Unfolding spirituality - women\u27s stories: An exploration of women\u27s spirituality from the perspective of women\u27s psychological development

This dissertation presents the results of a study designed to explore women\u27s experience of spirituality in the light of current thought on women\u27s psychological development. While women\u27s development and women\u27s spirituality are both newly emerging fields of study with growing bodies of literature, little has been done to integrate them. The dissertation included a broad review of the literature of women\u27s development and women\u27s spirituality in which a dominant theme of relationship emerged. Qualitative research was done with eight participants. Data consisted of in-depth interviews which were condensed into profiles, and then analyzed for themes, sequences and patterns of spiritual development. From the comparison of the analyses with each other and with the theories of psychological development two central themes were chosen for elaboration in the dissertation: a theme of experiential spirituality manifested in everyday life, and a pattern of developing self-identity through expanding awareness of self-in-relation. Expanding awareness of self-in-relation was explicated through the use of a visual model. Four domains of self-in-relation were identified: Self-in relation to self, to other, to the transpersonal realm, and to the Universal. Movement through the domains was complex and interactive rather than linear, and indicated deepening awareness of self, experienced as self-in-relation. Self-in-relation to the Universal was proposed as the definitive awareness for a spiritual orientation toward life. This awareness had a profound effect on other relationship domains. The results also suggested that the theoretical models of the Stone Center, Belenky et al and Gilligan, could each be extended to include another level or aspect of development associated with spiritual awareness