1 ST MODULE FOR THE

FI NAL TERM
 Learning Outcomes
demonstrate an
understanding of the
spiritual self;

explain the importance of

spirituality in one’s life;

discuss how spirituality is

connected to religion;

describe how spirituality

develops; and
analyze how spirituality and
animism are associated.
Our existence here on earth
may be unfair in many ways, Are you a VICTOR or
but we can always do a VICTIM of this
something for it to be world?
"fair"
 * The spiritual aspect of the self is the inner essence, the
part of the self that connects the person to the sacred, the
supernatural, and the universe.
* The spiritual self enables the person to experience a
feeling of oneness with a higher being and the universe and gives
a deeper purpose or meaning of one’s life.
* The spiritual self develops through interaction,
observation, and imitation.
* The family, school, and church play a very important role in
a child’s spiritual development.
 Definition of spirituality based on Hill and Pargament, 2013
❑ The root meaning of spirituality is taken from the Latin word
spiritus, meaning breath or life force.
❑ Spirituality can be understood as the search for the sacred, a
process through which people seek to discover, hold on to, and,
when necessary, transform whatever they hold sacred in their lives
(Hill & Pargament, 2003).
❑ The term “spirituality” originally developed in early Christianity.
Christians use the term “Spirit” to describe the Holy Spirit.
• Christian Ethics, Peschke (1994) describes that the experience
of the sacred is characterized by reverence, faith, fear, trust,
love, and admiration which are intimately connected to God.
• Worship is regarded as an essential act to realize the ultimate
meaning of transcendence and human life.
• Acts of worship may include prayer, reading the Bible,
attending sacraments, and doing sacrifice.
Thus, spirituality generally refers to meaning and purpose in
one’s life, a search for wholeness, and a relationship with a
transcendent being (Hage, Hopson, Siegel, Payton, &
DeFanti, 2006).

The sacred transcendence could refer to a higher being.

Rebecca Stein, 2011 definition of Religion
• Religion is a set of cultural beliefs and practices that usually
includes some or all of these characteristics
• A belief in anthropomorphic supernatural being, such as
spirit and gods
• Focus on the sacred supernatural, where sacred refers to a
feeling or reverence or awe

Idea of Penner, 2017 about rituals

• Ritual is the performance or ceremonies acts prescribed by a
tradition or sacred law (Penner, 2017)
❑ The aim of existential psychology is to educate people
about who they really are and make them aware of the
fact that they are responsible for their existence and for
their achievements.
❑ It essentially focuses on the meaning of life and
people's purpose in life. We can say that existential
psychology is an area within psychology which is
mostly linked to philosophy.
Death
 Existential psychology gives
us another way of thinking
about how people might
shape their personalities
even with the trials of death.
 The key tenet of
logotherapy is that the
pursuit of meaning or
what Frankl sometimes
referred to as the will to
meaning is the primary
motivational factor in
humans
▪ According to logotherapy, the striving to find
meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational
force in man.
▪ In logotherapy, one can discover the meaning of
life in three different ways: by doing a deed, by
experiencing a value, and by suffering.
 He argues that humans do not seek
attention, in fact attention can result in
another problem that Victor called the
existential vacuum a complete lack of
purpose or meaninglessness in life.
Thus, Frankl is fond of quoting Nietzsche,
“He who has a why to live can bear
almost any how.”
 ✓ Aims of Franklian Pscychology
1. Become aware of spiritual resources
2. Make conscious spiritual resources
3. Use “defiant power of human spirit” and stand up
against adversity
 ✓ Importance of love in Victor Frankl idea
• Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the
innermost core of his/her personality. No one can become fully
aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves
him. By loving we are able to see the essential traits and features
in the beloved person.
• Costello (2015) captured Frankl’s message that, the “ultimate
secret on the spiritual foundation of life is that LOVE is salvation
and joy eternity.
unveiling countless possibilities
 ✓ What is Animism
Spirituality is also associated with animism. Beliefs about the
sacred also include the primate concept about animism or the
belief that creatures, objects, and places possess certain spirits.
Animism is also the belief that things and places are alive and
grounded by a supernatural order. In the Philippines, indigenous
peoples are known to practice animism.
There is a strong tendency for some believers
to dichotomize between the spiritual and the
material, between the heavenly and the
earthly, the otherworldly and this worldly
concerns. And so, we have people who think
that faith is a matter of building enough
spiritual capital that will compensate for their
physical and material depravity.