“ One of the most poignant moments of the conference came with the opening panel, when a 1997

graduate of Wellesley, Bergen Nelson, described with great clarity and self-knowledge her personal
struggle to heal the split in her own education and integrate theory and practice, or inquiry and
engagement in the terms Andrés G. Niño, discusses later in this book. As we enter the next millennium,
we know we will need more Bergen Nelsons, people working honestly to achieve Andrés Niño’s
“authentic reflective stance” that unifies head and heart. We will need people dedicated to living in ways
that will ensure a sustainable future, people committed to combining the life of the mind with work for
the common good. We will need leaders who can reason well and bring diverse communities together,
who can inspire a shared sense of participation and mutual accountability, who can be critical thinkers,
who ignite hope”
( Diana Chapman Walsh, President of Wellesley College. From the Introduction, pp.2-3)

Spiritual Quest among Young Adults

Andrés G. Niño, Ph.D.

One important factor that makes the Education as Transformation Project so

compelling is that it focuses on issues encountered by people who spend some of
their most critical formative years in the self-contained environment of the academic
world. Here, most activities are valued in reference to the absorbing task of learning,
and unfold in an apparently coordinated fashion. But that process, rather than being
fluent and cohesive, often becomes compartmentalized and overly constricted, partly
because of the insidious demand for specialization and the emphasis on the value of
practical knowledge and marketable skills. Spiritual life becomes the victim of that
compartmentalization, and is not viewed as an integral part of the whole educational
program.

The larger socio-political context that has evolved at the end of the twentieth
century adds the impact of rapid and profound changes and technological advances
that undermine an individual's sense of personal progress and control. As a result,
young adults who are simultaneously negotiating important developmental tasks in
relationships, career choices, and identity feel overwhelmed and disoriented. This is a
common phenomenon that students often describe as the experience of leading
"fragmented lives."

Human experience, when it is unified through meaningful engagements,

becomes life enhancing and enduring. Fragmentation, on the other hand, is always a
threatening prospect. Today we observe a widespread longing for internal coherence,
a sense of purpose, and a desire for greater global harmony expressed openly
through recent autobiographies, films and other forms of public discussion.
______________________
(*) From: Reflections on Religious Pluralism and Spirituality. Victor H. Kazanjian Jr and
Peter E. Laurence (Eds). New York: Peter Lang Publishing. (2000) .

45
 As a clinical psychologist and a teacher, I have long felt a great personal
investment in this issue. Consequently, a central preoccupation in my work has been
to convey the importance of the ways in which a person can function at the highest
possible level, and I have explored with many patients and students how that can be
done. Along the way I have taken notes in a variety of situations, from the consulting
room to the classroom, through informal conversations and through exchanges in
workshops and conferences, that spark further interest and mutual learning, all of
which is part of real and ordinary life. I have placed my work within the boundaries of
a co-exploration with others, and in that manner have learned one important thing:
that beyond the complexity of people trying to make sense of their lives and how they
express it, there is a common ground of experience that makes the old, venerable
concept of spiritual quest a fundamental aspect of our human condition.

Toward a Common Ground

One of the most striking challenges of this century has been the negotiation of
demands emerging from a wide variety of ideas and practices that affect fundamental
areas of living, including religion, politics, and relationships. This is a fact that is even
more impressive within the microcosm of college and university campuses, and
applies with particular intensity to the concept of the spiritual quest. In my
conversations about the spiritual quest with people in various situations, references to
specific religious faiths and beliefs are often made as sources of inspiration and
nourishment, and rightly so because the spiritual life has often been associated with
the message of the great religious traditions. However, it is important to note that
there are many people who either have not identified traditional religious sources for
the construction of meaning or cannot integrate those sources into their development
of a coherent self - yet they may be people with a profound sense of spirituality.

Because this overwhelming reality has to be taken into consideration, new

approaches have developed in the last decade for the exploration of spirituality in a
broader and more inclusive sense. The perspective presented in this essay is one
taken from a common ground of human development, where those with a religious
background can recognize and understand the strivings and concerns of those who
do not identify with such a background. Acknowledging the historic tensions
generated by the force between the sacred and the secular3 is a position that allows
for a respectful dialogue and moves in a direction that facilitates a greater
understanding of the total human experience.

From such a common ground we can recognize an individual's spiritual quest

in the "process of inquiry and engagement over questions of ultimacy that grows as
people bind together experiences and events into an overarching construction of
meaning with a sense of transcendence.” 4 The developments that result from this
activity grow in importance and change as the individual invests meaning and
attention to the dominant themes and concerns of the different periods of adulthood.

46
It’s underlying dynamic is not a transitional state of doubt or conflict, but a persistent
searching that moves forward throughout life.

In my research work I have identified some basic characteristics that have

emerged from analysis of narratives. They can be summarized in these terms:

1. The spiritual quest is rooted in a normal developmental process in which a

person negotiates questions and concerns regarding personal destiny, happiness,
God, the ethical implications of one's behavior, suffering, and death. These are "big
questions" in the sense that they carry the potential for meaning-making at a profound
level, both personally and communally. From these questions derive, directly or in
subtle association, a myriad of reflections that permeate a person's daily life. The
whole process is often nourished by a particular religion or faith community that brings
into the experience the input of beliefs, motivations, and practices. In those cases,
the individual spiritual quest may benefit from the support and guidance available in
the present or historical experience of the community.5

2. Many experiences reported and emphasized by people as central to their

spiritual life appear to be confined to discrete events or moments, specific rituals,
gestures, and exercises designed to enhance and refine the cognitive or emotional
response of the individual. Meaningful and valuable as they might be, they cannot
reflect the full extent of an individual's important life events.

The significance of a spiritual quest, by contrast, depends on being integrated

within the larger pattern of concerns, tasks, and engagements of adulthood. A
spiritual quest is a main component of one’s overall life structure, requiring various
degrees of involvement and attention in order to maintain its vitality, balance and
internal coherence. It becomes a pattern of personal engagement at many levels
throughout the course of living.

As a consequence, the spiritual quest can only find adequate expression in a

total life narrative. Whether it is verbalized or framed within other forms available to
the individual, the narrative allows for an ample margin of vision that reveals the
sequence and variety of situations which convey the quality of one's fundamental
strivings.6 In this essay, I will expand upon this central characteristic in order to
establish the groundwork for an interdisciplinary approach.

3. Although the process of a spiritual quest takes shape and strength from the
individual's own motivation, it is also greatly influenced by the socio-cultural context in
which it takes place. Observers from different disciplines have noted the increasing
complexity and impact of the interplay between societal transformations and the
changing life courses of the individual. Analysis of the so-called postmodern period
shows cultural trends that cause confusion and make one's strivings toward "meaning
with a sense of transcendence" particularly difficult. For example, we have seen (or at
least been made aware of) totalitarianism, ethnic cleansing, and violence in this

47
century, in addition to an overwhelming display of materialism and widespread
disruption in families and institutions. Yet, even in the face of these obstacles we find
a strong sense of spiritual striving among many individuals.

This fact has a bearing on our understanding of the human condition and the
gradual shifts in the thinking and feeling that influence the way individuals and groups
of different generations negotiate the spiritual quest. Although ideas and experiences
associated with spirituality may suggest a character of permanency there is, in fact, a
great deal of variability within this phenomenon.

4. An active engagement with the concerns and tasks of the spiritual quest
builds internal coherence and strength in the individual. Although theoretical
perspectives vary on this issue, this finding is consistent across health-related
disciplines. Some recent publications have emphasized the importance of the
relationship between spirituality and physical, mental, and social health.7

Coherence and stability in the course of personal development reflect to a

great extent the depth of one's engagement with life experiences and the degree of
motivation invested in facing the challenges that unfold at different periods of
adulthood. This is particularly relevant to the idea of education as transformation. The
best hopes lie with those institutions that promote a dialogue about what is really
meaningful to young adults involved in the task of learning, living, and building a
future.

A Life Structure Perspective

The relevance of a psychological developmental perspective on the dimension

of spirituality is based on practical considerations. Although not free from the
common difficulties of identifying and characterizing this domain within the whole of
human experience, it allows for a focused approach to issues derived from studies of
adulthood. The findings bring us as close as can be expected from rigorous but
limited explorations to an understanding of major tasks and issues pertinent to various
periods of the life cycle. This is actually a significant advantage when we try to
establish an interdisciplinary common ground for dialogue.

In the study of adulthood I use the unifying approach to personality offered by

contemporary developmentalists and clinicians. Among them, Kohut,8 one of the most
creative and influential in recent years, focuses on the significance of the search for
the realization of one's most enduring values and ideas, together with cherished
goals, purposes, and ambitions. He also emphasizes the crucial role played by
empathic relationships in the psychological well being of the individual and on one's
sense of continuity through time.

Expanding on the basis of such core self, Levinson's work explores the life
structure of adulthood.9 His emphasis is on the self in relation to the world, supported

48
by the dynamics of both central and peripheral components such as family, work, and
political and social activities, through the various periods of the life cycle. In that
manner, one sees the whole person rather than compartmentalized elements.

Levinson spent most of his professional life studying narratives of adult men
and women. He saw a continuity through different periods and eras of the life cycle
and identified general human characteristics for both genders. He clarified, however,
that the genders differ with regard to the kind of life circumstances they encounter
and the ways in which they progress through each developmental period. Women, for
example, tend to build life structures with "different resources and constraints,
external as well as internal.”10

In this essay I make reference mainly to that large period between late
adolescence and the mid-thirties, which essentially corresponds to the formative
period encompassing the years that may be spent in higher education. This is a time
which produces a fundamental turning point in the life cycle as young adults move
away from parental homes and fairly well-defined rotes and frames of reference into a
rather uncharted territory where they begin to build a provisional life structure through
choices in relationships, career orientation and work, organization of their priorities,
and even through personal life style. Gradually, as the college years come to an end,
those tasks become a definite hallmark of progress. Crises in this developmental
context will occur when a person is having great difficulty negotiating the tasks and,
due to internal and external factors, cannot build an adequate structure which would
facilitate moving ahead. This experience is different in scope and quality from those
crises associated with problems related to coping with a particular situation or event.

Researchers of adulthood, however, have not generally considered the role of

spirituality per se as a relevant part of the whole. It is necessary to go beyond some
traditional concepts of personality structure and function in order to have a larger
picture of the total human experience.

Fundamental Striving

Early in my work I emphasized a concept of the self as an open system that

includes the capacity for transcendence as a vital element in the process of meaning-
making, I posed critical questions regarding the modem self, which appears to suffer
from a condition of widespread emptiness and fragmentation that eludes clinical
categories. Spiritual quests have emerged from narratives and seem to be a
fundamental striving of human beings that ought to be explored and integrated into
new, broader treatment considerations. Such striving constitutes a basic dimension of
human experience with a potential for creating cohesiveness at various levels of
personality function.

49
 In order to develop an idea of what sort of unified experience a person has, I
invite individuals to glance at the synopsis of a life structure (Figure 1) and consider a
few questions:

Fig. 1. PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTAL AXIS

@ Andres G. Nino, Ph.D. (after Levinson, 1976/1996)

Creative Work
Learning Occupation Political/Social
Teaching Causes

Friendships SELF-IN RELATION-TO-WORLD Health &

Groups Fundamental strivings Life Style
toward meaning/transcendence
(spiritual quest)

Marriage Past experience

Family Faith community

1. What are the most important components of your life (major sources of meaning
and satisfaction) at the present time and how are they interrelated?
2. What particular events or situations have been the most influential in some of your
critical decisions, changes, gains and losses?
3. Do you have a sense that the balance of your life structure allows for the
expression of your real self'?
4. What sort of modifications do you think would be needed for you to have a deeper
sense of internal coherence, long-term purpose, and meaning?

The Reflective Stance

In my approach, a major emphasis is placed between inquiry and engagement

as a powerful source of motivation that keeps alive the process of meaning making
through the various periods of adulthood. Primarily this approach underscores the
value of inwardness and its relevance within those contexts of living that promote

50
detrimental forms of dispersion and fragmentation. In order to encourage the
development of the self, aided by the wisdom of spiritual writers and modern
psychologists and philosophers, 11,12 it is imperative to create a protective zone of
silence and solitude that provides a favorable environment for personal growth, and
which in turn may improve the quality of relationships with the outside world.

Throughout adulthood an authentic reflective stance produces a realistic and

recurrent appraisal of one’s life structure, which then allows for modifications upon
forms of knowing and relating that regulate a person’s ways of being. Such a
reflective stance enriches emerging sets priorities, goals, and ideals, helping to
sustain a vital motivation in the face of unavoidable failures and temptations to give
up. One's spiritual quest has the potential to sustain the effort to negotiate failures,
simultaneously balancing dreams and flights of imagination, and always preserving a
sense of coherence against chaos.

The spiritual quest can be considered to be an assertion of one' s fundamental

strivings. Such an activity provides a thread to keep together the ever-changing views
and interpretations of the surrounding world as a person goes through adulthood. I
have observed that when this is effectively integrated in one's life structure, the
spiritual quest becomes a major determinant of resilience, and of physical and
emotional health.

A Relational World

Relationships are at the center of one's psychological universe. Some

intellectual paradigms have focused too closely upon the individual self at the
expense of providing a fuller and more enriching vision. Women in general have
suffered as a result of such distortion. It is only in the past two decades that the
scholarly and consistent work of some female theorists and practitioners has reversed
this trend and made a definitive impact, the relational model proposed at the
Wellesley Stone Center is a major contribution to progress in this area. It emphasizes
"the yearning for connection" in contrast to the limited and fragile model of the
independent self.7,13
The process of a spiritual quest, in this perspective, emphasizes the return to
the self-- to the inmost zone of being, to preserve the self’s cohesiveness and
continuity while at the same time strengthening the capacity to transcend its own
boundaries in relationship. A person's quest is anchored in that perennial tension
between inwardness and the search for an empathic other.

In Search of the Unfailing Other

The task that connects the different periods of adulthood is that of

transcending oneself, gradually establishing a balance of cognitive and affective
investment in response to the other. Everyone experiences the meaning of
transcendence through the quality of the exchanges that take place between people.

51
There is a particular process which, despite vicissitudes and unevenness of course,
includes degrees of transformation:

1. There is a long way from the primal centering of the will-to-be and the ability
to have a mutuality in relationships. In between, a developmental struggle unfolds,
unveiling joy and suffering alike. Young adults become acquainted with many forms of
a "craving for others" that generates transient and superficial attachments. All along
there is a growing realization and acceptance of the limitations that the other brings to
the encounter. It becomes clear that the others are not always available or empathic.
Changes and losses occur against the desire for stability and emotional comfort. A
measured recognition of the limitations of the other and the negotiation of mutual
needs is an important task in life.

2. The experience of the self grows through a process of increasing

interdependence that is at the core of our human condition. The role of friendship can
only be appreciated within this context. Unfortunately, friendship is rarely mentioned
in developmental theories and studies of adulthood, in spite of its enormous
motivational power in the process of change and transformation.

There is a text in Augustine's Confessions describing an experience of

friendship that emphasizes how the difficult balance of interdependence is achieved
and maintained.

Friendship had other charms to captivate my heart. We could talk and laugh
together and exchange small acts of kindness. We could join the pleasure that books
can give. We could be grave or gay together. If we sometimes disagreed, it was
without spite, as a man might differ with himself, and the rare occasions of dispute
were the very spice to season our usual accord. Each of us had something to learn
from the others and something to teach in return. If any were away, we missed them
14
with regret and gladly welcomed them when they came home.

Friendship is a context of experience which can best highlight the

commonalties and differences that significantly affect the lives and narratives of men
and women.
3. It is possible that an inquiry into the images and memories active in former
periods of one's life cycle may invite us to deepen the meaning that an "unfailing
Other" holds at the present time. At the center of the experience of empathy there is
often a discovery or reaffirmation of an Other beyond and above significant others. A
personal relationship with God in adulthood may become an important element in the
process of the spiritual quest. This experience has the potential to transform the
whole relational process.

In the past, most of what we have known about spiritual quests has been
based on the dynamics of this relationship with God. Religions have generally
provided the central resource of inspiration. However, as various forces within society

52
have defused or even at times eclipsed the influence of religion, we see more
individual quests taking place without such attachments to tradition.15

Beyond Us and Our Time

From a developmental perspective, the spiritual quest emphasizes a
fundamental engagement in which the individuals extend toward others the
significance of their experience. Implied is the adulthood task of reaching out to a
larger context beyond the boundaries of personal time and space.

It is, of course, important to be aware of both the potential and problems of

16
one's own generation, as Beaudoin has described recently while examining his own
spiritual quest. However, it is equally important to stress the fact that each
generation's character and journey builds upon the impact of the previous and other
generations. A person's life structure is played out in the crossroads of
multigenerational realities. This fact demands mutual interest and respect, a
willingness to listen, and a steady effort to maintain forms of continuity and mutual
enrichment.

There are two critical aspects from which this matter takes its relevance and
urgency:

1. Awareness of a global dimension to our individual quest. Parallel to the

interdependence that underlies relationships in dyads or small intimate groups, there
is a global dimension to the human experience that is especially characteristic of the
end of the twentieth century. The concept of "globalization," which in the past often
had little effect on one's preoccupation’s, has now become an inescapable reality. It
has become obvious that the self is embedded in more than just a cultural context,
but rather in a global context. In this regard it is critical for each of us to increase our
individual and communal awareness of the environmental factors that shape people's
life experiences.

Recent psychosocial analysis17 has pointed out the impact of a number of

major factors, from massive and accessible forms of communication to applied
scientific and technological advances, and from inequality in the distribution of wealth
and resources to social problems like crime and substance abuse. All of this occurs at
the same time that different cultures interact at close range, bringing their ways of
thought, expression and living into a formidable tug of war. Globalization, more than
any other social phenomenon, has compelled, almost suddenly, different generations
to look at each other and wonder: How do we respond to this predicament? Kung18
has offered a response with the "global ethics" project, which stands as one of the
most concerted and relevant statements of postmodern time.

2. The imperative to cultivate an empathic response with regard to the big

questions raised by some harsh realities of life. A genuine spiritual quest will thrive
through engagements beyond oneself and one's safe surroundings. Spiritual quests

53
imply movement and transcendence, creating conditions that allow people to build
viable life structures on their own. Rather than complacency and isolation, a quest
fosters taking a courageous stance vis-à-vis the contrasting realities of wealth and
poverty, the massive urgent problems related to ecological exploitation, politics of
discrimination, cultural wars, and the impact of violence in the media.

Such an empathic position can be useful for building common ground for an
intergenerational experience of spirituality. In some ways it would also resonate with
efforts stemming from a theological foundation, such as Hans Kung's work on the
concept of "global ethics."

Working through the Task

In the past decade there has been an explosion of interest in and a

widespread eagerness for spirituality. Ironically, this century, which has seen so much
materialism, cruelty, and arrogance on a grand scale, seems to have developed a
general concern for things that really matter. A certain eagerness for the spiritual has
come to dominate the spirit of this fin de siecle . We have been taken by surprise
when writers preoccupied with the big questions of the human condition are included
in the best-seller lists of major newspapers. On this side of the Atlantic, authors like
Thomas Moron and Henry Nouwen have become a rich source of inspiration to
countless people from all walks of life. Narratives of spiritual journeys are published
with consistent frequency.

This trend is indicative of the fact that people are willing to engage themselves
and others in the process described in this essay. The task is to help people explore
and cultivate the potential of their quest in a manner that steadily contributes to the
growth of the whole person.

Deciphering Transcendence

In education, as in therapy, the fundamental task is to work through the issues

in a systematic way, building up through exploration, dialogue, confrontation, and
review. It is important to note that, from a developmental perspective, the process of a
spiritual quest, rather than being offset by intellectual work, is actually nourished by it.
Intellectual inquiry is another major engagement of the self that is striving for the
realization of the inner development of ideals, ambitions, and values. Reasoning,
which is central to the dynamics of alt forms of inquiry, plays a crucial role in the
gradual testing and correction through which an individual cultivates spiritual
concerns. The challenge here resides in a delicate balancing and coordination that
permits the transferring and application of findings in different areas of knowledge into
a unified understanding of both self and the world.

Every discipline, in its own way, contributes to the noble pursuit of truth and
knowledge. As long as a person is directly involved in the discovery, construction, and

54
 interpretation of meaning around the subject, there is a potential for raising and
responding to questions of ultimacy. Didactic work can engage the student in a
progressive effort toward deciphering transcendence, that is, searching beyond the
accumulation of data or facts, through the important questions put to the mind by
each discipline, and integrating the results into an overall meaning-making process
that is both relevant to the individual's life and to forming a connection with the world
beyond.

The divorce between fact and value has always been an impediment in both
education and psychotherapy. The prevailing trend has been an attempt to avoid any
potential entanglement with subjectivity, which has been seen as standing outside of
the province of the academy. In recent years, however, there has been a shift in this
position. A systematic effort is in progress toward working through issues of value in
the curriculum. I have been able to integrate questions of ultimacy into my regular
courses on "Personality and Psychopathology" as the subject matter leads the
students into inquiry beyond the initial proposition: "Why do we behave the way we
do?" Stump and Murray19 have published a series that has taken a similar approach
through various disciplines.

A Mentoring Role

There is a task that is just as important as the transmission of knowledge

about a particular subject. It is to offer support to individuals in pursuing the important
task of defining and focusing an early design of their life structure and then to sustain
those persons' motivation to give their life structure adequate expression. This is the
area in which mentors play a critical role. Mentors are those who can provide
guidance and can convey the message that we are all engaged in a quest for the
realization of our aspirations while caring for the effects on other people's lives. This
basic empathy is essential in the arts of both education and healing.

Mentoring requires a great deal of vision, honesty and willingness to engage.

Mentoring support is optimally offered toward:

 - exploring and working through those questions that establish links with contexts of
significance and that are responsive to personal and communal concerns, and

 - Integrating discoveries and progress into a unified concept of a well functioning
personality. In this manner the individual can reach a realistic measure of success and
satisfaction.

Mentoring helps students to move from fragmented knowledge to a broader

accomplishment, which Wink and Henson call transcendent wisdom.20

Conclusion and Future Directions

55
 Throughout the years of academic learning, young adults constitute a large
group of people who face "a fundamental turning point in the life-cycle.''21 The thesis
of this essay is that their central task is to build life structures with a sense of internal
coherence, meaning, and purpose. Both spiritual and intellectual inquiry need to be
cultivated as a unifying process and an integral part of that task. It is the degree,
quality, and balance of activity present, in such a process that has the potential for
personal transformation and development.

The role that the Education as Transformation Project can play along this line
may be critical. The momentum for a national dialogue and a certain urgency to
follow that dialogue with practical programs has been created. The goals of the
Project will be achieved mainly by developing a sustained interest in the academic
community. Elsewhere22 I have offered guidelines derived from my work that can be
adopted for implementation through seminar and workshop formats. As a brief review,
I will summarize these guidelines here so that they can be utilized by colleges and
universities that wish to integrate them into their programs and structures.

56
1. A Seminar

In a workshop on "A Developmental Perspective on Spirituality" that I

presented at the Education as Transformation National Gathering in 1998,
participating students emphasized the need for an integration of ongoing discussions
about spirituality into the institutional culture within a safe environment. It is, indeed, of
critical importance to create a context of reflection, study, and dialogue on the issues
related to spiritual quests. I find that the format of a seminar or a course that expands
on the basic ideas presented in this essay can be the starting point for a guided
personal exploration and exchange.

During my recent two-year appointment as a Visiting Scholar at the Wellesley

Centers for Research I developed the syllabus for such a seminar. It is designed to
offer, in twelve sessions, an understanding of the role of spiritual quests in the
process of adult development. It includes an introduction to methods of inquiry typical
of the behavioral sciences. Specifically, those methods which emphasize qualitative
description and narrative modes of exposition as most adequate for the exploration of
subjective phenomena, such as those unfolding in the process of the construction of
meaning in adulthood.

Using both theoretical and applied perspectives, the seminar focuses primarily
on three areas of activity, which I have defined as inwardness, relatedness, and
generativity. Selected readings help the student to gradually deepen her
understanding of the spiritual dimension of personality.

Interested faculty may be invited to participate, presenting views on the topic

from the perspective of their own discipline. The seminar, in this manner, has the
potential to become an inspirational resource, accumulating relevant literature and
systematically incorporating issues and themes uncovered through long-term

57
 participation in the Education as Transformation Project.

2. A Workshop

In my writing I propose that engagement in the process of a spiritual quest find

adequate expression in a life narrative. The format of a workshop is best suited for
that purpose. Participants take their own personal experiences as a narrative text.
Students who have participated in such workshops have urged others to explore and
share ideas and experiences about spirituality that allow a vital involvement in life and
education, and serve as a means for support, sustenance, and survival, offering a
chance for story-telling, connection, and spiritual discovery.

In addition, participants use a questionnaire and other instruments designed to

explore spiritual quests. The results can be elaborated further through a personal
narrative project as a follow-up. This in-depth working through the issues provides
valuable material, not only for the individual but also for continued research.

Good research, which usually facilitates good teaching and practice, takes its
vital questions from real life and people. In that regard, the participation from young
adults is critical for our understanding of how fundamental strivings and questions
associated with spiritual quests are being formulated and negotiated by different
generations. Further discussion on this point would go beyond the limitations of this
essay but I would like to stress the fact that understanding and interpreting
generational experiences with regard to spiritual quests is vital to the educational
enterprise as a whole, as well as to civic and political life.

Finally, these initiatives derive largely from my personal involvement in a

professional role. Working through these formats has become a major focus of my
career.

Endnotes

1. Spretnak, Charlene. Stages of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age.
( New York: Harper: San Francisco, 1997)
2. Torrance, Robert, M. The Spiritual Quest: Transcendence in Myth, Religion, and Science.
( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994)
3. Coles, Robert. The Secular Mind. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999)
4. Niño, Andrés G. “Assessment of Spiritual Quests in Clinical Practice.” International Journal of
Psychotherapy, vol 2, n. 2, 1997: 193-212.
5. Jones, C., G. Wainwright and E. Yarnold, eds. The Study of Spirituality (Oxford/New York: Oxford
University Press, 1986)
6. Niño, Andrés G op. cit.
7. Larson, DB.; Swyers, J.P.; and McCullough, M.E., eds. Scientific Research on Spirituality and Health:
A Consensus Report (Rockville, MD: National Institute for Healthcare Research, 1998).
8. Kohut, H, The Restoration of the Self (New York: International Universities Press, 1977).
9. Levinson, D. J. "A Conception of Adult Development." American Psychologist, 41 (1) 1986: 3-14.

58
10. Levinson. D. J. in collaboration with Judy D. Levinson. The Seasons of a Woman's Life (New York:
Alfred B. Knopf, 1996): 36.
11. Taylor, C. ,Sources of the Self : The Making of the Modern Identity (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1989).
12. Modell, Arnold H. The Private Self (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993).
13. Jordan, J.V., A.G. Kaplan. J.B. Miller, L.P. Stiver, and J.L. Stiver, eds. Women's Growth in
Connection (New York: Guilford Press, 1991).
14. Augustine. Confessions (New York: Viking Penguin, 1961): 79.
15. Roof, Wade Clark. A Generation of Seekers (New York: Harper, 1998).
16. Beaudoin, Tom. Virtual Faith. The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X (San Francisco:
Jossey Bass, 1998).
17. Marsella, A.J. "Toward a Global Community Psychology: Meeting the Needs of a Changing World,"
American Psychologist, 53 (12), 1998: 1282-1291.
18. Kung, Hans. Yes to a Global Ethic (New York: Crossroad, 1995/96).
19. Stump, Eleanor and Michael Murray, eds. Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions (Oxford:
Blackwell, 1999).
20. Wink, P. and R. Henson. "Practical and Transcendent Wisdom: Their Nature and Some
Longitudinal Findings." Journal of Adult Development, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1997: l-15.
21. Levinson, 1996. op. cit.
22. Niño, Andrés G. op. cit.

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