Thursday, January 26, 2012

Heidi Krueger- Spiritual Identity


Spiritual Identity

            Spiritual Identity is the identification with feelings of connectedness to others and higher meanings in life. (Martin & Nakayama, 2010, p. 165) Spiritual identity is the inner spiritual reality that is realized and experienced to varying extents by people through a number of outlets. (Martin & Nakayama, 2010, p. 165) It can be described by spirituality, beliefs, the nature of reality, consciousness, awareness, metaphysics, truth, philosophy and religion.

            In different cultures you see different types of spiritual identity.  As an example some Christians would believe Jesus Christ’s teaching that unless a man is born of water and the Holy Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Flesh gives birth to flesh but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spirit.  While in other cultures and religions they believe in different structures of who they believe in.  For example, the spiritual self in India is expressed through a structure of gods and goddesses and through rituals and meditation. (Martin & Nakayama, 2010, p. 165)  Spiritual identity is really how people themselves take and understand their feelings and how they are connected to others.

            I have gained knowledge about truly be myself and to not be afraid to let people see the true me.  I am a Lutheran and I believe in God.  In my spiritual identity, I am not afraid to express myself or let it be known that I believe in God and I’m very strong to my faith.  I have a tattoo on my wrist of a cross to symbolize my faith.  I have also gained that the identity development does not occur in the same way in every society, (Martin & Nakayama, 2010, p. 165) which makes you think and look at other people and their cultures more.



            This book covers topics helping you find your own spiritual identity.  It covers growing in spiritual friendship, learning discernment, hearing and speaking with God, approaching death and the world beyond, practicing stewardship and so much more.

These articles help people that have been through spiritual abuse.  I think it is very powerful and relates to the subject of finding your own spiritual identity.


http://awordinseason.web.officelive.com/Spiritualidentitycrisis.aspx


  


Worldwide Religious Affiliation 


(Religion is not all of spiritual identity but it is one that plays a role in someone's spiritual identity.)


Archer and Waterman’s (1993) Assessment of Spiritual Identity Stage, Paraphrased by Griffith and Griggs (2001, p. 21)

Resources:


Archer and Waterman’s (1993) Assessment of Spiritual Identity Stage, Paraphrased by Griffith and Griggs (2001, p. 21)


Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2010). Intercultural Communication in Contexts. McGraw-Hill Higher Education

3 comments:

  1. I like that you chose Spiritual Identity but I feel as if you could expand on the first paragraph much more. What are some of the different outlets people experience Spiritual Identity through? I also like that you added a book, it looks interesting.

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  2. Like Whitney I would have like to see a more developed understanding of what spiritual identity is. I think your example of religion as a way of spiritual identity is true but but needs to be expanded on. Religion isn't the only way to define spiritual identity. There are many people who are divided by religious beliefs but still consider themselves spiritual and may gain and identity themselves as spiritual through other realms beside religion.

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  3. I like that you explore spiritual identity, I think that this could be a good starting point for your cultural reporter project!

    I would reorder your blog a bit for future posts. The book and the articles that you link to at the both should really be your paragraph 2. You want to provide a specific example for the concept of interest. The paragraph 2 components would be great in the first paragraph where you should define and describe the concept. In terms of each paragraph, great work with the APA citations. For the purpose of this blog you can cite each source once in a paragraph and be ok. Also watch the formatting throughout and make sure that fonts, sizes, and layouts are consistent.

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