Spiritual Self

Supernaturals: Believe It or Not!

Spiritual Self
• According to William James it is one of the four constituents of the
“self”
• Most intimate, inner subjective part of self. It is the most intimate
because of the satisfaction experienced when thinking of one’s
ability to argue and discriminate, of one’s moral sensibility and
conscience, and of our unconquerable will is purer than all other
sentiments of satisfaction.
• The ability to use moral sensibility and conscience may be seen
through the expressions of religion, its beliefs and practices.
Moreover, seeking the meaning of life is a journey that the spiritual
self is on.
Religion
• Is a set of cultural beliefs and practices that usually includes some or
all basic characteristics. These characteristics are:
1. A belief in anthropomorphic supernatural being, such as spirit and
Gods.
2. A focus on the sacred supernatural, where sacred refers to a feeling
of reverence and awe.
3. The presence of supernatural power or energy that is found on
supernatural beings as well as physical beings and objects.
4. The performance of ritual activities that involves that manipulation of
sacred object to communicate to supernatural beings and/or to
influence or control events.
5. The articulation of worldview and moral codes through
narratives and other means.
6. Provide the creation and maintenance of social bonds and
mechanism of social control within a community; provide
explanation for unknown and a sense of control for individuals.

An individual lives in a society where there are many practices

of religion. The choice of religious belief lies within the spiritual
self. Although the choice maybe influence by the society and its
culture.
Ritual
• The performance of ceremonial acts prescribed by a
tradition or sacred law.
• A specific, observable mode of behavior exhibited by all
known societies.
There are three fundamental characteristics of rituals according to
Penner. Ritual has the characteristics of:
1. A feeling or emotion of respect, awe, fascination, or dread in
relation to the sacred
2. Dependence upon a belief system that is usually expressed in the
language of myth.
3. Is symbolic in relation to its reference.

The self can be described as a ritual being who exhibits a

striking parallel between their ritual and verbal behavior. Participation
to rituals is expressions of religious beliefs.
Buddhism
• World’s fourth largest religion. Originated in ancient
India around 6th and 4th centuries BCE, spreading
through much of Asia. Attributed to the teachings of
Buddha.
• Believes that life is not a bed of roses. Instead, there are
suffering, pain, and frustrations that will lead them to
experience goodness of life and disappointments
• Share the goal of overcoming suffering and the cycle of
death and rebirth, either by attainment of Nirvana or
through the path of Buddhahood
• Reactive cycle: wanting and hating, like and dislike, craving and
aversion. Can be broken through the practice of mediation,
acquiring more wisdom and deeper understanding, and
acceptance of things as they are.
• Two types of meditation practices:
Samatha: practiced as mindfulness of breathing and
development of loving-kindness (Metta Bhavana)
Vipassana: practices aim at developing insight into reality.

Acquiring wisdom is by studying Buddha’s teaching, the

Dharma. Through the reflection of Dharma, Buddhists can achieve
a deeper understanding of life. Buddhists believe in non-violence
principle.
• Reactive cycle: wanting and hating, like and dislike, craving and
aversion. Can be broken through the practice of mediation,
acquiring more wisdom and deeper understanding, and
acceptance of things as they are.
• Two types of meditation practices:
Samatha: practiced as mindfulness of breathing and
development of loving-kindness (Metta Bhavana)
Vipassana: practices aim at developing insight into reality.

Acquiring wisdom is by studying Buddha’s teaching, the

Dharma. Through the reflection of Dharma, Buddhists can achieve
a deeper understanding of life. Buddhists believe in non-violence
principle.
Hinduism
• World’s third largest religion.
• Covers a wide range of traditional beliefs and religious
groups; thus, there is no single founder or leader.
• Has a complex, organic, multileveled and sometimes
internally inconsistent nature. It does not have a
unified system of belief encoded in a declaration of
faith or a creed but rather an umbrella term
comprising the plurality of religious phenomena in
India.
• Believe that existence is a cycle of birth, death and
rebirth, governed by Karma.
• Karma: is a concept where the reincarnated life will
depend on how the past life was spent.
• Believes that the soul passes through a cycle of
successive lives and its next incarnation is always
dependent on how the previous life was lived.
• Diwali: the festival of lights
• Navrati: the festival of nine nights, which celebrate the
triumph of good over evil.
Primary deity or deities
• Vaishnavism (Vishnu)
• Shaivism (Shiva)
• Shaktism (Devi)
• Smartism

All deities treated as same.

 Hinduism accepts numerous divine beings, with
many Hindus considering the deities to be aspects or
manifestations of a single impersonal absolute or
ultimate reality or God, while some Hindus maintain
that a specific deity represents the supreme and
various deities are lower manifestations of this
supreme.
Believes in existence of atman (soul, self),
reincarnation of one’s atman, and karma as well as a
belief in dharma (duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues,
and right way of living)
Islam
• Believes that Allah, who is their “One God”. They believe in the unity
and universality of God. Muslim also have a strong sense of
community or “ummah” and an awareness of their solidarity with all
Muslims worldwide.
• Islam means “willing submission to God”
• Muslims believe that Mohammed is the last and final prophet sent by
God.
• The holy book of Islam is called Quran, which was taught to be recited
in Arabic because any translation is seen as inadequate.
Customs and Practices
• Five pillars of Islam, which are the foundation of Muslim life:
1. Shahadah – statement of faith. “There is no God but the one true
God and Mohammed is his messenger.”
2. Salat – the prayer that is practiced five times a day
3. Zakat – the monetary offering for the benefit of the poor. It
comprises the 2.5 % of a Muslim’s assets
4. Hajj – the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims who can afford are
asked to do the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
5. Sawm – the fasting. Muslim do fasting, from food, drink, and sexual
act, during the celebration of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth
month of the Islamic lunar calendar.
Two of the major festivals in Islam are:
1. Eidul-Fitr: the celebration at the end of Ramadan
2. Eidul-Adha: is celebrated within the completion of the Pilgrimage,
the Hajj.
Judaism
• The Jews believe in the God of Abraham, the same God that
liberated the Hebrew slaves from Egypt to Canaan, the Promised
Land through the leadership of Moses and later, Joshua.
• The Jews believe in the coming of Messiah, the Savior. The sacred
scripture of the Jews is called the Torah or the Law. The Torah is
the guide of the Jewish living. The study and interpretation of
Torah is part of the Jewish culture.
• God is portrayed as unitary and solitary; consequently, the
Hebrew God’s principal relationships are not with other gods, but
with the world, and more specifically, with the people he
created.
 According to Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), God
promised Abraham to make of his offspring a
great nation. Many generations later, he
commanded the nation of Israel to love and
worship only one God; that is, the Jewish nation is
to reciprocate God’s concern for the world. He
also commanded the Jewish people to love on
another; that is, Jews are to imitate God’s love for
people.
Customs and Practices
These are five major festivals observed by the Jews:
1. Rosh Hashanah – the new year
2. Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement
3. Pesach – Passover
4. Shavuot – Pentecost
5. Sukkot – Tabernacles. The Jewish Sabbath begins on
Friday evening at sunset and is an important time
when families gather for the Shabbat meal.
Christianity
• Believes in Trinitarian God. One God in three personas: God
the Father (Creator), God the Son (Savior), and God the Holy
Spirit (Sustainer).
• Eternal life after death will be achieved through faith in Jesus
Christ.
• Jesus Christ is, God the Son, who came into flesh, to spread
the Good news of Salvation. He died on the cross for the sin
of the humanity but resurrected from the death, so that
anyone who believes in Him will be saved and have eternal
life.
Customs and Practices
• Sacrament of Baptism: symbolized the birth in Christian
World
• Sacrament of Communion: an act of remembrance of Jesus
Christ’s sacrificial love.
• Jesus Christ teaching in unconditional love that is expressed
in loving the poor, oppressed, and outcast of the society.
• Christmas and Resurrection (Easter), depends on the lunar
calendar, sometime in March or April.
 Religious beliefs, rituals, practices, and customs are
all part of the expression of the spiritual self. What to
believe and how to manifest the belief is entirely
dependent on the individual, to the self.
A person might believe that there is a higher being,
a supernatural being, usually termed as God, but not
necessarily wants to be affiliated or identified with a
certain religious group
Religious beliefs and practices, therefore are formed
relative to its context and culture.
Logotherapy
• A psychotherapy introduced by Dr. Viktor Frankl. The main belief of
logotherapy is that “man’s primary motivational force is search for
meaning.”
• Aids individuals find personal meaning of life, whatever life situation they
may be.
• Logotherapy can be discovered by creating a work or doing deed,
experiencing something or encountering someone and the attitude
towards unavoidable suffering.
• It uses the philosophy of optimism in the face of tragedy, where people are
capable of “turning suffering into human achievement and
accomplishment deriving from guilt the opportunity to change oneself for
the better; and deriving from life’s transitoriness an incentive to take
responsible action.
Basic concepts
• Life has meaning under all circumstances
• Main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.
• Freedom to find meaning

Furthermore, Franklian Psychology aims to:

1. Become aware of spiritual resources
2. Make conscious spiritual resources
3. Use defiant power of the human spirit and stand up against
adversity.
Sources of Meaning
1. Purposeful Work: To find the meaning of life starts with holding a
future goal. That task or goal to fulfill becomes the meaning of
their life. Therefore, meaning of life is unique to every individual
2. Courage in the face of difficulty: A meaningful life is a life with
suffering. To find meaning of life is to recognize suffering, pain, and
death as part of life and to have the courage to face these life
difficulties.
3. Love: The ultimate secret on the spiritual foundation of life is that
love is salvation and joy eternity. The ultimate factor to find the
meaning of life is love.