A Sense of ‘Special Connection’, Self-transcendent Values and a Common Factor for Religious and Non-religious Spirituality

Abstract

We examined the hypothesis that a tendency to experience the world in terms of a sense of 'special' connection is responsible for the self-transcendent value dimension identified by multi-dimensional scaling and constitutes a common factor for different religious and non-religious interpretations of spirituality. Eight different groups were studied including: (a) six different types of faith leaders in India and the UK, (b) people who self-rated as spiritual but not religious, and (c) those self-rating as neither spiritual nor religious. They completed a questionnaire that assessed (a) the strength of their spirituality irrespective of type (self-perceived spirituality) and (b) the experience of special connection to the following categories: people, nature, places and the universe, with and without using the term spiritual. For all eight samples the different types of connection were highly inter-correlated, and self-perceived spirituality correlated with the sum of connection items irrespective of whether items included the term spiritual or not. Variation between groups in the size of the latter correlation was consistent with different interpretations of spirituality in those groups. Although the meaning of spirituality is socially constructed, variability within faith leader groups suggests that its interpretation is also affected by personality.

The Organic Food Philosophy: A Qualitative Exploration of the Practices, Values, and Beliefs of Dutch Organic Consumers Within a Cultural–Historical Frame

“…A central element of the stories was an intuitively felt connectedness with nature that goes beyond their care for plants and trees. It concerns a reflexive relationship with one's inner nature that is not separate from the ''outer'' environment and could therefore be described as transcendent (Hyland et al 2010). In accordance with our findings, Hyland et al (2010) point out that people usually experience this sense of connection in an all-encompassing way: with regards to nature, places, other people and even the entire universe.…”

“…It concerns a reflexive relationship with one's inner nature that is not separate from the ''outer'' environment and could therefore be described as transcendent (Hyland et al 2010). In accordance with our findings, Hyland et al (2010) point out that people usually experience this sense of connection in an all-encompassing way: with regards to nature, places, other people and even the entire universe. This reminds us of Taylor's (1989) description of the wish to re-unify with nature and to feel an The Organic Food Philosophy 453 integral part of a larger order of living things.…”

“…Nevertheless, people can also identify with ''eating green'' for more secular reasons (Jamison 2003). The same is true for the feeling of connectedness to nature (Hyland et al 2010).…”

“…This orientation may also explain why participants are not very oriented towards asceticism that played an important role in the Lebensreform and the American Natural Foods Movement but is not mentioned in the literature on contemporary spirituality (Hedlund-de Witt 2011). Nevertheless, while some participants emphasized the religious undertone of their practices, more secular interpretations are also possible and may give rise to the same practices (Hyland et al 2010). Participants could, for example, equally emphasize the importance of care for animals and nature and the solidarity they feel with other people.…”

Religion, Spirituality, and Sport: FromReligio AthletaeTowardSpiritus Athletae

“…The latter has been called spiritual-but-not-religious, non-religious spirituality, atheistic spirituality, and humanist spirituality (Hyland, Wheeler, Kamble, & Masters, 2010;Jirásek, 2013;Kaufman, 1987;Nolan, 2009;Schnell, 2012). Spirituality should also be considered with regard to its connection to ideologies that are generally perceived as strictly materialistic and unable to affect the spiritual dimension of being, such as Marxism (Arneson, 1985;Jirásek, 1994;Page, 1993).…”