Three Ways to Support Young People's Spiritual Inquiry

"In the early 2000s, researchers reached out to thousands of young people ages 12–25 from all over the world, wanting to know what they thought about spirituality and how it manifests in their lives, and whether spirituality was something they were interested in cultivating. The participants came from many different religious and non-religious backgrounds, such as Islam, Hindu, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and others.

Using surveys and focus groups, the researchers discovered that most of the young people felt that life has a spiritual aspect that is 'a part of who you are.' As one youth from South America described, 'I believe that every person has some spirituality within themselves because they believe in something, whatever it is they believe in.'"

"Hardwired emotions such as gratitude, compassion, and awe --which some researchers label as spiritual-- make us feel more connected to others, and awe goes one step further by helping us feel a sense of self-transcendence, or connection to something larger than ourselves. Evolutionary scientists argue that these feelings of connection encourage generosity and helpfulness, which may have helped our ancestors to survive and reproduce.

In addition to our emotions and our genes, spirituality may also be found in the ways we see and think about the world. Cognitive psychologists have conducted experiments that demonstrate our natural capacity for spirituality starting from infancy as we develop our awareness of ourselves, others, and 'something beyond the immediate everyday of life.'"

What does this mean for education?

1. Help your students develop a relational consciousness

2. Bring the bigger questions of life into the classroom

3. Encourage a self-transcendent purpose for learning