The Need for Spirituality
Talking about “spirituality” is always a challenge, even more so when it is outside the religious context. However, due to globalization, which brings together different cultures and ways of understanding religion, and the rapid expansion of secularization, it is a terminology that needs to be defined and concretized in order to work in dialogue, both interreligious and non-religious.
For this reason, at the Pontifical University of Comillas, we have decided to address this issue as a fundamental aspect of the education of the new generations. In Spain, the vast majority of spiritual education is linked to religious education, leaving out crucial aspects that are part of the human being, regardless of their beliefs.
An attempt has been made to define spirituality as an inherent aspect of the human being, following the approaches of renowned researchers in the field such as David Hay, Rebecca Nye, Kate Adams, Jennifer Mata-McMahon, Brendan Hyde, Tony Eaude or Marian de Souza, among others.
Spirituality has thus been seen as having three major dimensions: Intrapersonal, Relational and Transcendental.
The first dimension refers to interiority, the human capacity to be aware of oneself, one’s thoughts, feelings and actions (voluntary or involuntary). The relational dimension has to do with the connection with others and with the environment around us, at a level of depth that goes beyond simple understanding, and refers to aspects such as compassion, altruism or care. Finally, the transcendental dimension, which can occur in religious or nonreligious settings, connects the person to a reality beyond self, to life’s purpose and search for meaning, and to a connection with a higher being or power.
Therefore, spirituality is a dimension of the human being that should be developed in schools, along with the other dimensions (social, cognitive, emotional, etc.). The care of spirituality is also an important variable in the well-being of children and adolescents, and the contribution that its development could have on specific aspects of learning, such as memory, attention or reasoning, is being studied.
Jorge works as a professor at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences at Pontifical University of Comillas, Madrid. His research interest focus on children’s’ spirituality, pedagogy of spirituality and the connection between spirituality and cognitive and brain development.
See also Jorge’s article below:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19422539.2024.2387690?src=exp-la