Our project team of philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists will seek to address questions about the nature and value of spiritual yearning and its causes and effects through the lens of the concept of “spiritual alienation,” which is defined as the state of being estranged from the place of our spiritual fulfillment.

We will explore the perennial and modern aspects of spiritual alienation, but our primary focus will be on the contemporary spiritual seeker who is “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR), that is, someone who is alienated from the traditional forms of religious belonging in which people have addressed their spiritual yearnings. We will explore the connections—if any—between religious alienation and spiritual alienation.

Key Hypothesis to Be Investigated

Spiritual yearnings are integrally connected with the experience of spiritual alienation, as the latter gives rise to the former. Therefore, “spiritual yearning” can be understood as a deeply felt desire to arrive at the place of one’s spiritual fulfillment from which one currently experiences separation.

Spiritual yearning can also be framed in terms of “the search for meaning.” The project leader’s working definition of “spirituality” is that it is a practical life-orientation shaped by what is taken to be a self-transcending source of meaning (e.g., God, the Good, the Dao, etc.) that makes normative demands upon us and constitutes a meaningful way of life.

Spiritual alienation is not simply a problem, since it gives rise to the spiritual yearnings by which we are driven to overcome this alienation and achieve our spiritual fulfillment. Our capacity for spiritual alienation is connected with our human distinctiveness as meaning-seeking animals and can be regarded as part of our human dignity.

Our project will be concerned to explore how spiritual yearnings can be met and thus how spiritual alienation can be overcome, focusing on the spiritual condition of the SBNR.