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This study sought to explore the meaning of spirituality to individuals living with schizophrenia. Gadamer's philosophy of understanding underpinned this hermeneutic inquiry. The study took place in a community-based psychosocial rehabilitation program in an urban Canadian setting. The sample included 7 English-speaking m e n and women, ages 25 to 49, w h o had not been hospitalized for six months or more. Methods involved hermeneutic analysis of verbatim transcripts of open-ended individual interviews. Four major themes were identified: the fractured self: the meaning of a "spiritual holocaust"; the vortex: the meaning of a subverted spirituality; the emergent self: the meaning of spiritual cohesion; and the nurtured self: the meaning of spiritual practices. Findings demonstrated the high value ascribed to spirituality in the lives of participants, regardless of whether they had a religious affiliation. Spirituality was seen as the fundamental connecting force that maintains the integrity of the self against the fragmenting effects of the illness. Participants felt this connectedness could b