Southwestern College of Maritime, Business and Technology, Inc.

Quezon Drive, Calero, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro

www.scmbt.edu.ph / slmifnav.official@gmail.com / slmifnav@yahoo.com.ph

SUBJECT: Understanding The Self MODULE #: 9

DATE & TIME: TEACHER: Ms. Princes Jhoy G. Batanes

I. TOPIC: The Spiritual Self

II. TARGET OUTCOMES:

The learner shall be able to:
1. Discuss the different religions or beliefs being practiced in the Philippines.
2. Illustrate their spiritual self to help them discover the meaning of their lives.
3. Acknowledge the religions and beliefs in the Philippine settings and be guided to express their
spiritual self.

I. MATERIALS NEEDED:
To accomplish exercises and activities, you need the following: black pen, pencil and/or other writing
materials and other available references.

III. GEAR UP YOUR MIND

The simplest way to describe the spiritual self is that unseen part of a person that provides the
physical self with insight, intuition and other ways of knowing and being beyond what the five senses
experience in the physical world. The five senses and the emotions are access points or portals into
experiencing the spiritual self. The spiritual self is what connects a person to another person, to a Higher
Power, to the supernatural and to the universe. As one becomes more aware of his inner self, the inner
ways of knowing and as he begins to access information beyond the five senses, a greater part of the self
is discovered. This greater awareness provides the information that includes the spiritual purpose for being
here in this life.

Just as it is essential to nurture the body with food, it is vital to nurture the soul with spiritual self-
care. Spiritual self-care is the activity one engages in to find and nurture a sense of connection to the
Higher Power and find a deeper meaning of life. Spiritual self-care begins with a feeling of connectedness
with a greater energy source, with God, with a Higher Power, or Universal Oneness. The support of people
of the same belief who are involved in the same spiritual community activities can help nurture the spiritual
self. A person being spiritual dates back all the way to early childhood. Other people around have influence

Page 1
 Southwestern College of Maritime, Business and Technology, Inc.
Quezon Drive, Calero, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro
www.scmbt.edu.ph / slmifnav.official@gmail.com / slmifnav@yahoo.com.ph

on perception of what is spiritual in the same way as the family, the church, and the school. Throughout life
as one interacts with people around him, the spiritual self continues to develop.

Page 2
 SPIRITUALITY

Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning
and purpose of life. It also refers to the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to the self,
to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred being. Like the sense of purpose, spirituality may
change throughout life, adapting to one experiences and relationships. Spirituality is a broad concept that
includes a sense of connection to something bigger than the self. It involves a search for meaning in life.
Life can be full ups and downs, good times and bad. Many people see spirituality as a great way to seek
comfort and peace in their life. It is a way that focuses on stress relief and release of emotion. Spirituality is
a way of gaining perspective. It recognizes that a man’s role in life has a greater value than what he does
every day. It can relieve one from dependence on material things and helps him to understand life’s greater
purpose. Spirituality can also be used as a means of coping with changes and uncertainties in life. Some
others claim that early experiences, family and family values and the traditions of their upbringing are
significant factors in their spirituality.

STAGES OF SPIRITUALITY

Andrew Wallas had developed a new model of spirituality. He presents herewith four (4) stages of
spirituality.

A. Stage 1 – Anything Goes. This stage represents underdeveloped spirituality. Individuals in this
stage are manipulative and self-serving. Though they may pretend or even think they love others,
they are narcissistic and do not really love them. There are no values such as truth or love
important enough to these people to disregard their own desires. Hence, there is a lack of integrity
and chaos to their existence that they remain unaware of.
B. Stage 2 – Rigid. This is the strict and rigid framework that one feels to provide safety and
protection. This stage is characterized by a rigid set of external values that need to be followed.
The prescriptive nature of this stage provides comfort as the individual does not need to think for
his self. In religion, people in this stage will mainly view their God as an external transcendent
Being. They generally need a legalistic God, who will punish misdeeds to keep them from
troublesome behavior.
C. Stage 3 – Questioning. This is a difficult troubling stage. The biggest stumbling block in this stage
is the fear that one is falling back to stage 1 (one) and retreats into the perceived safety of stage 2
(two). Many people in this stage 3 perceive themselves as atheist or agnostics. In reality, they are
active seekers of truth. They are actually more spiritually developed because they seek the truth
and internalize their own values rather than simply accepting an external authority.

Page 3
 D. Stage 4 – Free Flowing. This stage is characterized by an acceptance and peace with one’s self.
An alignment with the flow of life is discovered. The true unity and connectedness of all things is a
lived experience.

THEORIES OF SPIRITUAL IDENTITY

William James placed spiritual identity as a central component of personality. Spiritual identity is
the belief of a person that he is an internal being connected to God. This is an aspect of human spirituality
thought to be effective in protecting and restoring psychological health (Richards & Bergin, 1997). In
adolescents, healthy identity development may protect against depression (Kotesky et. al., 1991). Spiritual
identity self-esteem (Roberts et. al., 1999). Spiritual identity develops best when the person’s image of God
is relevant to his own life, benevolent and meaningful and ultimately reciprocal through an intimate
relationship with God.

Psychodynamic Theories for spiritual identity state that individuals may develop a sense of their
spiritual selves in connection and continuity with God. According to Erikson (1996), the object that shape
the spiritual self includes one’s parents and one’s God. Erikson purported that the parent-child relationship
is transferred to a God-spiritual child relationship. Such a transfer has been advanced by Rizzato (1979)
who asserts that individuals create their images such as parents’. If such projection occurs with their
concept of God’s image, then a similar projection may take place with their perceived relationship with God.

Cognitive Theories – Cognitive theorists conceptualize identity development as a meaning-making

process. Healthy identity, according to the cognitive perspective is attained by gaining better objectivity in
reflecting upon oneself and others (Kegan, 1979) and by being able to understand and direct one’s life
according to self-perceived ideas. Cognitive theory would imply that an individual need to create a spiritual
self while developing mental pictures to organize and give meaning to the world beyond, to his relation to
God, and to his spiritual experiences. Elkind (1997) asserts that individuals have a “cognitive need
capacity” to know that life has permanence and that they have eternal identities. He further explained that
religion provides answers to the question of permanence as well as the need to symbolize to relate to, and
understand god.

System Theories – Systems theorists assert that an individual interpersonal context influence the
developing self (Bowen, 1978). One’s identity matures by working out self in one’s own family of origin.
Within a system’s theory framework, the “I” develops objectivity or emotional distance from one’s family
system or religious system, enabling him to achieve a healthy differentiation by turning and connecting to
God. This concept suggests that both spiritual and mental health is encouraged by personal, genuine
religious experiences. The same connectedness-separateness balance between individuals and their
system is similarly healthy when applied to their relationship with God. If they can connect to God while

Page 4
maintaining an objective sense of themselves, they may be able to relate more intimately to God and create
a person-to-God relationship.

Narrative Theories of identity development integrate psycho-dynamic, cognitive, and systems

theories into a more complete conceptualization of the self. From the perspective of narrative theory,
individuals achieve a healthy spiritual identity as they develop a coherent in life story that integrate their
various self-stories into a meaningful whole (Adams, 1996). The narrative perspective encapsulates
(summarizes) the spiritual self within spiritual self-stories that include symbols, images and scripts.
Robertson (1990) mentioned that individuals achieve spiritual identities by linking their life stories to the
narrative of a religious community system and to their ongoing stories of revelations from God. These
spiritual narratives may give individuals a sense of life continuity through eternal life stories and of
connection of God through spiritual-self-to-God stories.

Theistic Theories – Richard and Bergin’s (1997) theistic model makes clear assumptions about
spiritual reality. God exists. Human beings are children of God. Humans possess temporal physical bodies
and eternal spirits. Humans are able to communicate with God through spiritual means. Humans are able
to recognize and remember their true nature as eternal beings of divine potentials. Put simple, it is affirmed
that without faith that God exists and that humans are spiritual in nature, the concept of spiritual identity has
little merit being merely a different aspect of social identity.

ANIMISM

The Latin word “animus” means the rational soul, intelligence, consciousness, and mental power.
The feminine “anima” means soul, living being, mind and breath. Animism is the belief that objects, places
and creatures, all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things – animals, plants,
rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiworks – as animated and alive. Animism as used in the
anthropology of religion is a term for the belief system of many indigenous people to describe their
“spiritual” or “supernatural” perspectives. The idea of animism was developed by Edward Tyler (1871) in his
book “Primitive Culture” where he defined animism as the general doctrine of souls and other spiritual
beings. Tyler mentioned animism as a belief that “natural objects”, other than humans, have souls. Some
indigenous communities practice nature worship as part of their religious beliefs.

Animism is a philosophy backed up by practice. It is a way of life and a way of thought. It depicts
the personal relationship of man with nature and with the inhuman spirits who inhabit and compose nature.
It is a relationship of respect and value for all things and all beings visible and invisible. All life is sacred and
sentient (conscious). Within a balanced ecosystem, all life serves a purpose. As humans live within nature,
they become a part of it, not separate from it. It becomes important to know as much about their

Page 5
surroundings as possible because their survival depends on their knowledge of and respectful treatment of
the land, plants, animals and everything around them.

THE BELIEFS OF ANIMISM

Animism is made up of shared beliefs and a series of practices and rituals based on these beliefs.
Common beliefs found within animism include the belief of a multi-faceted soul, the existence of
supernatural spirits that can affect human lives, and the belief in a spirit realm or multiple other worlds.
Other beliefs include the reverence and worship of the dead, existence and practice of witchcraft and
sorcery and the existence and quack doctors, witch doctors, and fairy doctors, who have supernatural
powers and act as healers na mediators between humans and spirits.

Fetishism is the belief that something inanimate (lifeless) can be the embodiment of a powerful
supernatural spirit, anything from a statue to a tree or a mountain or an object that can be inhabited by a
spirit. A fetish would include a small stone, a small Buddha, a skull, ashes of the dead, which are used as
trinkets or talisman.

Totemism is another is another ancient belief in an animal, tree, river, supernatural spirit, or other
animals or other animate being as the original ancestor, creator god or leader of a clan or tribe used as its
symbol.

Shamanism is a practice found within cultures with animistic belief systems. Shamans are the
leaders, healers, and spirit intermediaries of their animist tribe. Shamans have supernatural abilities that
allow them to work with spirits, work against spirits, heal physical damage or illness caused by spirits. They
also have the ability to travel between the physical world and the dream world, the spirit world, the world of
the dead, and safely back again.

Ancestor Worship involves the belief in the existence of the soul after death which leads to a cult of
ancestor reverence and worship within cultures. Where ancestor veneration exists, there is also a heavy
importance and reverence placed on family, tribe and elders.

RITUALS AND CEREMONIES

Rituals are the language of the sacred. Social practices, rituals and festive events are habitual
activities that construct the lives of communities and groups that are shared by and relevant to many of
their members. They are significant activities because they reaffirm to identity of those who practice them
as a group or a society. Whether performed in public or private, they are closely linked to important events.
Social, ritual and festive practices may help to mark the passing of the seasons, events in the calendar or

Page 6
the stages of a person’s life. They vary from a small gatherings to large scale social celebrations and
commemorations.

Rituals are of varied classifications. One of these is the Rites of Passage. This is ritual event that
marks a person’s transition from one status to another as in birth, marriage, death, as well as initiation into
groups such as fraternity. Arnold Van Gennep stated that rites of passage are marked by three (3) stages –
separation, transition and incorporation. In the first stage, the persons being initiated or initiates are
separated from their old identities through physical and symbolic means. In the transition phase, the
initiates are stripped of their old identities but have not yet acquired their new identities. This stage may be
marked by rituals ordeals or ritual training. In the final stage of incorporation, the initiates are symbolically
confirmed in their new identity and community.

Calendrical and Commemorative Rites – These are ritual events marking particular times of the
year. Calendrical rituals give social meaning to the passage of time, creating repetitive weekly, monthly, or
yearly cycles. Included in these rites are the celebration of New Year’s Day, the Holy Week (Semana
Santa), Independence Day, All Souls Day, All Saints Day, Christmas Day and the like. Mircea Eliade states
that the Calendrical Rituals of many religious traditions recall and commemorate the basic beliefs of a
community. Their yearly celebration establishes a link between the past and present as if the original
events are happening again.

Rites of Affliction – Anthropologist Victor Turner defines rites of affliction as actions that seek to
mitigate spirits that inflict humans with misfortunes. These rites may include forms of spirit divination –
consulting oracles to establish causes – and rituals that heal, purify, exorcise and protect. The misfortune
may include a person’s health. Healing rites performed by shamans frequently identify social disorder as
the cause and make the restoration of relationships the cure.
Rites of Feasting, fasting, and Festivals – These are rites through which a community publicly
expresses an adherence to basic shared religious values. It encompasses a range of performances such
as communal fasting, during Ramadan by muslims, Carnival festivities such as town fiestas, Feast of Santo
Niño in Cebu, Panagbenga or the Festival Flowers in Baguio, Ati-Atihan, Sinulog and others.

It is clear from the foregoing presentation of some forms of rituals that rituals are primarily
collective endeavors. Typically, they are concerned with the physical and spiritual well-being of a group and
can manifest as rituals to promote fertility, prosperity or health. As time changes, many traditional practices
and values become outdated. To some, these practices, rituals, and ceremonies end up as a form of
obstacles to the progress and development of society. In a world that is rapidly evolving, tradition is
essential in keeping the people grounded, giving them security in their sense of identity.

Page 7
 DISCOVERING MEANING IN LIFE

(Man’s Search for Meaning)

Victor Frankl’s Logotherapy theory is based in the premise that humans are motivated by
something called a “will to meaning” which equated to a desire to find meaning in life. He argued that life
can have meaning even in the most miserable of circumstances and that the motivation for living comes
from finding that meaning in life. He further said that everything can be taken from a man except one thing,
the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.

According to Frankl, the meaning in life can be discovered in three (3) different ways, 1) by creating
a work or doing a deed, 2) by experiencing something or encountering someone, and 3) by attitude
displayed toward unavoidable suffering, pain, guilt, and even death. He said that a person cannot change a
situation, such as the loss of loved one, a diagnosis of cancer, or the devastation of a terrorist attack, but
he can change his attitude and turn suffering into triumph over tragedy. Frankl called this attitude shift
“Tragic Optimism”.

Here are some ways one may apply to improve his everyday life and eventually discover a better meaning
in his life.

1. Create something. Creating something (e.g. art, cooking) gives one a sense of purpose which can
add meaning to life.
2. Develop relationships. The supportive nature of spending time with others will help to develop more
a sense of meaning in life.
3. Find purpose in pain. If you are going through something bad, try to find a purpose in it. If a family
member is going through medical treatments, view your purpose as being there to support that
person.
4. Understand that life is not fair. Life can always have meaning even in the worst of situations.
5. Have freedom to find meaning. Everyone is free to make meaning out of life situations. Nobody can
take that away.
6. Focus on others. Try to focus outside of yourself to get through a feeling of being stuck about a
situation.
Accept the worst. This can reduce the power that it may have over you.

REFERENCES Gl oria D. Ancheta, Ed.D, Understanding the Self (Who Am I?), 2019,
Wiseman’s Books Trading, Inc. pp. 148-158

Page 8