Spiritual transformation

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Spiritual transformation involves a fundamental change in a person's sacred or spiritual life.

Psychologists examine spiritual transformation within the context of an individual's meaning system,

Israela Silberman (2005). [https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00425.x Religion as a meaning system: Implications for the new millennium]. Journal of Social Issues, v61 n4, pp641-663. {{doi|10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00425.x}}

{{request quotation|date=August 2020}} especially in relation to concepts of the sacred or of ultimate concern.Robert A. Emmons (1999). The psychology of ultimate concerns: Motivation and spirituality in personality. New York: Guilford. Two of the fuller treatments of the concept in psychology come from Kenneth Pargament and from Raymond Paloutzian.

Pargament holds that "at its heart, spiritual transformation refers to a fundamental change in the place of the sacred or the character of the sacred in the life of the individual. Spiritual transformation can be understood in terms of new configurations of strivings" (p. 18).

Kenneth I. Pargament. (2006). The meaning of spiritual transformation. In Joan D. Koss-Chioino & Philip Hefner (Eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=J-eLj6_hO7IC&q=pargament+the+meaning+of+spiritual+transformation&pg=PR9 Spiritual transformation and healing: Anthropological, theological, neuroscientific, and clinical perspectives] (pp. 10-39), Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. {{ISBN|0-7591-0867-6}}

Paloutzian suggests that "spiritual transformation constitutes a change in the meaning system that a person holds as a basis for self-definition, the interpretation of life, and overarching purposes and ultimate concerns" (p. 334).

Raymond F. Paloutzian. (2005). Religious conversion and spiritual transformation: A meaning-system analysis. In: Raymond F. Paloutzian & Crystal L. Park (Eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=mGscSLMA_P4C&dq=paloutzian+spiritual+transformation&pg=PA331 Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality] (pp. 331-347), New York: Guilford. {{ISBN|1-57230-922-9}}

One school of thought emphasises the importance of "rigorous self-discipline" in spiritual transformation.

{{cite book

| author1 = Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi

| author-link1 = Muḥyiddin ibn Arabi

| author2 = Stephen Hirtenstein

| title = The Four Pillars of Spiritual Transformation: The Adornment of the Spiritually Transformed (Hilyat al-abdal)

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EplVDwAAQBAJ

| series = Mystical Treatises of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi

| date = June 2009

| location = Oxford

| publisher = Anqa Publishing

| publication-date = 2009

| page = 2

| isbn = 9781905937325

| access-date = 31 August 2020

| quote = [...] in all true spiritual traditions rigorous self-discipline is part of the training, be it by way of retreats, fasts or other kinds of abstentions.

}}