far, we use philosophical psychology as a basis to assist us with our conceptualization, which connotes the potency of three comparable direct effects on students’ adaptive outcomes, ξ 4 : perceived social experiences, ξ 1 , psychological processes of effective learning, ξ 2 , and motivational belief, ξ 3 .…”

Empirical validation of the psychological concept of a perceived feeling of ‘energy’: Advancement into the study of positive psychology

“…We acknowledge that, to date, we have used philosophical psychology [ 34 ], as a distinct research paradigm, to conceptualize new ideas and theoretical models for research development. We contend that theoretical models such esoteric psychology [ 38 ] and holistic psychology [ 25 ] are somewhat difficult to validate scientifically. This acknowledgement questions whether we have appropriate methodological designs, at this stage, to accurately measure and assess the notion of an ‘optimizing effect’ [ 7 ].…”

“…Philosophical psychology is an interesting paradigm, which involves the use of philosophical reasoning, personal understanding, and intellectual intuition to assist in the conceptualization and development of new psychological concepts and/or relationships between psychological concepts [ 34 ]. There are some conceptualizations of theoretical concepts such as Buddhist mindfulness [ 35 , 36 ] and spiritual and esoteric experiences (e.g., transcendence experience) [ 37 , 38 ] that are purely philosophical, making it somewhat difficult to scientifically validate. In a similar vein, drawing from Fraillon’s [ 1 ] introduction and using philosophical psychology as a theoretical framework, we recently developed the theory of human optimization [ 7 , 8 , 16 ], which may help to explain the facilitation of achievement of optimal best.…”