Understanding the Psychological Soul of Spirituality

This volume outlines and explains current difficulties and limitations in the field and provides a response to these issues. The book is a complete soup-to-nuts exposition of how the field can move in a more productive and inclusive manner. The book takes a strictly psychological approach to understanding spiritual and religious phenomena. The value of this work is that it does not rely on any theological or spiritual models but rather identifies those psychological qualities that underlie humanity’s interest in religious and spiritual issues. These psychological motivations, termed “the numinous” represent universal psychological qualities that define and direct the mental life of all peoples. Included in this volume is the first ontological model for understanding the physical origins of the numinous and the aspects of functioning with which they are concerned. A rigorous methodological model for the development, validation, and application of numinous measures is also provided. Three numinous measures that capture these universal dynamics are presented and overviewed, including a case history that features these scales and their interpretive and clinical utility. Also included is a discussion of how to differentiate psychological approaches to clinically managing numinous issues from more spiritual direction and denominationally-specific pastoral counseling approaches. A conceptual model for understanding the role and value of meaning making in peoples lives is presented that offers a framework for understanding, in psychologically salient ways, how individuals orient themselves to their approach to life. The ultimate value and importance of the numinous to the social sciences is described.