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“Sometimes I Don’t Even Know Where I Am Going”: What Supports Individualized Personal Spiritual Change?

April 2016
Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 9(1)

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Achva Academic College

Unlike processes of spiritual change within or between-faith, individualized processes of spiritual change cannot rely on the support provided by institutional religions through religious rituals, agents and coherent belief system (e.g., Pargament & Mahoney, 2009; Rambo, 1993). To understand how individuals manage such a potentially arduous change process, the present study explored the facilitating processes of deep personal spiritual change outside of institutional religion, using a qualitative-phenomenological perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted with 27 Israeli adults (13 men and 14 women between the ages of 25 and 66), who were undergoing such change. The analysis of the interviews uncovered 2 main kinds of supporting resources: internal-personal (i.e., deliberate choice, courage, and intentional attention and awareness) and external-environmental (i.e., the availability of spiritual contexts and experiences, spiritual groups and like-minded peers, spiritual teachers, and a sense of connection to a higher power or the transcendent). The findings underscore the pervasiveness of supporting mechanisms that individuals undergoing self-led spiritual change use. These reflect 3 central orientations, internal, horizontal, and vertical, that together maintain these change processes. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

“Sometimes I Don’t Even Know Where I Am Going”: What

Supports Individualized Personal Spiritual Change?

Pninit Russo-Netzer

Online First Publication, April 28, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rel0000092

CITATION

Russo-Netzer, P. (2016, April 28). “Sometimes I Don’t Even Know Where I Am Going”: What

Supports Individualized Personal Spiritual Change?. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rel0000092

“Sometimes I Don’t Even Know Where I Am Going”:

What Supports Individualized Personal Spiritual Change?

Pninit Russo-Netzer

University of Haifa

Unlike processes of spiritual change within or between-faith, individualized processes of spiritual change

cannot rely on the support provided by institutional religions through religious rituals, agents and

coherent belief system (e.g., Pargament & Mahoney, 2009; Rambo, 1993). To understand how individ-

uals manage such a potentially arduous change process, the present study explored the facilitating

processes of deep personal spiritual change outside of institutional religion, using a qualitative-

phenomenological perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted with 27 Israeli adults (13 men and 14

women between the ages of 25 and 66), who were undergoing such change. The analysis of the interviews

uncovered 2 main kinds of supporting resources: internal-personal (i.e., deliberate choice, courage, and

intentional attention and awareness) and external-environmental (i.e., the availability of spiritual contexts

and experiences, spiritual groups and like-minded peers, spiritual teachers, and a sense of connection to

a higher power or the transcendent). The findings underscore the pervasiveness of supporting mecha-

nisms that individuals undergoing self-led spiritual change use. These reflect 3 central orientations,

internal, horizontal, and vertical, that together maintain these change processes.

Keywords: adulthood, qualitative methodology, spiritual change, spirituality, supporting processes

Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rel0000092.supp

Spirituality has played a key role in human experience as an

integral part of an individual’s life, throughout history and

across cultures (e.g., Vaughan, 2002). However, unlike other

domains of human development such as the cognitive, the

motor or the emotional, relatively little attention has been paid

within canonical life span theories and models to the study of

spiritual development as integral to human normative develop-

ment (e.g., Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener, & Benson, 2006).

Furthermore, spiritual change and development are unlike other

change processes that individuals undergo, such as marriage or

choosing a career, given that they are more idiosyncratic and

less normatively anticipated by society. The salience of spiri-

tual change and development vary widely in different cultures

and for different individuals (Roehlkepartain et al., 2006) and

engaging in such processes often involves a volitional, con-

scious choice (Wink & Dillon, 2002). Thus, although the po-

tential for spiritual experiences and development is considered

inherent to human nature (Benson, Scales, Syvertsen, &

Roehlkepartain, 2012), it is not necessarily relevant to everyone

(Kiesling & Sorell, 2009). The present study sought to explore

the processes which support and facilitate personal spiritual

change.

Spiritual Change

Spiritual change is broadly defined as a transformation, “a

change in the meaning system that a person holds as a basis for

self-definition, the interpretation of life, and overarching purposes

and ultimate concerns” (Paloutzian, 2005, p. 334). This conceptu-

alization highlights meaning-making as a central underlying di-

mension of spiritual change (Pargament, 2006; Wortmann & Park,

2009). A wide range of internal and contextual factors may insti-

gate such processes. These include socialization and spiritual/

religious practices that lead people to seek spiritual answers

(Chandler, Holden, & Kolander, 1992), as well as distinct life

experiences. These include, for instance, transitions in life and

stressful events that may challenge or destabilize existing meaning

systems, and function as turning points which shape the route of

one’s spiritual life (Fiori, Hays, & Meador, 2004; King, 2004).

Internal experiences that involve doubts, inner conflicts, and spir-

itual struggles may also lead people to search for new answers

regarding their spiritual concerns (Exline & Rose, 2005). Efforts to

cope with such disequilibrium and to rebuild meaning may include

processes of questioning, seeking and changing the way the spir-

itual is understood and experienced (Batson, Schoenrade, & Ven-

tis, 1993; Pargament & Mahoney, 2009; Wortmann & Park, 2009).

For example, one of the main domains of positive change as part

of posttraumatic growth following adversity is spiritual change,

reflecting an engagement with fundamental existential questions

and increased interest in issues of a spiritual or religious nature

(Shaw, Joseph, & Linley, 2005; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004).

Positively valenced distinctive events such as peak experiences as

well as religious, mystical, or transpersonal experiences may also

serve as catalysts for spiritual change (e.g., Greyson, 2006; Miller

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Pninit Russo-

Netzer, Department of Counseling and Human Development, University of

Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel. E-mail: pninit.russonetzer@

gmail.com

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2016, Vol. 8, No. 2, 000 1941-1022/16/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rel0000092

& C’de Baca, 2001), by illuminating sudden insights and changes

in perspective that may alter individuals’ sense of self and meaning

(McDonald, 2008).

Historically, processes of spiritual change have taken place

within a particular organized religious tradition, and religion has

been described as involving “the search for significance that oc-

curs within the context of established institutions that are designed

to facilitate spirituality” (Pargament, Mahoney, Exline, Jones, &

Shafranske, 2013, p. 15). Spiritual change for individuals within

organized religion often involves a personal search for higher

meaning and purpose in relation to the divine, sacred, or the

transcendent within the dogma and the practices of that religion

such as in intensification and strengthening of faith (e.g., Danzig &

Sands, 2007; Pargament & Mahoney, 2009; Sandage & Moe,

2013). However, processes of spiritual change may also involve a

change of context, within the same religious tradition (such as in

shifting denomination) or change across religious traditions (such

as in “switching” between faiths or conversion) (Paloutzian, 2005;

Rambo, 1993; Sandage & Moe, 2013). They may also include

losing faith, disengagement from or leaving organized religion

(Spilka, Hood, Hunsberger, & Gorsuch, 2003), such as in ‘exiting’

processes (e.g., Davidman & Greil, 2007) and deconversion (i.e.,

the rejection of religion for a nonreligious worldview; Hood,

Csöff, Keller, & Silver, 2011).

This variety notwithstanding, spiritual change is described as

involving challenging and demanding internal processes that re-

quire support (e.g., Fuller, 2001; Paloutzian, 2005). Within reli-

gious traditions, such processes are often maintained, guided, and

facilitated by religious rituals and agents (e.g., Pargament & Ma-

honey, 2009; Rambo, 1993), which provide an organized and

coherent belief system, guidelines for behaviors, framework of

meaning and purpose to life (Park, 2005), and a means of social

support for difficulties when needed (Pargament, 1997; Shaw,

Joseph & Linley, 2005). These also include personal relations with

a spiritual guide or mentor such as a rabbi, a priest, or an imam, the

existence of a consensual worldview which serves as a guideline

for the moral and worthy life, and a community of believers to

belong to. For example, mechanisms of religion and social support

networks were found to play a crucial role in facilitating social-

ization, commitment and a sense of belonging for individuals

experiencing religious conversion processes (e.g., Gooren, 2007;

Kerley & Copes, 2009; Lofland & Stark, 1965). This is also

evident within the context of religious intensification in Judaism

(Baalei teshuvah), where individuals report social relationships

and belonging to a community as contributing to the continual

process of extensive learning and engagement in religious precepts

leading to strong commitment to Judaism (Danzig & Sands, 2007).

Spiritual Change Outside Institutional Religions

Spiritual change also occurs outside institutional religions. In

fact, recent studies of Western societies indicate that the phenom-

enon of individualized spirituality involving the search for ultimate

significance outside the boundaries of institutional religions is on

the rise (see Fuller, 2001; Streib, Silver, Csöff, Keller, & Hood,

2011). In the United States, for example, roughly 28% of all adults

and 33% of adults under 30 consider themselves spiritual but

religiously unaffiliated (Oman, 2013; Pew Research Center, 2012).

Evidence from Europe suggests a similar trend, with individual-

ization and a nonorthodox personal spirituality taking the place of

traditional religions and spiritualities characterized by transcen-

dent theism (e.g., Heelas, 2007; Houtman & Mascini, 2002). This

is the case also in Israel, where the present study was conducted.

About 42.5% of the Jewish population in Israel (Government of

Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics, 2013) identify themselves as

secular, in the sense of not belonging to a religious community and

not observing traditional rituals.

In contemporary Israel, the distinction between religious and

nonreligious affiliation is defined by marked characteristics,

such as ways of dressing, educational institutions, and daily

practices subscribing to either Orthodox or Conservative Jewish

belief (Ruah-Midbar, 2012). Thus, to the Israeli Jewish secular

population, their Jewish identity is often experienced as a

national or ethnic identity and not as a religious identity (Ez-

rachi, 2004). Furthermore, the lack of a clear separation be-

tween state and religion in Israel leads to the dominance of

religious laws (halakha), customs, and symbols in a variety of

spheres. This state of affairs often evokes resentment toward

religiosity and Jewish orthodoxy (Pelleg & Leichtentritt, 2009)

because it is perceived as involving coercion. The transition to

an individualistic worldview and the deepening of social, cultural,

and ideological crises of identity spurred a search for alternative

sources for meaning and resulted in an increased interest in and

move toward spiritual and metaphysical venues of personal spiri-

tual meaning in Israeli society (Beit-Hallahmi, 1992). This is

evident in the growing interest and involvement in contemporary

alternative spiritualities that may lead to significant changes in life

(Ruah-Midbar, 2012; Simchai, 2009).

Spiritual change processes that take place outside institutional

religious frameworks often reflect and are influenced by the char-

acteristics of the postmodern sociocultural context (e.g., Heelas,

1996; Roof, 1999). For example, the current postmodern world is

characterized by a lack of stability, a lack of certainty, and the

dissolution of binding traditional frameworks (Buxant, Saroglou,

& Tesser, 2010). In such a context, and in the absence of a

sanctified authority to relate and attend to, the self is considered to

be an authority and the constructor and creator of norms and

standards (Roof, 1993, 1999). This is reflected in a shift from

loyalty, commitment, and social belonging to an ideology of

autonomy and agency (Sutcliffe, 2000), in which “the ‘individual’

serves as his or her own source of guidance” (Heelas, 1996, p. 23).

For example, the literature discussing deconversion argues that

such processes may often be experienced as solitary, as disaffili-

ation often requires the severing of both primary and secondary

social ties (Streib et al., 2011; Sandomirsky & Wilson, 1990). In a

broader sense, this is reflected in what Wuthnow (1998) has

described as the contemporary changing spiritual landscape from

’spirituality of dwelling,’ which emphasizes a particular (typically

religious) community and tradition that provides stability and

security, toward a predominance of a ‘spirituality of seeking.’ The

latter involves open-ended seeking and journeying within or be-

yond the boundaries of religious institutions, emphasizing experi-

ence, transition, and eclecticisms (Roof, 1993, 1999; Wuthnow,

1998), reflected in selective or uncommitted explorations of prac-

tices and worldviews (Smith & Snell, 2009).

Self-initiated processes within the fluid, eclectic, and deregu-

lated arena of alternative spirituality (Bruce, 1996; Sutcliffe, 2000)

are for the most part voluntary (Roehlkepartain et al., 2006) and

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2RUSSO-NETZER

idiosyncratic (Kwilecki, 1999). Thus, individuals are faced with

the challenge of personally constructing their own worldview and

identity with less clear guidance of traditions and support of stable

structures and designated authorities to guide this process.

The lack of established religious rituals, agents, and social

networks illuminates the need for a better understanding of the

elements, circumstances, and processes that support individualized

spiritual change processes outside established religious contexts, a

phenomenon which is on the rise in contemporary postmodern

Western societies. In line with the call to explore spirituality using

methodology that does not distance itself from people’s experi-

ences (e.g., Pargament & Mahoney, 2009), the present study

utilized a bottom-up qualitative approach to explore the question—

are there any processes that can be identified as supporting indi-

viduals in sustaining a self-led change process outside institutional

religions, which is often idiosyncratic and eclectic? The primary

interest of a qualitative design is understanding how individuals

ascribe meaning to or interpret a given phenomenon (e.g., Hodge,

2001; Merriam, 1998). Of the variety of qualitative research meth-

ods available, the phenomenological research method was chosen

because it places a specific focus on exploring the meaning of

phenomena in human experience (Giorgi, 1997) from the perspec-

tives of the individuals themselves (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994).

Method

Participants

Participants were recruited via multiple methods, including ad-

vertisements in various areas and Internet forums, as well as the

“snowball” method (i.e., asking one participant to recommend

others for interviewing; Babbie, 1995). A broad and open invita-

tion was provided, as follows: “For an in-depth study, we are

searching for individuals who have undergone, or are currently

undergoing, spiritual change in their lives.” As is customary in

qualitative methods, the sample size in the present study was

determined by the saturation principle: data were collected and

analyzed until no new themes emerged (Padgett, 1998). The final

sample included the first 27 people who responded to this open

invitation and experienced spiritual change outside the boundaries

of institutional religion; that is, they did not describe themselves as

participating in an organized traditional Jewish community. Three

people who responded to the invitation but whose spiritual change

was directed toward institutional religion were not included. The

sample included 13 men and 14 women who came from a variety

of spiritual orientations, such as Transcendental meditation, New

Kabbalah, Buddhism, and Shamanism (see Table 1 in the online

Supplemental Materials for more detail on the sample). Although

participants often reported having a current preferred and perhaps

dominant orientation or practice, all of them described a process of

search that involved several spiritual orientations and noted that in

their current worldview and conduct they mix aspects from differ-

ent spiritual perspectives. Despite this variety, based on in-depth

analyses of their interviews it appeared that for all the participants,

the change process was experienced as fundamental and culmi-

nated in the establishment of a new “post-modern” committed

spiritual identity that involved several coexisting dialectics (see

Russo-Netzer & Mayseless, 2014). Furthermore, the process of

spiritual change was experienced by them as work on the self,

which comprises two complementary processes: uncovering and

cleansing the self—the Spiritual-Psychological facet—and expanding

it and rising above—the Spiritual-Transpersonal facet (Russo-Netzer

& Mayseless, under review).

All participants were Jewish Israeli, from various ethnic origins

(51.85% “Ashkenazi,” i.e., of European American origin, 33.3%

“Mizrahi”, i.e., of Asian-African origin, and 14.8% mixed origin).

Ages ranged between 25 and 66 years (M⫽45.3; SD ⫽10.9).

Regarding education levels, participants ranged from high school

graduates (28%), graduates of technical schools/professional di-

ploma (28%), to college graduates (44%). Fourteen participants

were married, six divorced, six single, and one widowed. The

participants differed in the length of the change process at the time

they were interviewed, ranging roughly from five years or less

(four participants), five to 10 years (10 participants), 10 to 15 years

(10 participants), and more than 15 years (three participants). See

Table 1 in the online Supplemental Materials for further informa-

tion.

Procedure

In-depth face-to-face semistructured interviews were employed,

lasting between 1.5 and 3.5 hours (M⫽141 min; SD ⫽39.82). All

interviews were conducted by the first author and were audiotaped

and transcribed verbatim. The participants signed an informed

consent following a detailed explanation of the research and their

rights prior to the beginning of each interview. Each interview

began with a general, open-ended question regarding the experi-

ence of the spiritual aspect in the participants’ lives, enabling them

to speak spontaneously and describe their personal and subjective

experience as freely as possible in their own words:

I am interested in the personal experience of people who have under-

gone, or are currently undergoing, a change in their lives which they

define as spiritual. Could you please tell me how you experience the

spiritual aspect of your life?

Throughout the interview, whenever necessary, the participants

were asked open-ended probing questions to encourage them to

elaborate, clarify meanings, reveal unexplored points or provide

further details and examples, to achieve in-depth understanding of

their experiences. For example: “What made this change possi-

ble?”, “Can you describe that particular experience / incident in

more detail?”, “What was it like?” or “Can you give an example?”

(van Manen, 1990). All interviews took place in the participants’

homes at their preferred time, to maintain a familiar environment

(Creswell, 2007) and allow them the conditions of time, space and

convenience to freely and spontaneously develop their story in

their own way, pace and language.

Data Analysis

A phenomenological analysis of the interview transcripts was

employed to gain a deeper understanding of underlying facilitators

of the spiritual change process. All interviews were read indepen-

dently several times to gain an overall impression of the partici-

pants’ experiences until a sense of immersion had been obtained.

Then, ‘meaning units’ as expressed by the participants (Giorgi,

1975) were identified, through a process of ‘open coding’ (Strauss

& Corbin, 1990). These separate meaning units were used to create

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WHAT SUPPORTS INDIVIDUALIZED SPIRITUAL CHANGE?

descriptive categories of basic themes to construct an initial frame-

work for further analysis. Next, the various categories and basic

themes were reexamined and compared for possible connections

across individual meaning expressions as well as between partic-

ipants. In this stage, the different general and unique themes were

gathered and grouped across the interviews into clusters of similar

issues, resulting in two main categories. Although the process is

presented here in a linear form, in practice it represented a cyclic

process, as each stage built upon its predecessor, for each case

separately and across all cases. As such, it involved a dynamic and

repeated back-and-forth movement between “the parts” (i.e., texts

and quotations) and “the whole” (i.e., the entire transcript), be-

tween units of meaning and general themes (e.g., van Manen,

1990).

Qualitative methods have employed various criteria of quality

such as validity, rigor, trustworthiness, fairness, authenticity, and

credibility (Morrow, 2005). Guided by the phenomenological par-

adigm, which honors reflectivity and subjectivity, the present

study took into account constructivist criteria and trustworthiness

standards such as dependability (“a systematic process systemati-

cally followed”; Patton, 2002, p. 546), verstehen, or the deep

understanding of the participants’ meanings, a dialogue between

various perspectives and researcher reflexivity (Morrow, 2005;

Patton, 2002). These were addressed through methods of memo-

writing and reflexive research diary (Wall, Glenn, Mitchinson, &

Poole, 2004) throughout the process to record researcher’s reflec-

tions and interpretations (van Manen, 1990). At the same time, a

continuous process of critical discussion of the data was con-

ducted, including feedback and insights from independent col-

leagues, enabling triangulation and increased vigor of the analysis

and interpretations. In addition, all of the interpretations were

grounded in direct and rich extracts from the interviews (Stiles,

1993).

Results

The participants recounted that as part of their spiritual change

process, they are (or were) involved in exploring various spiritual

practices and some forms of spiritual orientations. However, they

did not identify themselves as adhering to a specific structured

religious/spiritual tradition. Rather, they described a self-led pro-

cess which is creatively and idiosyncratically constructed by the

individual her/himself, and combines different elements from a

range of practices, traditions and beliefs explored by them. The

diverse ways and sources that serve these individuals in piecing

together their spiritual change process reflect postmodern values of

multiplicity, relativism, and choice, as well as the personalized and

eclectic nature of the process. This highlights the importance of

identifying what supports such idiosyncratic processes. The fol-

lowing example from Nathan (all names are pseudonyms to protect

the privacy and anonymity of the participants) exemplifies the

participants’ need for support in facilitating and maintaining the

process of spiritual change and describes the different resources

that he relies upon:

There are many challenges in this process, a lot . . . the hardest thing

is where you feel very alone, misunderstood . . . or where I encoun-

tered a lot of barriers, a lot of frustrating points at which I don’t know

where to go. Sometimes I don’t even know where I am going. As a

result of trusting the process, I knew what to do. I knew I had to

sometimes get help from other people, to go to a clinician, caregiver

or coach, to work on myself, to meditate, all sorts of things that always

brought me the answer. It doesn’t make it easy. I think that the

strongest tool I probably have is some kind of ability to stop and

observe what is right for me at the moment. [Nathan, male, 43]

The analyses regarding the issue of support underscored two

main kinds of supporting resources: personal-internal and external-

environmental.

Personal-Internal Resources

Several personal resources were identified in all of the inter-

views as supporting the change process according to the partici-

pants: (a) deliberate choice, (b) courage, and (c) intentional atten-

tion and awareness.

Deliberate choice. Deliberate choice emerged from the inter-

views as important to the participants’ commitment to their spir-

itual change process. Yasmin, for example, refers to her deliberate

choice as the mechanism that allows her to hold different dimen-

sions and still maintain a solid core:

I choose. Yes, this is essentially what keeps me going . . . it helps me

to be able to constantly be drawn to different directions, even if they

are contradictory, but at the same time it also helps me to get back to

my center, to keep myself centered. [Yasmin, female, 25]

Tali described a clear and thoughtful choice which involves a

personal responsibility toward maintaining and coping with the

continuous process of inner change:

You do this [spiritual] work because you want to understand, to

learn, to change, to crack, to agree to see who you really are and

it is hard . . . it’s really hard because it means getting inside your

gut, going all the way . . . you have to be in a state where you

understand that you can choose and that you are strong enough to

choose and take responsibility for it. It’s knowing that there is a

hand somewhere that is reached out for you, if only you would

agree to reach yours as well. It will come but you have to want it,

to choose it. [Tali, female, 53]

Similarly, Nathan emphasized the significant place of his con-

scious choice to be committed to the spiritual path:

I think that choice is the essential thing here. I chose this [spiritual]

path. I chose and I continue to choose every day to remain in the

position of choosing . . . there is always a choice of whether to persist

. . . and the universe, it tries you out, to check if you are really serious.

[Nathan, male, 43]

Rachel [female, 59] highlighted that the element of choice is not

passive but associated with making an effort and with doing: “You

have to choose to see the opportunity in what happens to you in life

and to grab it, but, more importantly, you have to be willing to do

something about it.”

Alongside the importance of choice, some participants also

articulated a strong conviction that there is no turning back once

the process has begun:

When you start to work on yourself and you start change, it’s very

hard and unpleasant, and you really want to say ’stop, what do I need

all this for? . . . But at the same moment that I say it, it is clear to me

that I have no choice. I have no choice, because once you start to see

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4RUSSO-NETZER

there is no going back, you can’t stop seeing and say ‘it’s all good.’

[Meirav, female, 45]

A similar conviction was articulated by Reuven:

I don’t have a choice . . . it’s like wanting to go back to being a child

again. A child has fun, he doesn’t have that much of heavy respon-

sibility, but I am already part of the process. I can’t go back anymore

. . . because I understand that I want to remove the foreskin, the blind

that covers my eyes and I want to see, I really want to see. It’s like in

that movie, ‘Matrix’. Once you take the pill, you can’t go back . . . life

becomes real. [Reuven, male, 47]

Such a lack of choice or an inability to “go back” to a previously

held worldview essentially reflects the difference between two

elements of the change process: “knowing” and “working.” Once

the participants have entered the spiritual change process, their

worldview has changed and they can no longer choose to deny

what they know or “close their eyes.” “Working,” as part of their

personal change process however, is a matter of choice and such

choice sustains their engagement in light of the demanding nature

of the process.

Courage. The participants also highlighted the importance of

courage in their commitment to the process. Yogev, for example,

noted courage as an inner guide that led him to find meaning in and

to develop a commitment to the process:

To do this kind of demanding work you have to have courage.

Spiritual courage. That kind of courage allows you to be willing to

take risks because you know they are worth taking since they rein-

force something within you. [Yogev, male, 53]

Yasmin also highlighted the importance of courage to support-

ing her throughout the process:

You have to be willing to go through whatever happens . . . and I

mean whatever happens, whether it’s fear, or pain, or anything else

. . . so courage is a very important ingredient in this process, in

confronting these things. [Yasmin, female, 25]

Dorit identified two facets to courage derived from personal

determination—an inner courage to contain internal challenges or

struggles, and an external courage to endure in the process despite

external challenges:

It demands a lot of courage . . . an inner courage to cope with

things that are rising from the inside, and an external courage of

not ascribing too much meaning or importance to things everyone

else does . . . it requires that you know your direction and stick to

it. [Dorit, female, 52]

Reuven also described courage as twofold, and highlighted the

dual complementary facets of courage in overcoming fears and

pain, and in trusting the process even when “you do not under-

stand”:

You need to be someone who isn’t afraid to want to reform oneself . . .

someone who isn’t scared to run headfirst into a wall and is not afraid

of pain. Because pain and suffering are elements that make you amend

yourself....It’s also not being afraid to trust. Because once I learn

to trust my inner system, it means understanding that in many cases

there are things that have their own place even if they don’t make

sense. [Reuven, male, 47]

Intentional attention and awareness. The participants also

overwhelmingly underscored the importance of being self-aware

and reflective. Amit described the important interaction between

being present, paying attention and an openness to see and accept:

You must be present, and must pay attention to what happens so you

are able to really encounter reality, or other people....Ilisten

attentively, and when I encounter helplessness I say, ’here, my teacher

has arrived’, and then rather than feeling like I have to prove some-

thing, I can release it to explore what I really want and choose what

is right from within. [Amit, male, 51]

Rachel articulated how close attention to and awareness of inner

voices as well as of external reality throughout the process requires

patience and mindful attention:

It means looking at it as a process throughout time, and being patient

with the process . . . it is very meaningful to stop and observe, to ask

ourselves and to listen. [Rachel, female, 59]

Yasmin also stressed intentional self-awareness and observing

as critical:

Awareness is critical. You can’t do this process without awareness.

It’s not something you do because someone ‘brainwashed’ you. It

has to come from you. It has force and power because it comes

from your awareness, from your observation, from your attentive-

ness. You have to be able to observe. If you don’t, you can’t do it.

[Yasmin, female, 25]

The participants highlighted the importance of intentionally

being attentive, open and self-aware throughout the process.

Yaron, for example, noted:

You need to have a strong will to be open and attentive. In my

experience, you need to maintain open eyes and an open heart. To

be willing to be aware, to learn things about yourself, to acknowl-

edge how much you don’t actually know and to be open to it.

[Yaron, male, 26]

In sum, the participants described several personal-internal re-

sources: deliberate choice, courage and engagement in intentional

and mindful attention, all of which contributed to their persistence

in maintaining a continuous and demanding self-authored spiritual

change process.

External–Environmental Resources

Along with the internal supporting processes, the participants

also pointed out the significance of external support in the process.

These included the following: (a) the availability of spiritual

contexts and experiences, (b) specific spiritual groups and like-

minded peers, (c) spiritual teachers, and (d) a sense of connection

to a higher power or the transcendent.

The availability of spiritually related contexts and

experiences. The participants described an active exploration of

different and diverse spiritual orientations and practices. Many of

them participated in workshops, retreats, courses, and voluntary

spiritual practice groups (such as Vipassana, Mindfulness, or Tran-

scendental Meditation). In addition, they described participating in

the joint study of “spiritual materials” with others, such as scrip-

tures from different religions, channeled materials, Shamanism,

courses in miracles, ancient Eastern texts such as Buddhist sutras,

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WHAT SUPPORTS INDIVIDUALIZED SPIRITUAL CHANGE?

and so forth. Some of these practice groups, retreats, or study

groups were led by spiritual teachers and some included same-

status peers. The participants also engaged in dyadic interpersonal

interactions led by spiritual teachers as well as in informal con-

versations with their peers. The availability of a variety of contexts

and groups supported the participants’ spiritual exploration, study,

and practice, and allowed them to be exposed to and to experience

a wide variety of traditions, approaches, and disciplines, and to

come up with their own mixture of spiritual beliefs and practices.

The availability of the spiritual context also enabled the partici-

pants to select a community that would resonate with their choices

and interests. Yaron provided a clear and lively delineation of

these issues:

I began to see, to feel, that there is something beyond. Something that

I don’t exactly know how to explain in words, and I began to slowly

search for its meaning . . . I began to really get into, to delve into some

kind of spiritual search process. To read a lot of books, and engage in

all sorts of channeling, and courses and workshops, and Reiki, past

life regression, Meditation, Vipassana, and Buddhism, rebirthing, a lot

of searching, searching for questions, for answers . . . it’s a lot but I

can see truths in all kinds of ways . . . because each of us is a bit

different and the variety of ways that exist today allow you to explore

and understand things more deeply through different approaches. So

you can really cover a wider spectrum. Because, eventually, all of this

searching and exploration of different workshops, practices or meth-

ods are basically ways of ‘knowing thyself.’ All these allow me to

know myself from the inside. [Yaron, male, 26]

To the participants, the active exploration of an eclectic variety

of approaches constitutes a kind of mosaic that integrates different

beliefs and traditions that coexist with no contradictions, as in the

following illustrations by Boaz and Meirav:

I feel that my path was paved. It was paved through Indian Shaman-

ism, Celtic Shamanism, Hebrew Shamanism, Jehovah, Kabbalah....

I basically synthesize beliefs to make my own path. Whatever felt

right to me, from anything, I took it and synthesized it. And there is

no contradiction, everything is connected and integrated together for

me. [Boaz, male, 63]

I did some Kabbalah, and Buddhism, a lot of Vipassana and Yemima

[a method for conscious awareness], and this integration between

them was just what I needed, although my [spiritual] teacher didn’t

like it because people tend to think that their way is the right one, but

I don’t think so....Ilove the connections, the combination. I can be,

for example, when I’m in a retreat to translate to myself Buddhism to

Yemima and Kabbalah, and the other way around, because for me, all

of that are really connected and complement each other. They hold the

same universal truth. [Meirav, female, 45]

Although the participants appear to be involved in various

spiritual practices and some forms of spiritual orientations as part

of their spiritual change process, they do not adopt a specific

structured religious/spiritual tradition. Such eclecticism and mix-

ture between traditions and practices appears to reflect the partic-

ipants’ belief in perennialism (i.e., the view that all traditions and

religions share the same essential truth; Heelas, 1996).

Spiritual groups and like-minded peers. The discovery of

like-minded peers, groups, or networks that are open to the spiri-

tual and who engage in spiritual processes endowed the partici-

pants with a sense of belonging to a community, and provided

support throughout the demanding change process. This was ar-

ticulated by them as finding a ‘shared language’ with people who

understand them, as can be seen in the following excerpt by Ziva:

I don’t share my experiences with everyone because they won’t

understand. It is like speaking a foreign language. But there are people

I met in workshops and events and we have a shared path. We

strengthen each other; it is an environment that supports and rein-

forces my process [. . .] it feels like a community, I feel like I found

my ’soul family,’ because I feel that the connection is so strong and

powerful with these people that I can’t explain it otherwise. [Ziva,

female, 44]

Nofar articulated a similar experience, reflecting on the impor-

tance of taking part in a group that “speaks the same language”, as

a community committed to cooperative learning and development:

When I got to this group, it made me suddenly see that there are other

people who speak the same language, the spiritual language . . . you

feel a connection. [Nofar, female, 47]

The group and the connection with like-minded peers allowed

the participants to engage in self-reflection, to elaborate on past

and current difficulties, and to reintegrate them in a holistic,

broader scope. The group further provided the enabling conditions

of intimacy and trust that the participants could use to share their

personal experiences and behavior, and experiences in the group

taught them about themselves. Nathan and Shelley recounted such

a situation:

I had an experience there [at a workshop] that I couldn’t explain. An

experience that felt especially good to me, that made me cry, not out

of sadness, but from joy. I didn’t know why. And then I realized that

I saw the people around me and I felt the connection, I felt love, I felt

close to them . . . I had some kind of paradigm about life, I’ve seen the

world and the people within it as a rather cold and alienated place . . .

and this experience suddenly made me see, it made me really expe-

rience that everyone is looking for warmth and love. And that is what

eventually made me become connected and simply melted away

something within me, that brought down some kind of wall I had

within me. It made me cry....Itopened a crack in me, it made me

realize that there is something very big here that I don’t understand in

life. [Nathan, male, 43]

It’s like being in my weakest, most vulnerable, spot—and there to be

accepted . . . it is a healing place. In the group there are very intimate

encounters among people who are actually strangers, which I think

allows some kind of process of self-acceptance that is very deep . . .

there is something very liberating when you disclose a wounded place,

it doesn’t matter what, in front of people . . . because everyone was

there and saw how much I hurt, even how much I lack control, and

nothing [bad] happened. Everything was alright. [Shelley, female, 32]

Yaron pointed out the insights gained in group processes that

mirror and reflect what they see in a person as supporting factors

in an otherwise individualistic change process:

What is good in a group is reflection. Reflection means a group that

you trust, people you love and can rely upon to truly reflect something

out of love, to point out the places that you don’t want to see, I think

that is the power of a group . . . they can show you the way, the door,

but only you can open it and pass through it. Most of the work remains

yours. [Yaron, male, 26]

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6RUSSO-NETZER

Along with providing emotional support and acceptance, the

groups also functioned as a context for meaningful interactive

experiences with peers that often revolved around sharing ideas

and personal perspectives, joint learning and the discovery of new

ideas and information. Roee, for example, discussed the impor-

tance of joining others who shared the spiritual process in order to

explore, learn, clarify and crystallize insights:

I joined this group that was involved with the evolution of conscious-

ness, where we explore together and meditate together and ask spir-

itual questions together, which develops your consciousness. The fact

that there is a group that thinks about what spirituality means or what

it means to develop, makes us develop ourselves and our conscious-

ness . . . new patterns are created, new forms of communication or

understanding. It’s like some kind of advanced brainstorming. [Roee,

male, 44]

Spiritual teachers. The participants emphasized the impor-

tance of spiritual teachers as significant sources for insights and as

supporters of their spiritual change process, as can be seen in the

following excerpt from Shay:

You must have a teacher . . . it’s a big mistake for people to treat

themselves . . . you must. It gives you an opportunity to grow. By

myself, I can progress until I reach a limit, but I can’t see. I can’t

really know what I look like from a bystander’s viewpoint, no matter

what. Even if I stand in front of a mirror, I don’t know what I look like

. . . I need someone to show me what I look like. Thus, whoever wants

to really, really develop, must have a teacher. [Shay, male, 34]

Participants articulated the importance of the spiritual teacher as

a “living model” and as a source for knowledge and guidance:

Throughout the process you feel that you need someone. It’s like in

anything, you must have a teacher. You can’t learn to play music from

a book . . . it’s not like learning from a master who is an expert, a

living model . . . he lives it and he can pass his skills to you because

it [what is passed] is a living thing, not a dead one. It’s not something

that you can learn from a book. It’s not something you can see on

television . . . it must be someone who leads you . . . otherwise you

can’t. It’s like you are going into the jungle. Our mind is like a jungle,

you can’t wander around there alone. You must have someone to

guide you, to direct you through your emotions, your thoughts, your

ups and downs within. [Dorit, female, 52]

Yogev recounted a relationship with a spiritual teacher that

reinforced his self-confidence and allowed him to acknowledge an

unrecognized part of himself:

In the interactions with him, I felt that he was taking me or this part

of me [the spiritual; P.R.N] more seriously than I did myself. And in

each such interaction, he treated me or my spiritual yearning in

complete seriousness, which reinforced and made me more and more

aware of this dimension....Sothis is something that I think is one

of the most important services that a spiritual teacher can do for his

students. [Yogev, male, 53]

A similar experience of such meaningful dyadic relationship

was described by Ziva whose spiritual teacher facilitated her

self-discovery and empowerment:

During the workshop, the teacher carried out personal processes on

people in front of the group. He sat in front of me and there was some

kind of process where he held me and I burst into tears. It wasn’t

crying, it was shouting and yelling, there was just so much pain . . .

and the most amazing thing for me was that when I looked at him, I

saw that he was crying with me. It was just amazing. He was there

with me, for me. Something in his presence, you feel his power . . . it’s

like there was something there that allowed me to release all that pain

. . . It’s very powerful. . . . I think that what I met there is love, loving

myself, and loving without an object. You feel it towards all living

things. [Ziva, female, 44]

Elsewhere in her interview, Ziva distinguished between a

teacher who exemplifies a humane model for development and

shares the spiritual path, and a “guru,” who she perceives as

reflecting a nonequal relationship of dependence and relinquish-

ment of personal responsibility, and also talks about nonsupportive

encounters with teachers:

I am not a ‘guru’ kind of person, who favors erasing myself. What I

mean is that I love teachers who are human beings. I am not looking

for someone who will be above me . . . what I really love in the

teacher I am working with is that he never pretends to be enlightened,

or even close to being enlightened. He exposes his weaknesses so

much, his humanness, and I really appreciate that. I can learn from

such teachers. Because they are like me. They did a process, worked

on themselves. I can see whether I can also go through this process,

through the same work that they did. There were also teachers and

moderators that hurt me, that I went through a very rocky process with

and who I felt were not there for me [. . .] those were very scary and

painful moments. [Ziva, female, 44]

Such reservation, accompanied by an inner examination and

exploration of the spiritual teacher is also reflected by Roee:

I think you should be very careful not to turn a teacher into a ’guru,’

to blindly adore him . . . you should check what is right for you, if it

is right for you....Because you will eventually need to learn for

yourself, for real . . . the teacher is only a guide to show you the way,

that’s all. He can’t replace you in your path. [Roee, male, 44]

Higher power. The higher power, the ultimate or the tran-

scendent emerged from the participants’ experiences as a signifi-

cant source of support and trust, representing some kind of ‘secure

base’ (a secure ‘place’ from which to explore), as well as a ‘safe

haven’ (a ‘place’ that comforts you when you are agitated, dis-

tressed or frustrated and angry) that allowed the participants to

trust and feel ‘held’ throughout the process. Although participants

came from a variety of traditions and beliefs, this was apparent in

all the interviews. Although participants referred to their feelings

and mental states (e.g., feeling secure) they clearly referred to

these experiences as emanating from outside help and from an

entity, energy, or force that represents a transcendent external

source, and not synonymous with the self. Shay and Tali, for

example, articulated an experience of a strong connection to the

transcendent that is perceived by them as a source for support

and comfort and which empowers them to cope with challenges

in the process (Shay refers to a ‘safe haven’ and Tali to a

‘secure base’):

The greatest gift of channeling, at least for me, is that they [channeled

entities] are always quiet, they are always silent. No matter the drama

I am in, they always maintain a silence that is a kind of anchor . . . a

constant reminder that it’s not the end of the world, which is very

meaningful in moments of adversity and difficulties in the process.

[Shay, male, 34]

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WHAT SUPPORTS INDIVIDUALIZED SPIRITUAL CHANGE?

It’s like walking in the world knowing that there is something beyond.

You know, it’s like you have something like an angel that guards you

. . . and it gives you the strength to cope, even with crises in the

process and with the insights. [Tali, female, 53]

Amit emphasized that such a connection with the transcendent is

established by conscious and volitional trust and confidence rather

than by the fear of a ‘punishing God,’ which he associates with

religious tradition:

It’s trust, trust and confidence, that helps you to continue and be

present, to become aware, to see things as they are . . . it’s trust in my

deep connection, in some kind of personal connection with ’what is

beyond,’ that is conscious and aware, a trust that is not based on the

fear of some kind of a grandfather-God who sits up in heaven and

observes you, and disciplines you, and punishes you like in religion,

which I find to be a childish and naive perception of divinity. I trust

and have faith in what is immanent, in all that exists in a universe

which is greater than me alone. [Amit, male, 51]

This inner sense of trust in the process, which is derived from

‘knowing’ that the transcendent, the ultimate or the ‘beyond’

guides and supports them throughout the process is evident in the

words of Boaz, who emphasized that such an essence lies at the

core of specific manifestations of different traditions:

You can’t be in this spiritual process without faith or trust. And it

doesn’t matter what you call it: universe, nature, or the KanTaka,

which is the great spirit of the Indians, or God....Because when you

break the things that you grew up on during this process, you are like

a baby in troubled water. You need to trust something, or you will

drown. You must trust something much bigger than you. Something

infinite that you are a part of. [Boaz, male, 63]

A few participants also referred to the love they perceived from

that source:

It is not a belief nor a religion, it’s knowing that you can be helped,

that you have ‘someone’ to talk to . . . that you are not alone, which

is a huge thing. It changes everything completely . . . it’s fantastic,

this feeling of unconditional acceptance, it heals so many places

inside....Ican’t imagine my life without the connection to heavens,

this higher wisdom, this guidance, however you want to call it . . .

God, the angels, the divine spirit, the Holy One Blessed Be He . . . it

doesn’t matter what you call it, the connection is just essential. It’s

impossible to live without it . . . this acceptance, the unconditional

love you get, supports you on your way. [Mira, female, 57]

In sum, it appears that alongside personal-internal resources, the

participants also use external-environmental resources in order to

initiate and preserve a process of personal spiritual change. These

included supportive interpersonal relationships with peers and

teachers, the availability of an enabling sociocultural context, and

a sense of connection to an infinite source of higher power which

transcends the private self but is unmediated by organized religion.

Discussion

The present study explored processes facilitating personal spir-

itual change, experienced by the participants as a major change in

their lives. The findings demonstrate that despite the rather am-

biguous, unaffiliated, and fluid nature of their spiritual change

process, the participants were able to secure for themselves dif-

ferent sources of support and a sense of direction. The two main

forms of supporting processes discussed above, namely, the

personal-internal and the external-environmental, can be seen as

reflecting a multidimensional support system that includes both

‘reaching-in’ and ‘reaching-out’ to resources that helped maintain-

ing the participants’ spiritual change process.

Inner Processes

The personal-internal resources that were identified reflect in-

trinsic motivation processes, involving deliberate choice, courage,

and intentional attention and awareness. These resources reflect

the operation of inner guidance and self-reliance, which facilitate

and support the participants’ capability to manage experiences and

challenges throughout the process. The participants’ focus on

conscious choice underscores the importance of volitional engage-

ment in their development and growth. This finding lends support

to Benson et al. (2012) assertions that spiritual development in-

volves a volitional, conscious choice of active engagement. A

similar view of the importance of choice was also eminent in

accounts of quantum changes, in which, despite sudden experi-

ences of conviction, individuals still articulated active choice to

embrace or reject such experiences and the implications for their

lives (Miller & C’de Baca, 2001). In the context of the present

study, such volitional involvement appears to allow the partici-

pants to actively maintain their self-led process, to perceive chal-

lenges and barriers as opportunities for further development, and to

fuel their efforts toward maintaining the demanding processes

involved.

Another internal resource which emerged as important for the

participants’ engagement in the spiritual change process is courage

to face and confront internal as well as external struggles, uncer-

tainties, and challenges. Courage has been viewed as the energiz-

ing impetus for choosing growth over safety needs (see Goud,

2005). The participants in the present study are not provided with

a clear image or structured script of the nature of their change

process as is often the case with affiliation to organized religions

(e.g., Davidman & Greil, 2007; Gooren, 2007). The strength

gained through adopting a courageous attitude toward the “un-

known,” which is involved with a self-led change process appears

to reinforce the participants’ capability to exercise their agency

throughout and to “trust the process.”

The interviews further uncovered the noteworthy importance of

the participants’ reliance on inner reflection processes, which

involved directed attention and self-awareness. The importance of

such capacities has been apparent since antiquity, when the Pythia,

the Delphic Oracle implored each supplicant to ‘know thyself’

above all things, and Socrates suggested that the ‘unexamined life’

should be avoided. It is also evident in contemporary views which

regard spiritual development as a process of awakening to our

inherent spiritual nature (e.g., Wilber, 2000) and practices that

emphasize the importance of self-awareness and reflection for

personal development such as mindfulness (e.g., Brown & Ryan,

2003).

The participants in the present study appear to not only engage

in self-awareness and attentive observing on a continuous basis,

but also clearly articulate their own awareness of the significance

of these processes to their spiritual change process. The reflective

dialogue engendered by processes of self-exploration and atten-

tiveness contributed to their enhanced self-assurance, self-reliance,

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8RUSSO-NETZER

and increased sense of personal accountability. Such inner aware-

ness is thus manifested in a coherent metacognition and does not

resemble rumination. These inner processes helped the participants

become aware of their experiences, to provide an anchoring struc-

ture and thus allowed them to let go of previous knowledge or

self-narratives and open up to the unknown in order to be able to

transform and change. Together the inner strengths allowed them

to feel agentic and competent.

External Support

Beyond the processes described above, which reflect a turn

inward for support, as well as a reliance on personal agency and

self-awareness, the present study revealed that the process of

spiritual change is also strongly supported by relatedness. Such

relatedness is experienced by the participants as both ‘horizontal’

(i.e., other peers, sociocultural context) and ‘vertical’ (i.e., the

transcendent), and it appears to grant them a sense of being held

and supported throughout the process.

In the horizontal sense, spiritual change is embedded in and

facilitated by sociocultural contexts and their concomitant inter-

personal interactions. The effect of the general cultural context

with the multiplicity of alternative spiritualities is reflected in the

availability of different types of spiritualities to experience, ex-

plore, or examine. This context and its diverse groups, courses,

books, and workshops, as well as the open space it creates, may

offer legitimacy and encouragement for inner spiritual change

processes as well as play an important role in facilitating the

participants’ self-led change process. The personalized, autono-

mous, and eclectic nature of the process, as well as the moral

relativism it embraces (Tucker, 2002), are manifested in the di-

verse ways and sources individuals employ in assembling their

continuously unfolding process. ‘Reaching-out’ to like-minded

peers who share similar processes of spiritual exploration and

change, and facilitating contexts such as spiritual groups provided

the participants with an opportunity to find others who ‘speak the

same language’ as them, and to feel understood.

This resonates with processes within religious contexts, where

social structures such as religious or faith-based communities

promote social interaction and reinforce a collective set of shared

values (e.g., Ebstyne King & Furrow, 2004; Smith, 2003), embed-

ded within a strong grounded sense of group identity (Braam et al.,

2001). However, although their function appears to be rather

similar, the nature of the various forms of alternative spirituality

communities in the present study is different from the more tradi-

tional close-knit communities of institutional religion as they are

less organized and less formal. Some of these communities are

formed ad hoc such as groups or alternative spiritual classes that

work together for a limited time, as well as workshops, retreats,

and festivals. Such contexts are experienced by the participants as

more fluid, diffused, and flexible. As Bruce (2006) explains, “the

weakness of community in the New Age alternative spirituality is

not an accident but an inevitable consequence of its solipsistic

basis of authority . . . the self is the final arbiter of truth and

utility.” (p. 42). Hence, although not contextualized within an

organized and stable community with clear values and ideologies,

the comradeship they found in groups and fellow searchers who

helped them along the process provided them a sense of support,

connection, and relatedness together with individual self-

autonomy.

More specifically, groups provided two main types of support:

(a) the nurturance of joint learning and development, and (b) an

affirming and emotionally supportive fellowship which encour-

aged self-expression, and which provided validating and empow-

ering experiences. Such contexts thus allowed the participants to

address their deep human need for acceptance and belonging (e.g.,

Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Deci & Ryan, 2000), as well as to

support and reinforce their inner processes of self-awareness and

self-discovery while encountering challenging emotions and psy-

chological difficulties. Such support was achieved through shar-

ing, mutual exploration and learning, as well as through the ex-

pression and recrystallization of insights, beliefs and attitudes. The

need for confirmation and reassurance was satisfied through the

experiences of emotional resonance and validation. Furthermore,

and through their encounters with others, the participants could

also learn about themselves and gain in vivo insights related to

their behavior and interactions in the world. In a broader sense,

such interactions contributed to the participants’ sense of self-love

and self-acceptance that was also mirrored in their own growth in

love and caring for others. This was evident both within the

various contexts and groups to which they were exposed and as an

overarching sense of interconnectedness, acceptance, caring, and

contribution, which emerged as important ingredients of their

spiritual identity following their change process (Russo-Netzer &

Mayseless, 2014).

In addition to facilitating contexts and groups, the participants

also highlighted the importance of spiritual teachers as meaningful

figures in their spiritual change processes. The participants re-

ported experiences of supportive relationships with spiritual teach-

ers who served as sources of guidance and knowledge. The teach-

ers’ authentic recognition and affirmation were perceived as

empowering and provided an acknowledgment of a participant’s

often fragile sense of self, as well as a ‘living model’ to learn from.

Together, the meaningful and deep group and dyadic relationships

with spiritual teachers and peers appear to enable the participants

to deepen self-discovery and to empower the development of the

self throughout the change process. The importance of spiritual

models and/or teachers as exemplars of spiritual development and

change is evident in all spiritual and religious traditions (Oman &

Thoresen, 2003). Such spiritual modeling is facilitated by social

learning, socialization, and observational learning (Oman, 2013)

and appears to be a significant source of support for a process of

spiritual change inside and outside religious contexts alike.

Interestingly, although the function of context and relationships

appears to be prevalent in various search and change processes, the

present findings also emphasize the unique dialectics between

internal and external processes. The participants continuously put

each of these (e.g., courses, groups, teachers) to scrutiny through

their internal mechanism of self-reflection to determine whether it

is right for them—a tool which appears to be central in their

experience and which is developed in the course of the change

process. Such internally guided filtering involves discerning the

‘authentic’ from the specious (as, e.g., in distinguishing spiritual

teachers from ‘gurus’). In this respect, the commitment to and

involvement in external supporting processes is moderated by the

participants’ own agency, by their individualism, and by the use of

their own reflection and self-awareness. In this way, they maintain

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WHAT SUPPORTS INDIVIDUALIZED SPIRITUAL CHANGE?

balance between their need for community and reliance on others

on the one hand, and the maintenance of their autonomy and

personal responsibility on the other hand.

Along with human contexts and relationships, the participants

also referred to a connection to a higher power or to the ultimate

as a source for guidance, love, and support. This relatedness to the

transcendent forms the vertical sense of support in the process of

spiritual change in the present study. Interestingly, the partici-

pants’ descriptions of their connection to the “higher power”

appear to be different from the other three externals sources.

Whereas their descriptions explicitly refer to “actual” groups,

teachers, and contexts alongside their feelings and experiences

with regard to them, their description of the “higher power” is less

concerned with the nature of that higher power which was per-

ceived as rather amorphous (“it doesn’t matter what you call it”;

see p. 22) and more with their relationship to and connection with

it. Yet, it is experienced as a source which is transcendent to them

and to which they relate, and not as something which is internal or

identified with the self.

The connection to the ‘beyond’ appears to function as a ‘secure

base’ from which to explore, and as a ‘safe haven’ that comforted

and reassured them throughout the process and its accompanying

challenges. The idea that a relationship with the transcendent

carries with it qualities such as ‘secure base’ and ‘safe haven’

resonates with Kirkpatrick’s (1998; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick,

2008) model of religious processes, in which a relationship with

God can be described as an attachment bond. More specifically,

the model points out the resemblance between internal working

models of God and religion and those developed within close

relationships, suggesting that for securely attached individuals

positive God images are perceived as “reliable and trustworthy”

(Kirkpatrick, 1998, p. 962). The participants’ connection to the

transcendent in the present study was similarly experienced as

granting strength and confidence to face challenges, although

unbounded within formal organized structures of institutional re-

ligion. In this sense, the participants experienced a sense of per-

sonal providence, a connection and a guidance which accompanied

them throughout their process of spiritual change.

Such unmediated and intimate connection with the transcendent

may resemble the contemporary suggestions with regard to the

changing perception of God, especially outside organized reli-

gions: from traditional images of a being that is distant and

removed from the world, to a more accessible and more personal

higher power that is both transcendent or ‘beyond’ but still present

in individuals’ everyday life and experiences (Roof, 1999). Such

experiences have been reported within certain religious contexts as

well. For example, Luhrmann (2004) described a rather similar

phenomenon among evangelical congregants who, as part of the

contemporary social-cultural influences of the postmodern condi-

tion, built an intimate interpersonal relationship with God. Such a

relationship is essentially experienced as tangibly more vivid

and personal than the God of their fathers (Wuthnow, 1998).

The participants’ reliance on the connection to a higher power

or to the ultimate as a source for support highlights an inter-

esting component in their experience of ‘spiritual but not reli-

gious’ change processes. Although they are outside a traditional

religious context and though they may maintain an ambivalent

stance toward institutional religion, the study participants also

appear to voice an experience of the deity as an important

source for security and guidance in the process. Such a sense of

connection to an infinite source of higher power is experienced

as transcending the private self yet unmediated by organized

religion.

Support Processes Within and Outside

Institutional Religion

Altogether, the supporting sources found to facilitate and bolster

the demanding process of spiritual change reflect three central

orientations: internal, horizontal, and vertical. The participants turn

inward to draw on their personal-internal resources of intentional

self-awareness, which anchors and validates their experiences.

This is accompanied and maintained by their conscious choice of

volitionally committing to the process as well as by their courage

to explore new things and persevere in their engagement and see

it through. They are also aided and supported by external-

environmental resources: both ’horizontally,’ through their facili-

tating contexts and connections with peers and teachers, and ’ver-

tically,’ through their relatedness to the transcendent. Taken

together, these ingredients can be seen as providing the conditions

necessary for addressing core human psychological needs for

autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 2000),

which, in turn, support their ability to hold and maintain the

complex processes they experience.

These processes, voiced by the participants in the present study,

appear to correspond to supporting processes within religious

traditions, in particular with regard to external-environmental

ones. Such structures (i.e., peers, spiritual teachers, social support,

as well as a sense of connection to a higher power) are often

inherent in organized religion and appear to be recreated by

individuals engaging in this process outside of an organized frame-

work. This illuminates common basic processes of utilizing sup-

port and facilitating environments in the context of search for

spiritual meaning, despite the various forms and pathways indi-

viduals choose as part of their spiritual change processes. It also

aligns with a general perspective of universal human needs (e.g.,

for security, autonomy, competence, and relatedness; e.g., Deci &

Ryan, 2000), and perhaps delineates universal paths by which

individuals find support and recruit assistance in their search for

spiritual meaning. This corresponds with King’s (2008) assertion,

referring to spiritual process of meaning-making: “Whether this

process is one of personal construction or socialization, the inten-

tional act of relying on personal, religious or cultural ideology is

central to spirituality” (pp. 57–58).

Adapting and modifying traditional and fundamental frame-

works appear to enable the participants to face contemporary

challenges and changing environmental conditions, and organize

their eclectic process and experiences into a seemingly coherent

structure. Whereas religion traditionally tended to cultivate sense

of unity and community by generating a cohesive and shared

worldview which validates individual, group, and cultural beliefs

(Mattis & Jagers, 2001), outside such context, the ‘quest culture’

appeals to seekers by emphasizing ‘personal knowledge’ rather

than the ‘unity of knowledge’ and offers various activities aimed at

greater inner discovery, experience and self-transformation (Roof,

1999). Thus, voluntarily self-constructed patterns of relationships

with peers and spiritual teachers may enable such seekers to gain

a sense of support and community in an accessible and yet infor-

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This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

10 RUSSO-NETZER

mal way, amid instability and disengagement from religious insti-

tutions and practices.

Alongside the similarities of spiritual change processes inside

and outside religious contexts, the findings of the current studies

also underscore the saliency of personal-internal resources, expe-

rienced by the participants as crucial for the maintenance of the

spiritual change process. This reflects an interesting dialectic be-

tween the reliance on ‘significant others’ (i.e., groups, like-minded

peers, teachers, higher power) to support and accompany them,

and the central role of the individual self which is the facilitator

and moderator of the process. By accessing both poles of this

dialectic and balancing them, the participants manage to gain a

sense of belonging and community in uncommitted and fluid

settings outside of a formalized structure of religion, and yet

adhere to their autonomy and self agency. This observation reso-

nates with Wuthnow’s (1994) insights, gained from his exploration

of the widespread small-group movement phenomenon in North

America. He suggested that these groups, often spontaneously and

informally formed, reinforce contemporary values of individual-

ism and fragmentation while still providing the highly needed

personal connections. Additionally, they allow for individualized

spiritual seeking in an otherwise secular context, “a form of

spirituality that is thoroughly adaptable to the complex, pluralistic

world in which we live” (Wuthnow, 1994, p. 25).

To conclude, in many of today’s world’s cultures, individuals

are no longer obligated to fixed, culturally given structures, and are

faced with the freedom (and challenge) to form their own identities

through conscious and autonomous choices (Adams, 2003). The

present findings point to an equally strong tendency to seek stable

foundations to hold on to. The participants’ eclectic ‘self-made’

mechanisms of support appear to enable them to make-sense and

organize their experiences of an individualized process. In this sense,

the participants of the present study appear to replace institutionalized

religion’s traditional functions of meaning-bestowing and commit-

ment with alternative and self-constructed structures which pro-

vide them with continuity, stability and coherence. This might

possibly reflect an inherent need for structure that provides an

anchor and a compass for navigating through a self-led process

which is often idiosyncratic, eclectic, and unaffiliated. These in-

sights suggest that cultivating sensitivity to the unique nuances

involved in the manner in which individuals conceptualize and

experience these processes may contribute to a more complete

understanding of spiritual change processes in particular, and

human development as a whole.

Caveats and Directions for Future Research

The participants who volunteered for the present study, despite

representing a rather heterogeneous cross-section in terms of so-

cioeconomic status, age, and spiritual orientation, constitute a

subgroup of individuals who have experienced spiritual change

within a specific cultural context. Being spiritual yet nonreligious

reflects a fundamental duality in the Israeli secular identity, man-

ifested in the tension between rejection and continuity vis-a

`-vis

mainstream Jewish culture and religion because of the lack of a

clear separation between state and religion (Ezrachi, 2004). As

such, their experiences may not necessarily capture the broader

phenomenon of spiritual change in contemporary Western societ-

ies in general. Yet, qualitative research methods in general and

phenomenological research in particular do not strive for repre-

sentation, generalization or the extraction of an objective truth

from the findings (Patton, 2002). Instead, they strive to gain an

understanding of the processes by which human beings construct

meaning from experience (McPhail, 1995; van Manen, 1990) and

allow the potential for extrapolating the findings to other settings

or contexts by providing rich data suggesting ideas that merit

further exploration (Elo et al., 2014).

In line with this, it is suggested for future research to further

explore what facilitates the individual capability to hold and sus-

tain self-led, challenging, and continuous processes outside orga-

nized institutionalized structures among other populations and

distinct cultures, using larger samples and various methods of

investigation. Such an exploration may contribute to the under-

standing and development of support structures for spiritual

change processes, and in particular given the growing proportion

of individuals in contemporary Western world who identify them-

selves as “spiritual but not religious”—a phenomenon which war-

rants closer empirical attention (e.g., McNamara Barry & Abo-

Zena, 2016).

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Received August 3, 2015

Revision received March 30, 2016

Accepted April 5, 2016 䡲

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WHAT SUPPORTS INDIVIDUALIZED SPIRITUAL CHANGE?

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