Spiritual Exemplars: An Introduction

Scarlett, W. George

doi:10.3390/rel3020183

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…These paradoxes do not imply an error in reasoning but rather a limitation of reasoning when attempting to grasp that which exists even prior to reason, or, in spiritual terms, when attempting to comprehend, using dualistic tools, non-dual truth, a truth that already exists before any personal experience, thought or memory and yet something we all have direct and intimate access to. Disentangling from a limited perspective of self and realizing a deeper dimension of consciousness or the nature of truth is the essence of spirituality, and observing spiritual exemplars (Scarlett, 2012;Vos, 2018) shows a strong association between this realization and CSs and virtues. We propose that the VIA model of CSs and virtues is an appropriate framework for understanding, practicing, and experiencing the paradoxical relationship between the personal and the transcendent.…”

Section: Spiritual Common Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Character Strengths as Manifestations of Spiritual Life: Realizing the Non-Dual From the Dual

Littman-Ovadia

David²

2020

Front. Psychol.

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There is a noticeable increase in interest in the study of spirituality within the context of positive psychology. A review of the literature shows several parallels between dimensions of spirituality as explored within psychology of religion and spirituality and those of the VIA model of character strengths (CSs) as developed in positive psychology. However, coming from the domain of psychology rather than theology, these studies do not go deeply into the paradoxes that exist at the heart of various traditions regarding the nature of the spiritual or non-dual. Moreover, these studies lack a more comprehensive view of the nature of CSs and virtues. Our suggestion is to expand CS science to a wider context, extend the perspective from the individual to the transcendent, and understand the actualization of the capacity of CSs to be pathways to spiritual life. We argue that the actualization of all CSs allows for microcosms of a realization of unity. We believe that framing VIA's CSs as a classification of the positive human spirit, and therefore rightfully placing it in the domain of human spirituality, holds great potential for both domains. We start by considering common basic assumptions emerging from various spiritual traditions and continue with a suggestion that CSs be seen as various pathways from duality to non-duality and by illustrating ways in which spirituality can be understood and practiced by the use of CSs.

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Section: Spiritual Common Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Character Strengths as Manifestations of Spiritual Life: Realizing the Non-Dual From the Dual

Littman-Ovadia

David²

2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…Haygood exhibited many of the qualities Scarlett [11] attributes to the spiritual exemplar. He was the advocate of a -noble purpose,‖ and -deeply connected to life's problems and tragedies‖ but not consumed by them.…”

Section: Haygood As Spiritual Exemplarmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Scarlett [11], spiritual exemplars -show a balance between ‗hard' and ‗soft' virtues,‖ exemplified, in Haygood's case, by, respectively, courage, on the one hand, and compassion, on the other. After 1880, he boldly stepped outside the conventions of Southern society.…”

Section: Haygood As Spiritual Exemplarmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Haygood Hall on the Emory campus enshrines his aphorism: -Nothing praises or pleases God like service‖ ( [5], p. 134). Still, his actions on behalf of various social causes derived from a clear, pervasive sense of identity, motivation, values, and orientation to life-a faith as Scarlett [11] defines it.…”

Section: Haygood As Spiritual Exemplarmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Across these settings, according to Niebuhr ([14], p. 88), the quest for the Kingdom entailed three elements: faith in the absolute and immanent sovereignty of God; certainty that Christ revealed and initiated the Kingdom; and the mandate to organize life towards the actualization of the Kingdom. [11] identifies two dilemmas spiritual exemplars must manage-the conflict between reason and faith, and the problem of maintaining strong personal faith in a religiously pluralistic environment. These quandaries did not trouble Haygood, who lived in cultural isolation from the Northern intellectualism and immigration that produced them.…”

Section: Haygood As Spiritual Exemplarmentioning

confidence: 99%

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New Light on a Lost Cause: Atticus G. Haygood’s Universalizing Spirituality

Kwilecki¹

2012

Religions

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Abstract:The American tragedy of slavery and the Civil War provides the backdrop for the exemplary spirituality of Atticus Haygood (1839-1896). The son of a Georgia slaveholder, Haygood served as a chaplain in the Confederate army. At the War's end, he returned to Atlanta to suffer poverty and humiliation under the martial law of conquerors. His spirituality developed as a positive response to the chaos of Reconstruction. Following a mid-life transformation, he earned a national reputation as a progressive Southerner and crusader for the rights and education of former slaves. As a Southern Methodist clergyman, Haygood blended the ideals of evangelism and the social gospel, envisioning an America in which Northerners and Southerners, blacks and whites joined together to build the Kingdom of God. His spirituality evolved to the -universalizing‖ pinnacle of James Fowler's stages of faith, a perspective from which all persons-regardless of race, status, and place of birth-participate as equals in fellowship with a just and loving deity.

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Living transcendence: A phenomenological study of spiritual exemplars.

Freimann,

Mayseless,

Hart

et al. 2024

The Humanistic Psychologist

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The aim of this study is to shed light on the experience of Living Transcendence, a relatively stabilized spiritual state considered in many religious traditions the pinnacle and holy grail of the search for the sacred. It explores how Living Transcendence is experienced by individuals, identified by others as spiritual exemplars having and evincing that experience. Multiple in-depth phenomenological interviews were conducted with 32 such individuals of different traditions and spiritual paths. Based on their analysis, four qualities of this experience are described: noetic (preconceptual, nondiscursive, and nonsymbolic knowing/awareness/consciousness of ultimate reality or truth), affective (supremely positive affective qualities of joy, happiness or bliss, and love), embodied (somatic and/or energetic presence or sense of a spiritual essence), and relational (a sense of connectivity or “inter-being” with everything, God, or the Whole). A characteristic of the experience of Living Transcendence is its constancy over time, amid and through the fluctuations of normal life and various crises. An additional characteristic is its association with an unusual type of volitionality, that is, the will to obey, surrender to, or be in service of a “calling.” While the presence and prominence of each of these qualities and characteristics vary between individuals, they appear to be facets of one essence. The experience of Living Transcendence appears to be constantly and consistently unitive, connective, and supremely positive, and to inextricably permeate all other experiences and contextualize them.

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Spiritual Exemplars: An Introduction

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Character Strengths as Manifestations of Spiritual Life: Realizing the Non-Dual From the Dual

Character Strengths as Manifestations of Spiritual Life: Realizing the Non-Dual From the Dual

New Light on a Lost Cause: Atticus G. Haygood’s Universalizing Spirituality

Living transcendence: A phenomenological study of spiritual exemplars.

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