The heart has its reasons … exploring the contribution of four published works to the understanding of spirituality, health and contemplation

Wright, Stephen (2024) The heart has its reasons … exploring the contribution of four published works to the understanding of spirituality, health and contemplation. Doctoral thesis, University of Cumbria.

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Abstract

This account draws on over four decades of personal spiritual inquiry and related publications, culminating in the four books examined here - Coming Home: notes for the journey; Contemplation: an introduction; Burnout: a spiritual crisis; and Heartfullness: the way of contemplation. The introduction explores the methodology and issues leading up to their creation. Each is considered separately to illustrate how it has contributed to understanding the interface between health, spirituality and contemplation. It is also explored how they may stand as a whole in their direction of travel, seeking to be a coherent, contemporary, practical guide to spiritual exploration. They are autoethnographic in drawing on personal experience and data from over three decades of work as a spiritual director. They also include evidence from empirical research and literature documenting the spiritual life, stemming back over two millennia and over many traditions. Coming Home offers a framework for supportive spiritual exploration as well as evidence for the connection between spirituality and health. Contemplation summarises some insights on its nature as a dimension of spiritual development; as a condition rather than a practice and coherent with mysticism. Burnout explores the, arguably, little discussed spiritual perspective of this condition, offering evidence for and a guide to its inclusion. Heartfullness draws on a twelve-step framework with a set of values and practices that support spiritual emergence and maturation. In each of the works it is contended that, through synthesis and integration of a broad spectrum of perspectives, new ideas may have emerged for practice and research. In so doing, it is suggested that they contribute to the continuing conversation on the connection between spirituality, contemplation and health. The study offers evidence of how the works have been disseminated and further contribute to ongoing deliberations on their themes.

Item Type:	Thesis/Dissertation (Doctoral)
Departments:	Institute of Arts > Humanities
Additional Information:	This thesis is submitted for the degree of PhD by published works, Institute of the Arts, University of Cumbria, April 2024. Word count 45,874.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	23 Oct 2024 08:16
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2024 08:30
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/8467

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