"How do adults learn and develop? How can adult learning become a living growing process?" -- Cover.

The resource is designed to help spiritual directors and others use expressive arts in the context of spiritual direction. It is the latest book in the unique SDI series, designed for professional spiritual directors, but also useful for clergy, therapists, and Christian formation specialists. The Spiritual Directors International Series – This book is part of a special series produced by Morehouse Publishing in cooperation with Spiritual Directors International (SDI), a global network of some 6,000 spiritual directors and members.

The volume was developed to address conceptual, relational and formational questions around the phenomena of creativity and spirituality from a multidisciplinary perspective. We acknowledge the complexity of each phenomenon, and the need for multiple perspectives, in a number of ways. First, different chapters are written from psychological, theological or philosophical perspectives. Second, multiple research perspectives are considered across empirical and phenomenological methods of inquiry. Finally, multiple associations between creativity and spirituality are evaluated. From such multiple perspectives the theme of this volume emerges. Both creativity and spirituality are important for individual and societal flourishing but we know little about fostering both in the 21st century. Some ways of fostering them are psychologically harmful and need to be avoided. New ways of protecting people as they engage in creative and spiritual endeavours are needed. In particular, formal training in both creativity and spirituality within the sphere of higher education should be developed in the light of current research. However, new research that integrates multiple perspectives and examines creativity and spirituality together is needed for training that avoids harm and promotes individual and social flourishing. The book will be valuable for educators in all disciplines of higher education because it justifies and explicates training in creativity and spirituality within all areas of higher education. Further, it discusses how such training might best be included within andragogical practice. The book will be useful for researchers of creativity and spirituality because it gives an overview of contemporary research issues and findings, and proposes a new philosophical? theological perspective for integrative research in these areas. Students in fields of creativity, theology and spirituality will use the book as a synthesis of contemporary theories and research relating to both creativity and spirituality and for direction in post?graduate research. More broadly, Christians and others who appreciate the creative and performing arts will find much to challenge their thinking and deepen their awareness of spirituality within human creativity.

Spirituality and spiritual experiences have been the bedrock of every civilization and together form one of the highest mechanisms for making sense of the world for billions of people. Current research paradigms, due to their limitation to empirical, sensory, psychologically, or culturally constructed realities, fail to provide a framework for exploring this essential area of human experience. The development of a spiritual research paradigm will provide researchers from the social sciences and education the tools and abilities to systematically explore fundamental questions regarding human spiritual experiences and spiritual growth. A spiritual research paradigm requires an ontology that considers all reality to be multidimensional, interconnected, and interdependent. It requires an epistemology that integrates knowing from outer sources as well as inner contemplation, acknowledging our integration of soul and spirit with the body and mind. Three additional aspects are useful to a spiritual research paradigm: axiology, methodology, and teleology. An axiology concerns what is valued, good, and ethical. A methodology is the appropriate approach to systematic inquiry. A fifth and less frequently mentioned aspect is teleology, an explanation of the goal or end (telos) to which new knowledge is applied, such as gaining wisdom and truth, touching the divine, increasing inner peace, exploring hidden dimensions, or improving society. This book takes the first step to develop such a research paradigm. We draw from world spiritual traditions as well as scholarship that has arisen from contemplative practices. We also attempt to build a bridge between science and spirituality. Spiritual research is not necessarily opposed to scientific research; in fact, each can shed light on the other.

Explore the depth of this brilliant and tortured artist's spirituality and find a new Van Gogh--philosopher of life, unorthodox theologian, and determined seeker of global spirituality.

This collection of papers has been developed by an interdisciplinary group of contributors. They present a variety of new perspectives on creativity, spirituality, and transcendence as experienced in adulthood. The discussions in this volume, address the interplay of variables from theoretical, experimental, and clinical vantage points. This book is written for academic and clinical audiences, as well as for those who are interested in-and wrestle with-unexpressed aspects of their own creativity and spiritual yearnings. Unlike the current cognitive trend in creativity research that seeks rational and biological explanations for human phenomena, these essays give consideration to the power of extraordinary sources of inspiration. The research and theoretically based articles presented make a captivating collection that challenges our thinking about what it means to be a creative adult striving toward personal integrity and wisdom at the dawn of the 21st century.

“Ann Druyan has unearthed a treasure. It is a treasure of reason, compassion, and scientific awe. It should be the next book you read.” —Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith “A stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss him so.” —Kurt Vonnegut Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spirituality The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as "informed worship." Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century.