Grieving w/ Spirituality as Adaptive: L W Easterling, J Parker, K Adams, B Hyde, w/ Neimeyer + Synthesis-Consensus: W. James, V. Frankl, C. Jung, Edgar Cayce
Abstract: From the earliest history humans have had dreams of death and the deceased. The first recorded dream of the deceased dates from 2100 B.C. in Egypt: “Around 2100 B.C., an Egyptian man named Heni wrote a letter to his dead father, asking him for help with his nightmares.” As Gilles & Neimeyer emphasize, “Death, especially when it takes on the mask of senselessness and meaninglessness, would seem to be the ultimate challenge to the “meaning of life” and the authors note how Janoff-Bulman and McPherson (1997) focused on the subjective “experience” of pain which they relate to the “shattered assumptions” and an “increased awareness” of the fragility of life and human vulnerability!” “Death” is a primal force! There is a consensus among researchers that spirituality is an emerging field of study. In part due to pastoral understanding and research into grieving – a number of studies have recently been published showing that spirituality in grieving can facilitate healing Studies of Spiritual Experiences in Grieving as Adaptive Mechanisms: 1. Easterling (et al): “Conversely, experience has shown pastoral caregivers that individuals do seem to cope better if they can “actualize” their spiritual experiences in times of crisis. 2. Julie Parker: study finds that “continuing bonds with the deceased can be adaptive, and spiritual and/or religious belief systems are associated with adaptive outcomes of grief.” 3. Gabriella Kilianova highlights the views of a Catholic priest in Slovakia. The priest “assumed that such dreams help people deal with the loss of their loved ones.” 4. Adams and Hyde: “Qualitative studies have shown that some children reflect on their dreams and find meaning in them, with some of these dreams making a spiritual impact!” 5. Donna Thomas: “Whether ‘positive’ or ‘negative’, anomalous experiences can catalyze self-healing for children and young people. Through children achieving greater self-awareness and a sense of intra-connectedness between self, others and the world.” 6. Hospice study: “Most participants [58% of 278 participants] reported that their dreams were either pleasant or both pleasant and disturbing,… As Dr. Paul Wong points out, Viktor Frankl states that “Man is not destroyed by suffering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning”
Life, creation and consciousness – “force beyond anything that we can comprehend”!! — Setting the Stage & Perspective on Social Science
Philo of Alexandria provides an excellent insight into the limits of consciousness. He states “The mind which is in each of us is able to comprehend all other things, but has not the capability of understanding itself. For as the eye sees all other things, but cannot see itself, so also the mind perceives the nature of other things but cannot understand itself.” ~ It stands to reason that human consciousness can only understand and analyze itself via a “frame of reference’ – or mindset – from within human consciousness – and several scholars have observed that the only way to evaluate human consciousness is by using a mirror – in one sense or another. The “materialist view that quantification equates to science and materialism is objective is false. Iain McGilChrist observes that it is the opposite and that the materialist “rigid adherence to arbitrary quantification” “limits and restricts” possible analyses. Half of human consciousness isn’t quantifiable: art, music, dreams, creato9vioty, imagination, , as well as symbolism which is complex and outside the scope of strict quantification – not to mention “death”. Rene Guenon is a bit more focused in stating that the materialist ideology is the “denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order” (p.90) Guenon’s assessment appears to be generally correct. E Halas, R. May, as well as Mustafa Emirbayer (to an extent) indicate symbolism was sidelined and marginalized. D Hay, K Gergen, and V. Enriquez emphasize that the western “rational Individualism norm has morphed into a form of extreme individualism. That is because “social consciousness” is a “supra-individual” concept. In Wikipedia, there are only three references to social consciousness – the most salient being to Karl Marx the creator of marxism and Communism. Karl Mannheim, (1893 – 1947), a founding father of sociology stated that “we must realize once and for all that the meanings which make up our world are simply an historically determined and continuously developing structure in which man develops, and are in no sense absolute” (Mullins). Besides Mannheim, Guenon, and McGilChrist, there are a number of other critics of materialism including Talcott Parson, Rupert Sheldrake, Jeremiah Reyes, and Arran Gare
Guenon states materialism specifically “denies” spirituality because spiritual “authority is “supra-individual in nature, The “materialist model” of spirituality is “All spirituality is unreal” – based on the materialist maxim that spirituality is “intangible and beyond the senses” as explained by William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen. First, that is a fallacy – the Definist Fallacy to be exact. For instance, take the concept of “Death”. Death, of course is “intangible and beyond the senses, Yet, following the materialist argument Death becomes a figment of your imagination – which is absurd of course. Furthermore, there are a number of “tangible” types of spirituality such as compassion, grieving, musical spirituality, art and so on. A derivative of the materialist maxim is the concept of the “supernatural” – which by definition is outside the scope of science and thus lacks any real-world context-evidence which is necessary for a valid scientific theory according to Kant, McGilChrist, Muzafer Sherif) – which makes the “supernatural” an artificial abstraction which is scientifically and academically worthless. My argument is that in light of the “selective attention” process which is acknowledged as a critical process in the human mind – re-directs and mis-directs attention from functional spirituality to an empty and meaningless artificial abstraction.
Social consciousness can be difficult to understand. If ever there was a social-political movement that centered on ideas, the Enlightenment would be it. The Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, which began in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries were an intellectual and philosophical force created by social-political-religious ideas that dominated the world of ideas in Europe and generated major changes in the culture of Western Civilization. Furthermore, human consciousness has developed and ‘evolved’ through the various stages in human history- from the stone age to the iron age to moder industrial civilization – so. It would appear readily apparent that an influential factor in understanding human consciousness would be “Consciousness as drive and force”! That would be especially relevant in context of cross-cultural understanding such as Filipino values like Bayanihan, Kapwa, loob. In Myths as Symbolic Maps of Social-Moral Order, I stress the historical connection and correlation between spiritual beliefs and social-moral order – which supports Emile Durkheim’s view of religion as the foundation of morality, that religious experiences generate shared values and beliefs that bind society together. There is a major point made by Saslow that there is a difference between spiritual processes and religiosity processes – and that spiritual processes are more closely connected with prosocial values such as compassion. Many scholars who are anti-religious lump spirituality in with religiosity and throw spirituality away – when it appears readily apparent that spirituality is closely correlated with prosocial values such as compassion and community.
Vilbert Vallance commented : «Excellent, Excellent Article!» Grieving: Spirituality as Adaptive Processes: L W Easterling, J Parker, K Adams, B Hyde, w/ Neimeyer + J MacPhail childhood foresight-epiphany + Synthesis-Consensus: James, Frankl, Jung, Cayce
Death is a primal force! Death of Dorothy, the chimpanzee matriarch:
“On September 23, 2008, Dorothy, a female chimpanzee in her late 40s, died of congestive heart failure….Jeremy Berlin interviewed the photographer, Monica Szczupider, who was working as a volunteer at the rescue center when she took this photo.” The fact that chimpanzees gathered to say farewell to their matriarch tells you of the pervasiveness and power in the idea and emotions involved in death.
Table of Contents: Outline
I. Introduction – Perspective 1. The Life-Death Enigma: Historically, “Death” gave birth to “spirit as life-force” – symbol & archetype 2. “Man is not destroyed by suffering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning” – Viktor Frankl” 3. Dreams and visions of the deceased and grieving
II. Setting the stage: Synthesis-Consensus: Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, William James + Saslow & Edgar Cayce
III. Spiritual Experiences in Grieving as Adaptive Mechanisms
1. Easterling (et al): “Conversely, experience has shown pastoral caregivers that individuals do seem to cope better if they can “actualize” their spiritual experiences in times of crisis.
2. Julie Parker: study finds that “continuing bonds with the deceased can be adaptive, and spiritual and/or religious belief systems are associated with adaptive outcomes of grief.”
3. Gabriella Kilianova highlights the views of a Catholic priest in Slovakia. The priest “assumed that such dreams help people deal with the loss of their loved ones.” That does appear to be part of pastoral folklore as it were. But also because of the priest’s reflections and comments about the afterlife and connections with souls departed.
4. Adams and Hyde: “Qualitative studies have shown that some children reflect on their dreams and find meaning in them, with some of these dreams making a spiritual impact!”
5. Donna Thomas: “Whether ‘positive’ or ‘negative’, anomalous experiences can catalyze self-healing for children and young people. Through children achieving greater self-awareness and a sense of intra-connectedness between self, others and the world.”
6. Hospice study: “Most participants [58% of 278 participants] reported that their dreams were either pleasant or both pleasant and disturbing,…
IV. Spirituality and Synthesis: The Unique Story of Jean MacPhail: A Childhood Foresight and Making Sense of the World
Addendum I: Fruitful, Creative Spirituality
Addendum II: List of Studies of Dreams of the Deceased
Introduction: Perspective of The Life-Death Enigma: Historically, “Death” gave birth to “spirit as life-force” – symbol & archetype
Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who was a contemporary of Freud, as well as his confederate for a time. Jung was, of course, the creator of his famous concept of the collective consciousness and archetypes. A central concept in Jungian theory is individuation—the lifelong process of differentiation and development of the self out of conscious and unconscious elements. In Volume 8 of the Collected Works, paragraph 648 (1968 revised), Jung stated: “Life and spirit are two powers or necessities between which man is placed. Spirit gives meaning to his life, and the possibility of its greatest development. But life is essential to spirit, since its truth is nothing if it cannot live.”
Carl Jung, who explored the aspect of “spirt” as life-force observed, “The connection between spirit and life is one of those problems involving factors of such complexity that we have to be on our guard lest we ourselves get caught in the net of words in which we seek to ensnare these great enigmas……. The problem must have begun in the grey dawn of time, when someone made the bewildering discovery that the living breath which left the body of the dying man in the last death-rattle meant more than just air in motion.”[1] The connection early humans – or hominids – made was the connection between the absence of breath and the absence of a mysterious unknowable and magical life-force.
1. Linguistic Connection between Breath and Spirit
The Hebrew word “ruach” – the word connected to the idea-symbol of “spirit” translates alternately as “wind,” “breathe,” or “spirit.” In Arabic, there are two words for the words: spirit, soul or self – namely, ruH (spirit, soul) & nafs (spirit, soul, self). Both of these Arabic words are also connected to the ideas of breath or wind (e.g. ruH is connected to riH (wind) and nafs to nafas [breath]). In modern English, the word “spirit” stems from the Latin word, spiritus, and conveys the meaning of “spirit, soul, courage, or vigor.” However, the Latin “spiritus” originates in the Proto Indo European peis or speis, meaning “to blow.” As language evolved, it descended into Latin as the verb spirare, “to breathe.” The Latin word anima, “soul,” which is derived from the Indo-European root meaning “to breathe.” On the other side of the world, the Hindu word prana in Sanskrit, refers to “breath,” “life force,” or “vital principle” and is viewed as a cosmic energy. The ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts in which “Ka” was the vital essence. Ka was breathed into a human being at the instant of birth and it was “Ka” that actually gave the person life.
Likewise, in Scandinavian, Baltic, and Slavic languages, the words for “breath” are intimately connected to concepts of “the spirit.” For instance, in the ancient Germanic literary work, ond is the gift of the widely revered god of ancient Germanic mythology, Odin, who is often portrayed as a one-eyed and long-bearded spear wielding god famous for his valorous deeds which date back to the original creation. Ond, which is the metaphoric gift of spirit, also translates literally as “breath,” whose metaphoric meaning, as in so many languages, is “spirit” or “soul”. There are many other examples of the widespread linguistic connection between spirt and breath. The bottom line is that, Carl Jung was clearly absolutely correct when he argued that spirit or life force.
“Man is not destroyed by suffering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning” – Viktor Frankl”
Dr. Paul Wong, author, researcher, psychologist emphasizes that Viktor Frankl, “While incarcerated in Nazi Concentration Camps… discovered the power of logotherapy, which means, “healing through meaning!” Wong goes on to say that “Frankl maintained that healing needs to occur at the spiritual level and that medical practice must address existential questions of suffering and death. “Man is not destroyed by suffering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning” Frankl (1984).”
Furthermore, Dr. Paul Wong states that Holistic Medicine “stresses the benefits of integrating religion/spirituality with one’s life and practice to both the healer and the patient. When the healer has experienced spiritual transformation, then compassionate and spiritual care flows naturally from the inner being of the healer; such an exchange of life energy can facilitate healing and wholeness in the patient.”[2] Roy Baumeister highlights the fact that experiments do actually demonstrate that meaning can decrease pain.
Dreams and Visions in Grieving
Studies consistently show that somewhere between 1/3 to half of people have spiritual or spiritual-psychic experiences. There aren’t any hard figures on types or categories of experiences, yet I suspect that dreams and visions of the deceased would likely be among the most frequent types of experiences. First, death is a universal reality in humanity. Secondly, death and the dear of death involves very powerful and primal emotions.
Dreams of the deceased, and those that are related to death in other ways, are thus not uncommon during childhood (see Mallon, 2002; Punama¨ki, 1999; Siegel & Bulkeley, 1998) particularly given that such dreams can closely reflect stages of the grieving process (Garfield, 1996). Qualitative studies have shown that some children reflect on their dreams and find meaning in them, with some of these dreams making a spiritual impact (Adams, 2003; Coles, 1990; Siegel & Bulkeley, 1998 (Children’s Grief Dreams and the Theory of Spiritual Intelligence: Kate Adams Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln Brendan Hyde Australian Catholic University)
Integrative Model: Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, William James
To understand something, whether we are aware of it or not, depends on choosing a model. We get to understand what we see by comparing it with something else, something that we think we understand better. But what we compare it with turns out to have a huge influence on the outcome. Iain McGilchrist
An “achievement” of mine was properly identifying Integrative Model – a synthesis consensus of Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, and William James. Dr Paul Wong identified it as a “New Integrative Approach!” It is in fact, “new” – having been overlooked by mainstream psychology. The synthesis consensus has three characteristics: 1. Spiritual experiences and spirituality create meaning and a sense of reality (models) Everyone seems to know I like to talk but I also ask questions. There is a general consensus that that spiritual experiences help them make sense of the world and also they generate strong emotions and motivations. 2. Different experiences create different worldviews (tolerance) 3. Emotions energize the symbols, abstractions, or models.
Carl Jung: “Spirit gives meaning to his [man’s] life”
Carl Jung, a psychoanalyst and contemporary of Sigmund Freud, couldn’t have been clearer or more succinct when he made that simple but profound statement. (CW8:643) Jung observed, in the Collected Works (CW8: 648 -1968 revised) that “Life and spirit are two powers or necessities between which man is placed. Spirit gives meaning to his life, and the possibility of its greatest development. But life is essential to spirit, since its truth is nothing if it cannot live.” This is consistent with Jung’s strongly expressed belief that experiences are a primary influence in peoples’ beliefs – without doubt, experiences are influential in non-spiritual experiences as well.
Jung stated that “From the psychological point of view the phenomenon of spirit, like every autonomous complex, appears as an intention of the unconscious superior to, or at least on a par with, the intentions of the ego. If we are to do justice to the essence of the thing we call spirit, we should really speak of a “higher” consciousness rather than of the unconscious, because the concept of spirit is such that we are bound to connect it with the idea of superiority over the ego-consciousness.” (in CW8: 643) In general Carl Jung viewed “the psyche” as “separate parts… connected with one another…[but] relatively independent… “autonomous complexes,” (CW8 582) Jung’s view of separate autonomous processes turned out relatively on target in light of neuroscience.
Viktor Frankl: The innermost core of being and meaning is the spiritual self!
Dr. P. Wong emphasizes Viktor Frankl’s principle: “Believing that human beings have a spiritual core with an innate need for meaning. In other words, the innermost core of the “self” is spiritual. It is this spiritual dimension of human beings, not just their need for information
and understanding, that is the primary source of meaning seeking. It is this spiritual and motivational emphasis on meaning seeking that makes us truly human. We seek meaning because we are spiritual beings. The will to meaning is another way of saying that we have the spiritual need to seek self-transcendence.”
Paul Wong elaborates Viktor Frankl’s views of the nature of spiritual or noetic (from nous) processes: Frankl believes the positive psychology resources are rooted in a spiritual core….Frankl states “The noetic [spiritual] dimension contains such qualities as our will to meaning, our goal orientation, ideas and ideals, creativity, imagination, faith, love that goes beyond the physical, a conscience beyond the superego, self-transcendence, commitments, responsibility, a sense of humor, and the freedom of choice making.” (Fabry 1994 pp.18-19)”
William James: spiritual-religious experiences can create a “sense of reality”
“They [abstractions (symbols) and spiritual emotions-experiences] determine our vital attitude as decisively as the vital attitude of lovers is determined by the habitual sense, …… They are convincing to those who have them as any direct sensible experiences can be, and they are, as a rule, much more convincing than results established by mere logic are……if you do have them, and have them at all strongly, the probability is that you cannot help regarding them as genuine perceptions of truth, as revelations of a kind of reality [my underlining] which no adverse argument, however unanswerable by you in words, can expel from your belief” is what William James emphasized in his classic 1902 work, The Varieties of Religious Experiences. William James goes on to say that spiritual and religious experiences can create and generate a “sense of reality”
Commentary: So, in light of the fact that spiritual experiences are often involve highly charged emotions and also tend to shape a sense of reality, as well as the fact that grief is primarily about attachment and emotions it would make sense that spiritual experiences in the grieving processes could reshape and facilitate meaning reconstruction pivotal in the grieving pro9cesses as Neimeyer emphasizes.
Sense of Reality: Modern research confirms William James “Sense of Reality” argument. David Hay’s “survey” demonstrated that “Though many of these [spiritual] experiences were very brief, they often had a dramatic effect on mood-state and well-being, and people remembered them for the rest of their lives.” From a study of people who have had spiritual or spiritual-psychic experiences, J. E Kennedy concludes experiences increased their interest and beliefs in spiritual matters and increased their sense of well-being. More specifically, “the majority of respondents indicated that the experiences resulted in increased belief in life after death, belief that their lives are guided or watched over by a higher force or being, interest in spiritual or religious matters, sense of connection to others, happiness, well-being, confidence, optimism about the future, and meaning in life. They also indicated decreases in fear of death, depression or anxiety, isolation and loneliness, and worry and fears about the future!”
From my research and experience it appears that William James classic work: “The Varieties of Religious Experiences” is excluded from curriculum in university undergraduate psychology courses. A child development student told me she had never heard of William James classic work. I mentioned that is unfair since William James observation that different experiences create different world views – which shows a tolerant understanding. She responded that is too bad – that is the way it is! In my view, most American college graduates – besides having no training or education in spiritual experiences (Of course Dr Stacey Neal (JHU) stated she had no training or education either) are way too fond of the materialist worldview – in my view.
Edgar Cayce: “The spiritual self is life!”
Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) was a documented spiritual leader and “psychic – healer” who was active from approximately 1925 to 1945. Edgar Cayce was phenomenal. He cured eight people of epilepsy at a time when there were no medications for epilepsy, let alone cures. A couple of times, Edgar Cayce spoke in languages of which he had no conscious knowledge. As famed parapsychologist Stephan Schwartz points out, he was remote viewing before remote viewing was even known. Edgar Cayce also emphasized the importance of the mind – spirituality connection.
Edgar Cayce observed: “The spiritual self is life, the activity of the mental and physical is of the soul – and therefore a soul-body” (Edgar Cayce reading 3590-2).
Keep the mental forces in tune with your higher self and rise above the conditions that beset the mind, for if we are to give the best of ourselves to those who depend on us, we must have physically fit bodies. form and spirits above the lower level. So, do it! (3991-1)
So, the Master – as mind – is the way, is the how, of which one becomes aware through the application, through the administration of the hopes, the desires, the faith of the soul itself. For the mind belongs to the body and the soul, and when it is purified in the Christ Consciousness, it lives as such indefinitely. (3292-1)
Saslow: Spirituality is especially associated with a spiritual identity
From research into the correlation between spirituality and compassion, Saslow et al observes: Spirituality was especially associated with having a spiritual identity, having had transcendent experiences, and tending to pray. Religiosity was especially related to religious fundamentalism, attending religious services, reading a holy book, and tending to pray….. Similarly, spirituality makes them feel loving and respectful toward others…. more “compassionate love” for close others and strangers (Sprecher & Fehr, 2005),…hold Universal values,…In summary,…. spiritual individuals value prosociality [connectivity],…”
Reflections
Unfortunately, there is a lot of truth to what McGilChrist says: “And that means that we should be appropriately skeptical of the left hemisphere’s vision of a mechanistic world, an atomistic society, a world in which competition is more important than collaboration; a world in which nature is a heap of resource there for our exploitation, in which only humans count, and yet humans are only machines – not even very good ones, at that; a world curiously stripped of depth, color and value. This is not the intelligent, if hard-nosed, view that its espousers comfort themselves by making it out to be; just a sterile fantasy, the product of a lack of imagination, which makes it easier for us to manipulate what we no longer understand. But it is a fantasy that displaces and renders inaccessible the vibrant, living, profoundly creative world that it was our fortune to inherit – until we squandered our inheritance.” ― Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World To me psychology and psychiatry – as it is – is a threat to my well-being – not just “no understanding” – but hostile and too often hateful when it comes to spirituality.
Spiritual Experiences as Adaptive in Grieving
“Death, especially when it takes on the mask of senselessness and meaninglessness, would seem to be the ultimate challenge to the “meaning of life” as the authors Janoff-Bulman and McPherson (1997) emphasize.
Janoff-Bulman and McPherson focus on the subjective “experience” of pain which they relate to the “shattered assumptions” and an “increased awareness” of the fragility of life and human vulnerability (Janoff-Bulman & McPherson, 1997, p.103) However it would seem the pain is from the loss of attachment because attachments are very emotional bonds, and the pain from the loss necessarily makes the brain ask why it is suffering and it is those questions that “shatter” the assumptions and world-view. A question might be whether a search for meaning is really truly good if you can’t find the answers.”
The authors highlight the fact that there are two sides to the grieving coin.” “Some ‘benefits for people who grieve are sometimes, improved resilience, improved independence, improved confidence, “greater awareness of life’s fragility, improved empathy and compassion, and ‘better interpersonal results.’ (p.37-38) The authors conclude that “making sense is an effective means of coping only in the early months of the loss, whereas benefit finding seems to be a better ongoing means of coping that strengthens adjustment over time.” (p.47)
In their article, Loss, Grief, And The Search For Significance: Toward A Model Of Meaning Reconstruction in Bereavement, J Gillies and R Neimeyer begin the article with, “Constructivist theories recently have begun to inform understanding of grief, emphasizing the role of meaning making in adaptation to bereavement.” (p.31) What is even more interesting is that the authors divide meaning-making into three categories: sense making, benefit finding, and identity change. Relationships with others are pivotal issues in their model – which is makes perfect sense in that belongingness and the need to belong – as Roy Baumeister notes – are very powerful forces in human consciousness! Since the emotional attachments are a primary factor in grieving “meaning reconstruction” – refiguring and re-structuring your life in terms of relationships would make meaning reconstruction an excellent focus in understanding and grasping grieving processes. I – personally – was shocked to learn that some people grieve – which can be exceedingly painful for literally years. It seems some people never recover from the loss of their spouse or partner.
Spiritual Experiences, Dreams and Visions of the Deceased as Adaptive Mechanisms
Preface: Grieving can be hard – sometimes very hard, and very painful. I know my mother had a rough go of it after my father died. I have an academic connection who indicated that functioning is much more difficult – and painful – since her husband died. I was pretty shocked – to be honest – when I realized that a relatively large numbers of people literally take years to recover – and suffer anguish and pin for long periods of time. And one study I read indicated that some really never recover at all. Keeping that in mind should put Viktor Frankl’s insight more sensible. As Viktor Frankl observed extraordinary circumstances frequently generate extraordinary experiences – and solution.
1. Julie S. Parker, Extraordinary Experiences Of The Bereaved And Adaptive Outcome Of Grief
Julie Parker concludes that “The findings of this study support the emerging model of grief that posits that maintaining continuing bonds with the deceased can be adaptive. They also support the assertion that spiritual and/or religious belief systems are associated with adaptive outcomes of grief.” Parker’s study was based on “A multiple case questionnaire/interview study was used to investigate Extra ordinary Experiences (EEs) reported by bereaved individuals. Its purpose was to describe the grief processes of 12 bereaved individuals who had reported EEs………. Parker goes on to say that would apply to both the clinically pathological conditions as well. Parker concludes that Positive cognitive, emotional, spiritual, behavioral and/or existential changes were linked to 11 participants’ EEs. Because these experiences occurred within the context of bereavement,” (Julie S. Parker, Extraordinary Experiences Of The Bereaved And Adaptive Outcome Of Grief)
2. Larry W. Easterling et al Spiritual Experience, Church Attendance, and Bereavement,
The authors (Easterling et al) observe that “Conversely, experience has shown pastoral caregivers that individuals do seem to cope better if they can “actualize” their spiritual experiences in times of crisis. In instances of loss and bereavement, such spiritual experiences may offer not only comfort but also a contextual framework of meaning for understanding death according to a certain set of theological constructs or beliefs, informed by these core spiritual experiences. “Mourners who evidenced higher levels of spiritual experience showed significantly lower levels of negative grief affect in response to their loss. Religious activity, as measured by regular church attendance, appeared to influence grief adjustment only to the extent that it was positively correlated with spiritual experience.” (Spiritual Experience, Church Attendance, and Bereavement, by Larry W. Easterling, Th. D, Louis A. Gamino, Ph.D., Kenneth W. Sewell, Ph.D., Linda S. Stirman, B.S.N)
3. Children’s Grief Dreams and the Theory of Spiritual Intelligence
Kate Adams Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln Brendan Hyde Australian Catholic University Dreams of the deceased, and those that are related to death in other ways, are thus not uncommon during childhood (see Mallon, 2002; Punama¨ki, 1999; Siegel & Bulkeley, 1998) particularly given that such dreams can closely reflect stages of the grieving process (Garfield, 1996).
Qualitative studies have shown that some children reflect on their dreams and find meaning in them, with some of these dreams making a spiritual impact (Adams, 2003; Coles, 1990; Siegel & Bulkeley, 1998). While spiritual dreams can contain a variety of themes, a common one relates to death (Bulkeley, 2000; Bulkeley & Bulkley, 2005). The concept of death is one that children are faced with as they encounter issues of mortality in one form or another, usually via the death of a grandparent or a pet. Dreams of the deceased, and those that are related to death in other ways, are thus not uncommon during childhood (see Mallon, 2002”
Dreams As Communication Method Between The Living And The Dead
Ethnographic Case Study From Slovakia Gabriela Kilianova introduces her study of dreams of deceased in Slovakia by saying that “Dreams about deceased ancestors and departed relatives or friends represent a special category of dream experience in European and non-European societies. Research findings have demonstrated a rather high frequency of their occurrence.”
I am including a sizable section about the views of Catholic priest in Slovakia in part because the priest “assumed that such dreams help people deal with the loss of their loved ones.” But also because of the priest’s reflections and comments about the afterlife and connections with souls departed.
The Catholic priest serving during my research in 2007 and 2008 was a young educated man. He was teaching at the Faculty of Theology of Comenius University in Bratislava and was specializing in eschatology, among other topics. He used his scholarly knowledge during his tenure. During the most recent research period on the occasion of a funeral he delivered a remarkably interesting sermon on the afterlife and the souls of the dead. The priest tolerated the parishioners’ dreams and referred to the present open attitude of the church towards such phenomena. According to him, the Holy Scripture shows that God announced his will to people in dreams many times. Among several examples of such prophetic dreams, he mentioned Joseph’s dream about an angel that announced he could return home from Egypt together with his family. The priest assumed that God could use dreams as a way to demonstrate His will.
When someone told the priest a dream about the dead, he evaluated it primarily as a natural psychological phenomenon. He assumed that such dreams help people deal with the loss of their loved ones. However, when the parishioners said that they dreamed about the dead, he did not automatically relate those dreams to the belief in purgatory. The priest did not support the opinion that the souls of the dead could visit the living and establish contact with them. On the other hand, he presumed that a connection between the living and the dead exists and that communication between them is possible”
Lastly, I would add that the author Gabriela Kilianova did divide the dreams of the deceased into separate categories as well
Historical Perspective: Dreams and Visions of the Deceased
Dreams of the deceased without question have been going on for thousands of years so without question – and as such there is a “normalcy” to dreams of the deceased. One of the earliest recorded dreams of the deceased is from Egyptian history prior to 750 BCE. The earliest are found in letters to the dead. In one, a woman writes to her deceased female relative, begging her to expel the pain of her body while she watches the deceased fight on her behalf in a dream. Another letter contains what may be the first recorded case of an anxiety dream caused by a guilty conscience. Here, a man writes to his dead father begging him to prevent another dead man from malevolently watching him in a dream . (Visions of divinities were exceptional. Dreams of Early Ancient Egypt by Kasia Szpakowska)
Dreams of the deceased would be an excellent illustration of “normalcy” in spiritual-psychic experiences. Death is a very primal – and instinctual – reality and force in human consciousness and unconscious symbolism related to death are without question very prevalent in one form or another in human consciousness.
Marion Eggert: Dreaming about the Dead in Premodern Korea (17th-19th Century) As a point of information, it is important to understand that dreams of the deceased come in different varieties and types, and there is no monolithic or cookie cutter dreams of the deceased. Eggert summarizes her article and study in saying, “Based on this, it makes use of narratives of dreams—more specifically, the use of the dream motif in sacrificial texts for deceased beloved ones—as a pathway for describing the subjective experience of grief and mourning in Korean aristocratic culture of the Chosŏn dynasty, in the hope that this might function as a small contribution towards a better understanding of the construction of subjectivity among Confucian literati in Chosŏn Korea….. I have thus chosen for this study texts composed for funeral and memorial rites (chemun, chin. jiwen) that speak of dreams about the dead. In contemporary Western thought, the theme of mourning itself has been closely related to the experience of self as autonomous individuality, so much so that we even find claims for a link between “the capacity to accept loss” and “the capacity for civic engagement.” Eggert did develop four different categories for dreams.
Studies – hidden in the backrooms and offbeat schools of thought show that dreams and visions of the deceased – not all that surprisingly are common. I have located studies of dreams of the deceased in many different countries by many different researchers: three is the US, as well as Hong Kong, Slovakia, Native American, Sweden, Filipino, Korean Romanian-Serbian, and even childhood etc. A very important point is that I had to google scholar not only dreams of the deceased, but I had to google by “nationality” as well in order to located studies of dreams of the deceased. I found the study of Hong Kong dreams of the deceased by google scholaring Chinese dreams of the deceased. Dr. P. Wong mentioned he knows the researcher of the Hong Kong study.
Spirituality and Synthesis: The Unique Story of Jean MacPhail: A Childhood Foresight and Making Sense of the World
Synthesis, Interconnectivity and the Neuroscience of Morals
Funk and Gazzanigna observe that: “Morality is a set of complex emotional and cognitive processes that is reflected across many brain domains. Some of them are recurrently found to be indispensable in order to emit a moral judgment, but none of them is uniquely related to morality…………Some of the emotions processed are more central to morality than others, but all emotions contribute to moral judgment given specific contextual situations. The neural circuits of brain regions implicated in morality overlap with those that regulate other behavioral processes”[3] The articles on the neuroscience of music make remarkably similar observations – that processes of music are interconnected with language, singing, dancing, etc. and overlap different behavioral processes. There is absolutely no reason to expect anything different with spirituality and spiritual processes.
Studies of people who have spiritual or spiritual-psychic experiences as Park and Paloutzian observe, reveal that somewhere between one third to one half of people have spiritual-psychic experiences – of every type and variety imaginable. That being said, not many ever talk about them for fear of retaliation – which is a reasonable fear in this “civilized” civilization. Fraser Watts notes similar results in his book. Park and Paloutzian go on to say that the studies definitely “establish the normalcy of such reports and that social scientists have until recently ignored a common-phenomena.”[4] That last comment is very true. Several researchers refer to spirituality as an “emerging’ field of study – though most students assume it has all been said and done by now. One study referred to “relational spirituality” as a new “school of thought” in psychology.
The authors Brendon Hyde and Kate Adams observe: “Dreams of the deceased, and those that are related to death in other ways, are thus not uncommon during childhood (see Mallon, 2002; Punamaki, 1999; Siegel & Bulkeley, 1998) particularly given that such dreams can closely reflect stages of the grieving process (Garfield, 1996)…. Dreams such as these, which an individual may deem “spiritual,” are often significant to them because of the impact made on their lives.”[5] Dr Ingela Visuri in her article on autistic spirituality observed that “distress” can be an underlying cause. Jean McPhail also observed that stress in her experiences appears to be a significant factor – and of course “death” and grieving would be a significant stress factor.
Jean MacPhail, is a former fellow in neuropathology at Harvard University, author of A Spiral Life (good book), as well as a contemplative Vedanta nun, also lectures and writes articles essays. When Jean was a very young child of only five years old her world was shattered by a traumatic life-altering experience. Her mother walked out one day in a ‘fey” mood not to eb seen alive again. Jean – later – a age 14, wrote down in a poem her vision of her mother’s death at age 5 – which she discovered was accurate much later at age 22 – yet went on to synthesize her emotions and broken life into a quintessential poem of meaning creation or re-creation and psychological-spiritual synthesis. When I first read her poem, I didn’t fully realize what was going on and glossed over it. Jean’s poem – at the really tender age of 14 years old was a remarkable synthesis of vision and “putting her house in order.”
“On the mountain, shadows
Pass and re-pass, over blue rocks
And black,
Where lies a broken temple
Silvered by the weak moon.
A wreath of curling locks
And an arm stretched out,
Cold, cold and heavy,
Soaked with the dews of night,
Devoid of life and sadness.
No trace of joy, yes, it is there —
Silent, still, true bliss and happiness.
Fleeting wings bring the sighs
Of a child;
Teardrops fall as drops of gentle rain
On eyelids of white as marble.
A light of dim and yellow
Glows in the town.
The eye of love and a heart cries
In the still, warm night.”[6]
Jean, as a fourteen-year-old girl, begins her poem with a vision of a “broken temple Silvered by the weak moon” and a description of her vision of her mother’s death: “A wreath of curling locks, and an arm stretched out…. Devoid of life and sadness.”. When Jean finally talked to the coroner at age 23, the corner said her mother died of exposure in a creek bed. Next comes “Fleeting wings bring the sighs Of a child Teardrops fall as drops of gentle rain” which is an emotion recognition that as a child she was powerless to influence the situation as well as the reality and truth of her grief and sadness. She ends the poem with a resolution: “The eye of love and a heart cries.” In reviewing Jean’s poem, it is rather evident that she was “putting her house in order” – which is consistent with the Frankl-James-Jung Synthesis consensus that spiritual experiences create meaning and a sense of reality.
Reflections and Commentary
In light of Niemeyer’s approach[7] of grieving as meaning reconstruction as well as Spiritual intelligence as problem solving as well as the synthesis consensus of Frankl, Jung, and William James who have a general agreement on the function of the process of grieving, it should be clear that in Jean’s poem she is “reconstructing” and re-structuring her meaning. So, it would seem rather evident that Jean forged a new perspective and worldview with both grace and wisdom uncanny for a fourteen-year-old. It was a very touching and compassionate resolution and synthesis – as well as realistic
Reflections:
Death can be extremely frightening, to be blunt – as well as being terribly painful for many who grieve over the passing of a loved one. Personally, I have encountered several people who have thought themselves weird or abnormal because of their dreams of the deceased. Most of the dreams were not earthshaking – except perhaps for Flynn’s foresight-dream of his mother dying) Nunzi, Licia, and Mirabai all had relatively ordinary or “normal” dreams all things considering circumstances would be normal. As Viktor Frankl observed, extraordinary circumstances tend to generate extraordinary experiences – and solutions.
On top of that, J.E Kennedy observes, “In a study of a technique attempting to induce a sense of contact with someone who had died, 96% of the participants with NF personality types reported after-death contact experiences, whereas 100% of the participants with ST (sensing, thinking) personality types did not have these experiences (Arcangel, 1997). So, an important point here is that as the personality studies show some peoples’ minds filter information differently – and in this case NF personalities do appear to have a predisposition for sensing contact with the deceased.
I encountered a woman, M…. Who told me when she was very young that she had “ghost” experiences but grew out of them. However, she added her brother also had experiences – and her brother still has visions of ghosts to this day. I mentioned this study to her and added that with some people that is just the way their brains are wired – and that is not necessarily pathological in and of itself.
As a point of information, I would add that an Icelandic study of psychic experiences which reports that “Having had some experience of a deceased person is also common, being reported by 45% of the women and 28% of the men (a notable sex difference). About half of these experiences had been visual in nature, with 60% of this group of respondents having encountered a deceased close relative, 39% a stranger, and 4% their deceased spouse. More than half had experienced more than one encounter with a deceased person.” AS Muzafer Sherif pointed out real world circumstance and real-life situations are pivotal and the Icelandic study did not explain if grieving was part of the situation or distress – which as Jean MacPhail argues is relevant. ([Icelandic] Psychic experiences – third of a century apart. Two representative surveys in Iceland. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 75, 903, 76-90. January 2011 The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 75(9ö3):76-90 Erlendur Haraldsson University of Iceland)
Spiritual Intelligence & Synthesis-Consensus
SPIRITUALITY, SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE, AND DREAMS
Spirituality is a natural human predisposition (e.g., Hay & Nye, 2006; O’Murchu, 1997, 2000). It is more primal than institutional religion (James, 1901/ 1977; Maslow, 1970; Tacey, 2000) and concerns a person’s sense of connectedness with self, others, and the world (or cosmos). For some people, connectedness with a Transcendent dimension is a part of spirituality (Bosacki, 2001; Elton-Chalcraft, 2002; Fisher, 1999; Hyde, 2004; Tacey, 2003). Hay and Nye (2006) argue that spirituality involves a deep-down awareness of one’s relationship with one’s self, and with everything that is other than one’s self.
It is possible to conceive of spirituality as a type of intelligence (Emmons, 1999, 2000; Hyde, 2003, 2004; Kwilecki, 2000; Zohar & Marshall, 2000). One hallmark feature of intelligence concerns the ability to solve problems (Ruzgis & Grigorenko, 1994; Walters & Gardner, 1986). Zohar and Marshall (2000) define spiritual intelligence as the mental aptitude used by human beings to address and find solutions to problems of meaning and value in life. In drawing on discourse arising from theories of motivation and personality, Emmons (1999) further suggests that people are able to use spiritual resources to solve problems: The adaptive processing of spiritual information is a part of intelligence, and individual differences in the skills with which such processing occurs constitute core features of personality. Spirituality can serve as a source of information to individuals, and, as a function of interests and aptitudes, individuals become more or less skilled at processing this information[8] (p. 163). (Children’s Grief Dreams and the Theory of Spiritual Intelligence: Kate Adams Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln Brendan Hyde Australian Catholic University)
“It [spirituality] is more primal than institutional religion”
Spirituality is a natural human predisposition! It is more primal than institutional religion and concerns a person’s sense of connectedness with self, others, and world!” – K. Bishop Grosseteste U, B Hyde Australian Catholic University Yes, spirituality is more primal, Anton Killin: “The oldest known musical instruments [date] from 40,000 years ago (40 Kya)” Killin argues that the genesis of music in hominins likely originated as long as 275,000 years ago. In fact, I recently came across information that identical prehistoric flutes 30 to 40,000 years ago that were found in China and Germany show a remarkable similarity in their manufacture.
As a [pretty wild] point of information, I should add that “A magnified view of the circular wall of one of the finger holes of a seven-holed flute from Jia3hu2 [China] reveals striking similarities to the beveling found in the holes of the Ulm [Germany] flutes….[and] virtually identical beveling around the finger holes which indicates that they must have been part of the same early tradition of instrument production.”[9] (Prehistoric European And East Asian Flutes, Victor H. Mair) Roughly, the distance between China and Germany would be 7223.54 km. or 4488.5 miles. How “virtually identical beveling indicating the same “tradition” in Flutes from 30 to 40,000 years ago separated by huge distances is a pretty wild question.
Prism Paradigm & Spirituality- Energy originating in unconscious spiritual symbolism – but filtered and processed by the interconnected brain regions and processes. People have different views because they filter, or process, data and information differently. Personality, upbringing, culture-environment- ethnicity, experiences are shaping factors.
Selective Attention – an evolutionary adaptive trait: William James long ago pointed out that to pay attention to something one necessarily would have to “ignore” or exclude information-stimuli which “implies a withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.” The neuroscientists Bernhard Hommel (et al): “How is this related to attention? A few sentences after that famous phrase [by William James] we quoted above, “attention interact with another stimulus is indeed accomplished, quite literally, within the approach circuit of the rostral tectum. And while these simple circuits for governing interactive behavior may seem far removed from the higher cognition of humans, they are indeed the precursors to the mechanisms that control what has been called “selective attention.”
In the Prism Paradigm – Metaphor – the light of spirituality is comparable to the light going into a prism which gets separated (filtered) into different wavelengths. There are all sorts of different “wavelengths” types-views of spirituality in consciousness. A good illustration would be autistic spirituality – which as Dr Visuri points out tends to be expressed as unexplainable sensory experiences (invisible touch etc.). That unique type of spiritual experience would clearly be a product of their unique physiology – perhaps even compensatory for their well-known weakness in social skills (and processing of social signals) such as a deficit in the “theory of mind process – “Default Mode Network which processes intentionality.
Natural Indigenous dream model compared to materialist model
The first recorded dream of the deceased dates from 2100 B.C. in Egypt. “Around 2100 B.C., an Egyptian man named Heni wrote a letter to his dead father, asking him for help with his nightmares. Heni described how in his dreams Seni, his deceased dad’s servant, keeps staring at him. Perhaps trying to relieve a guilty conscience, Heni alluded to how he mistreated Seni but claimed he was not the first to abuse him. Heni begged his father: “Do not allow him to do me harm.” Heni’s letter is one of the earliest references to dreams in ancient Egypt found in the 20 or so non-royal Letters to the Dead.”
Alessandro Casale observes: “Indigenous societies in North and South America have dream theories and interpretations that reveal a philosophical order about the nature of the universe. This concept is often different from other non-Indigenous societies, like Euro-American ones, which largely disregards dreaming as being unimportant to the reality of daily life.” (Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective Indigenous Dreams: Prophetic Nature, Spirituality, and Survivance By Alessandro Casale) In my experience, it is too true that Euro-American societies “disregard” dreams as a source of “intelligence.”
The article on ancient dreams of the deceased made similar observations. “The most common word used for “dream” throughout Ancient Egyptian history was the noun “resut” which means literally “awakening.” Egyptian words are usually written as a combination of phonetic signs, plus a sign or classifier at the end, indicating the category of the word…..In contrast to modern understandings of the nature of a dream, the Egyptians did not think of it as arising from within the sleeper, nor as a psychological phenomenon, nor as an activity performed by an individual. Rather, it had an objective external existence outside the will of the passive dreamer. In a way, the dream was perceived as a threshold space whose boundaries lay somewhere between the world of the living and the world beyond—one that allowed contact between the dreamer and those who inhabited the afterlife: gods, the dead, daemons, and the damned.”
It is very relevant that modern science (i.e. John Bargh) emphasizes the significant role of the connection between the environment and the unconscious: Further supporting this notion of natural contextual tuning of one’s behavior to the present environment, cognitive research indicates that action-related objects activate multiple action plans in parallel and that action production is driven by some form of selective disinhibition. For example, findings suggest that ambient stimuli (e.g., hammers) automatically set us to physically interact with the world (e.g., perform a power grip, Tucker & Ellis, 2001). (Bargh Unconscious Mind) Furthermore, perhaps the emphasis on the “self” as independent and totally autonomous that feeds in the extreme individualism as David Hay terms it. Lastly, the overblown and aggrandized idea of the self – likely plays a role in the epidemic of narcissism (Twenge). In any case modern science has demonstrated that in actuality, there is an “objective external existence outside the will of the passive dreamer”
It really shouldn’t be a surprise that people have dreams of their fathers and mothers who have passed away, but psychiatrists seem surprised – at least in two studies I came across. I do enjoy talking to people. I encountered Nunzi and Licia – both who happened to be Italian. They both related dreams they had had of their fathers (both dreamt about their fathers rather than their mothers). In the dreams they related nothing was “wild” or even remotely supernatural as it were – though both communicated they felt their fathers’ spirits-souls were connecting with them. My sense of it was that Nunzi’s father – in her dream – was helping her work through some ongoing situations in her life. My point is that for many people dreaming of their mothers or fathers is very natural. Early human societies frequently portrayed ancestors’ appearance in dreams as efforts to help the dreamer. My Bla’an student connections believe that to be true – and if not literally true, in the context of the way the mind works that is very likely symbolically true.
A substantial amount of recent interest in spiritual experiences appears to stem from a re-emergence of interest in dreams of the deceased and spirituality in grieving from the pastoral school of thought in psychology. Kate Adams and Brendan Hyde state “Dreams of the deceased, and those that are related to death in other ways, are thus not uncommon during childhood…. particularly given that such dreams can closely reflect stages of the grieving process.”
In my research, there is a distinct difference between studies of “dreams of the deceased” by psychologists and psychiatrists. Of 19 studies of dreams of the deceased that I reviewed the two psychiatric studies on dreams of the deceased both labeled them hallucinations and delusions. The first recorded dream of the deceased dates to Egypt in 2100 BC. Dr Neal (JHU) stated that she (and psychiatry) has no education or training in people who have spiritual experiences. As J E Kennedy observes “very little research” has been done on people have transcendental spiritual experiences. The mainstream APA which describes spiritual-psychic experiences as anomalies is equally bad and sometimes worse.
The psychoanalytic approach holds the view of dreams being entirely the reflection of inner desires and instincts. “Many traditional Freudian approaches to treatment are no longer in favor, but modern psychoanalytic therapy continues to play an important role in psychology today.” “Eysenck (1952) delivered the most damaging indictment of psychoanalysis when he reviewed studies of therapeutic outcomes for neurotic patients. He found that about half recovered within two years. What was so damning for psychoanalysis was that for similar patients who received no treatment at all (waiting list controls), the figure was about two thirds.” (https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html)
Addendum I: Fruitful, Creative Spirituality
Counterpoint to the materialist maxim “All spirituality is unreal” Spirituality w/ “real world context” (Muzafer Sherif) & W. James Pragmatism vs the materialist “rigid adherence to arbitrary quantification” (McGilChrist)
a, Spirituality of Compassion: “Compassion for others and social support have survival value and health benefits…. “[10] (The Oxford Handbook on Compassion: p. 171)
b, “Our findings argue that spirituality—above and beyond religiosity—is uniquely associated with greater compassion and enhanced altruism toward strangers.”[11] (The Social Significance of Spirituality Laura R. Saslow et al),
c, “religiosity and spirituality were associated positively with compassionate love both for close others (friends, family) and for humanity (strangers).”[12] (Compassionate love……, S. Sprecher
2. Musical Spirituality Shulkin and Raglan “Our evolution is tightly bound to music and to the body as an instrument (e.g., clapping). Music, amongst other things, helps to facilitate social cooperative and coordinated behaviors.” “Music is a fundamental part of our evolution – and functional because it facilitates “human contact” and out “social self”[13]” “Cross-culturally, at a first approximation, ‘musical’ behaviours involve not just patterned sound, but also overt action; ‘musicality’ is a property of communities rather than of individuals; and music is mutable in its specific significances or meanings”[14] (p.1) (Ian Cross)
3. Spiritual Healing in Grieving Healing Easterling, et al observe “Conversely, experience has shown pastoral caregivers that individuals do seem to cope better if they can “actualize” their spiritual experiences in times of crisis. J Parker’s study “support the assertion that spiritual and/or religious belief systems are associated with adaptive outcomes of grief.” [15]
4. Kapwa-loob pro-social norms/spirituality Kapwa & Relational Spirituality: K Lagdameo-Santillan “Kapwa is a recognition of a shared identity, an inner self, shared with others (i.e. Reynaldo Ileto, Jeremiah Reyes, Mercado, etc.) + Ubuntu (African – Anglican Tutu) Anam Cara – soul friend (Celtic – soul friend, O’Donohue – Irish theologian)[16]
5. Children’s Spirituality Donna Thomas: “anomalous experiences can catalyze self- healing for children and young people.” [17]
6. Artistic Spirituality: Robert K. Johnston – 20 percent of Americans turn to “media, arts and culture” as their primary means of spiritual experience and expression….” [18]
7. Poetic Spirituality & Prophecy-Creativity & Transcendence: “The prophet is a poet. His experience is one known to poets. What poets know as poetic inspiration; the prophets call divine revelation”[19] – Heschel
8. Dream Weaving/ T’boli-T’nalak – Dreams as a source of divine inspiration and diving grace – the T’boli artist, “Be Lang Dulay, a national artist, popularized T’nalak weaving with her over 100 different T’nalak designs.”
Tinalak/T’nalak Fiesta Street Parade and Street Dancing taken on South Cotabato SMRAA, Koronadal City during T’nalak Festival on July 18, 2009.The Colors of T’nalak by Louie D. Photography – 3763039917.jpg – Wikimedia
9. Arctic Hunter Gatherer beliefs in animal spirits as “Human relationships with the natural world…”[20] in context of William James Practical Use Principle
10. Dr. Ingela Visuri: Spirituality and “The Case of High functioning Autism”[21]
11. Medical studies-research & meta-analyses – That is important because as J. E Kennedy points out – “very little research has been done” [about people]
Synthesis-Consensus of William James, Viktor Frankl, & Carl Jung
a life & death question.
1), spirituality – particularly spiritual experiences – shape peoples’ “sense of reality” – that spirituality helps [people “make sense of the world”
2) different experiences (+ culture, upbringing) create diverse worldviews – particularly in spiritual experiences
Addendum II: List of Studies of Dreams of the Deceased
1. Children’s Grief Dreams and the Theory of Spiritual Intelligence Kate Adams Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln Brendan Hyde Australian Catholic University[22]
2. The Experience of Chinese Bereaved Persons: A Preliminary Study of Meaning Making and Continuing Bonds Cecilia L. W. Chan, Amy Y. M. Chow, Samuel M., Y. Ho, Yenny K. Y. Tsui, Agnes F. Tin, Brenda W. K. Koo & Elaine W. K. Koo Centre on Behavioral Health and Department of Social Work & Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong[23]
3. DREAMS AS COMMUNICATION METHOD BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY FROM SLOVAKIA – GABRIELA KILIÁNOV Á[24]
4. Santos, Narry F. “Exploring the Filipino Indigenous Religious Concepts of God, Soul and Death in Relation to the Spirit World.” Phronesis: A Journal of Asian Theological Seminary 13, no. 2 (2008): 31-55[25]
5. Spiritual Experience, Church Attendance, and Bereavement Larry W. Easterling, Th.D. ACPE Supervisor/Pastoral Counselor Scott and White Memorial Hospital 2401 South 31st Street Temple, TX 76508 Kenneth W. Sewell, Ph.D. Director of Clinical Psychology Training Program [26]
University of North Texas Denton, TX Louis A. Gamino, Ph.D. Psychologist Scott and White Memorial Hospital 2401 South 31st Street Temple, TX 76508 Linda S. Stirman, B.S.N. Coordinator of Clinical Studies Unit Scott and White Memorial Hospital 2401 South 31st Street
Temple, TX 7650
6. (Irish) Dreams and bereavement Brenda Mallon Counsellor and Psychotherapist EVERYONE HAS DREAMS[27] and, pleasant or frightening, they can be used in bereavement care as a starting point to address emotional aspects of loss. Dreams can help the bereaved to accept the absence, of the person who has died, or face feelings repressed ~ or avoided in waking life. For some, they also offer ‘ spiritual comfort. Working with dreams is a deeply satisfying process which can empower both client and counsellor.
Manchester, UK
7. THE DREAMS ABOUT THE DECEASED AS A FORM OF COMMUNICATION WITH THE OTHERWORLDLY (Romania – Serbia)[28] Abstract: After the summative review of the dreams about the deceased as a form of communication with the otherworldly research so far, with the special emphasis on the dreams of the deceased, the author deliberates a whole range of topics which are realized in this type of narration about dreams based on the fieldwork material obtained at different points in Serbia and in Serbian communities in Romania.
8. Icelandic study of psychic experiences: Psychic experiences – third of a century apart. Two representative surveys in Iceland. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 75, 903, 76-90. January 2011 The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 75(9ö3):76-90 Erlendur Haraldsson University of Iceland[29]
The study does state that “Having had some experience of a deceased person is also common, being reported by 45% of the women and 28% of the men (a notable sex difference). About half of these experiences had been visual in nature, with 60% of this group of respondents having encountered a deceased close relative, 39% a stranger, and 4% their deceased spouse. More than half had experienced more than one encounter with a deceased person.” I did mention in this essay that circumstances in peoples’ life situations are often overlooked
9. Spiritual Distress in Bereavement: Evolution of a Research Program Laurie A. Burke * and Robert A. Neimeyer Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA;[30]
10. The Other Side of Suicide: A Postmaterialist Analysis of Afterlife Memoir by H M Rimke, PhD I would mention that suicide would likely induce distress – plus!
11. The Spirits of the Dead in Saulteaux Life and Thought Author(s): A. Irving Hallowell Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 70, No. 1 (1940), pp. 29-51 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland[31]
12. Dreaming about the Dead in Premodern Korea (17th-19th Century) Marion Eggert p. 43-72 https://doi.org/10.4000/extremeorient.1074[32]
“The cultural, philological and historical study of dreams, especially that of the last two or three decades, has directed its efforts ever more intensely towards historicizing the dream experience. While earlier comparative studies of dream cultures, often under the impression of psychoanalytical dream theory, had tended more towards seeking for universals in the power, appeal and functions of the dream, the tide turned towards understanding the dream as a highly culturally specific phenomenon, useful for unravelling the cultural grammars into which the diverging semantics of the dream feed, and from which they derive.
The present essay is firmly rooted in the same endeavor—understanding culture through the ways it deals with dreams.2 However, rather than aiming at deciphering specific cultural codes expressed through dream discourse, it takes a prior understanding of Sinic cultural codes related to dreams as background. Based on this, it makes use of narratives of dreams—more specifically, the use of the dream motif in sacrificial texts for deceased beloved ones—as a pathway for describing the subjective experience of grief and mourning in Korean aristocratic culture of the Chosŏn dynasty, in the hope that this might function as a small contribution towards a better understanding of the construction of subjectivity among Confucian literati in Chosŏn Korea.
Mourning Process and Late Chosŏn Subjectivities
13. Constructions of Mexican American Family Grief After the Death of a Child; An Exploratory Study[33]
GERRY DORAN NANCY DOWNING HANSEN Fielding Graduate University
14. The Impact of Dreams of the Deceased on Bereavement: A Survey of Hospice Caregivers[34]
Scott T. Wright, BA, Christopher W. Kerr, MD, PhD ckerr@palliativecare.org, […], and Debra L. Luczkiewicz, MD+3View all authors and affiliations Volume 31, Issue 2
Most participants reported that their dreams were either pleasant or both pleasant and disturbing, and few reported purely disturbing dreams. Prevalent dream themes included pleasant past memories or experiences, the deceased free of illness, memories of the deceased’s illness or time of death, the deceased in the afterlife appearing comfortable and at peace, and the deceased communicating a message.
15. To the Afterworld and Back: Mourning and Dreams of the Dead among the Toraja
Author(s): Douglas Hollan, Ethos, Vol. 23, No. 4, Coping with Bereavement (Dec., 1995), pp. 424-436 Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association[35]
The Toraja are wet-rice farmers who live in the mou South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Although a majority of the p is now Christian, some middle-aged and older villager adherents of the traditional religion, Alukta, which is bas veneration and propitiation of various spirits (deata) an ancestor figure (nene’).
When we dream like that [of one’s deceased parent], often they are true…. If we dream, he/she comes carrying vegetables for the pigs, [that means] our pigs will thrive … Also, usually if we’re sick, and then we dream that the dead person comes bringing us water, we quickly recover! Or for example, if he/she comes, bringing us a letter, we will receive money … Yes, several times I have had dreams like those examples.
16. Normal Grief and Complicated Bereavement Among Traumatized Cambodian Refugees: Cultural Context and the Central Role of Dreams of the Dead Devon E. Hinton • Sonith Peou • Siddharth Joshi • Angela Nickerson • Naomi M. Simon[36]
Resources
Footnotes
[1] Jung, C. G. (1960). “Spirit and Life”. In Hull, R. F. C. (ed.). The Collected Works of C. G. Jung. XX. Vol. 8. New York: Pantheon Books for Bollinger. pp. 319–320
[2] Wong, Paul TP. “Compassionate and spiritual care: A vision of positive holistic medicine.” Keynote address presented at the Consultation on Holistic Healthcare for the Medical, Religious and Academic Professionals in Hong Kong, organized and hosted by The Nethersole Institute of Continuing Holistic Health Education (2004).
[3] Funk, Chadd M., and Michael S. Gazzaniga. “The functional brain architecture of human morality.” Current opinion in neurobiology 19, no. 6 (2009): 678-681.
[4] Paloutzian, Raymond F., and Crystal L. Park, eds. Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. Guilford Publications, 2014, p.67.
[5] Adams, Kate, and Brendan Hyde. “Children’s grief dreams and the theory of spiritual intelligence.” Dreaming 18, no. 1 (2008): 58.
[6] MacPhail, Jean C A Spiral Life, Xlibris, March 1, 2010
[7] Gillies, J., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2006). Loss, Grief, and the Search for Significance: Toward a Model of Meaning Reconstruction in Bereavement. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 19(1), 31–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720530500311182
[8] Adams, Kate, and Brendan Hyde. “Children’s grief dreams and the theory of spiritual intelligence.” Dreaming 18, no. 1 (2008): 58.
[9] Mair, VICTOR H. “Prehistoric European and east Asian flutes.” Studies in Chinese language and culture: Festschrift in honour of Christoph harbsmeier on the occasion of his 60th birthday (2006): 209-216.
[10] The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science, Emma M. Seppälä, Emiliana Simon-Thomas, Stephanie L. Brown, Monica C. Worline, C. Daryl Cameron, James R. Doty Oxford University Press, Sep 26, 2017 –
[11] Saslow, Laura Rose. “The Social Significance of Spirituality: New Perspectives on the Compassion-Altruism.” (2011).
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