Exploring the transpersonal phenomena of spiritual love relations: A naturalistic observation study of soulmate experiences shared in a New Age Facebook group

IF 0.7 0 RELIGION

Journal for the Study of Spirituality Pub Date : 2021-07-03 DOI:10.1080/20440243.2021.1955454

Christian Stokke

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Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores varieties of spiritual experiences and transpersonal phenomena that empirically occur in spiritual love relations, which respondents define as soulmates. Soulmate mythologies exist in many traditions and are popular in contemporary spiritual communities and New Age literature. So far, few empirical studies exist of soulmates. Analyzing a convenience sample of 140 responses collected by naturalistic observation on a New Age-themed Facebook group, I explore transpersonal experiences reported by individuals in encounters and relationships with their soulmates. Theoretically, this study draws on spiritual awakening literature in transpersonal psychology, particularly Grof’s varieties of spiritual emergency. Findings show that, besides instant recognition and immediate bonding, respondents report phenomena including synchronicities, telepathy, peak experiences, kundalini awakening, dark nights of the soul, psychological transformation, and merging of opposite archetypes. While spiritual love relations overlap with romantic love, they take many physical forms, including friendships, family relations, and relations with animals.

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探索精神爱情关系的超个人现象：对新时代Facebook群组中灵魂伴侣经历的自然主义观察研究

本文探讨了被调查者定义为灵魂伴侣的精神恋爱关系中经验发生的各种精神体验和超个人现象。灵魂伴侣神话存在于许多传统中，在当代精神社区和新时代文学中很流行。到目前为止，关于灵魂伴侣的实证研究还很少。在一个以“新时代”为主题的Facebook群组中，我通过自然主义观察收集了140个方便样本，分析了个人在与灵魂伴侣的相遇和关系中报告的超个人体验。从理论上讲，本研究借鉴了超个人心理学中的精神觉醒文献，特别是格罗夫的各种精神紧急情况。调查结果显示，除了即时识别和即时联系外，受访者还报告了包括同步性、心灵感应、高峰体验、昆达里尼觉醒、灵魂黑夜、心理转变和相反原型融合在内的现象。虽然精神上的爱与浪漫的爱重叠，但它们有许多物理形式，包括友谊，家庭关系和与动物的关系。

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来源期刊

Journal for the Study of Spirituality RELIGION-

CiteScore

2.50

自引率

7.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Journal for the Study of Spirituality is a peer-reviewed journal which creates a unique interdisciplinary, inter-professional and cross-cultural forum where researchers, scholars and others engaged in the study and practices of spirituality can share and debate the research, knowledge, wisdom and insight associated with spirituality and contemporary spirituality studies. The British Association for the Study of Spirituality (BASS) organises a biennial international conference and welcomes enquiries about membership from those interested in the study of spirituality in the UK and worldwide. The journal is concerned with what spirituality means, and how it is expressed, in individuals’ lives and communities and in professional practice settings; and with the impact and implications of spirituality in, and on, social policy, organizational practices and personal and professional development. The journal recognises that spirituality and spiritual values can be expressed and studied in secular contexts, including in scientific and professional practice settings, as well as within faith and wisdom traditions. Thus, Journal for the Study of Spirituality particularly welcomes contributions that: identify new agendas for research into spirituality within and across subject disciplines and professions; explore different epistemological and methodological approaches to the study of spirituality; introduce comparative perspectives and insights drawn from different cultures and/or professional practice settings; aim to apply and develop sustained reflection, investigation and critique in relation to spirituality and spiritual practices; critically examine the values and presuppositions underpinning different forms of spirituality and spiritual practices; incorporate different forms of writing and expressions of spirituality.