Spiritual literacy: non-religious reconceptualisation for education in a secular environment

Abstract

This article aims to facilitate the transition from a religious definition of spiritual literacy to a non-religious, secular one. Philosophical anthropology emphasises the spiritual dimension as an anthropological constant. However, research in various fields frequently considers its intersection with religiousness. Non-religious spirituality cultivates experiences of transcendence but does not enter into the processes of hierophany (the sacred, the holy). The term ‘spiritual literacy’, which emphasises that the given mode of human experience is not constant but can be intentionally cultivated, proves optimal for education even in secular environment of public schools. A spiritually literate (cultivated) personality is an individual who reflects and cultivates skills of self-reflection, who can act in relation to other people in a mode characterised by prosocial orientation and altruism, who can experience environmental sensitivity and kinship with nature, and who is capable of astonishment and amazement at experiencing transcendence in relation to the wholeness.