Narrating <i>spiritual well-being</i> in relationship to positive psychology and religion

Abstract

Narrating spiritual well-being in relationship to positive psychology and religion Constructed as new and located in the discourse of positive psychology, "spiritual well-being" is a signifier with a (his)story in which one possible reading is highlighted in this postmodern (de)constructive narrative. The construction of "spiritual + wellbeing" could be narrated as a secularisation of the religious by positivist psy-complex knowledges, where spiritual well-being is reconstructed as a measurable outcome. Or it could be narrated as a "spiritualisation" of the psy-complex by religious knowledges, with measurable well-being becoming dependent on the pursuit of the postmodern, multiple-storied spiritual/ religious features. As the psy-complex has followed medicine from a focus on pathology to a focus on holistic wellness, it has found itself in the religious realm which it has simultaneously centred and marginalised. Additionally, as the psy-complex has moved from measuring illness to measuring wellness, it could be described as having constructed new categories of non-wellbeing or ill-being. Opsomming Interpretasie van geestelike welsyn in verwantskap met positiewe sielkunde en godsdiens Geestelike welsyn, as "nuwe" konsep en geplaas binne die kader van positiewe sielkunde, is 'n aanduider met 'n (geskiedkundige) storie. Een moontlike vertolking hiervan kan in hierdie