The study, published Sept. 15 by the Ford Foundation, has uncovered that spirituality, while most often considered a private and personal experience, has an extraordinary power to engage individuals on a community-based level.

The year-long project, conducted by USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, incorporated in-depth interviews of 67 men and women, all committed to social justice, from Buddhist, Catholic, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim backgrounds, and examined spiritual trends in teaching institutions, community organizations and current literature.

"Our research confirms the potential of spirituality to propel people into social service and public participation," wrote Donald Miller, USC professor of religion and head of the project, and Gregory Stanczak, postdoctoral research fellow, in the study’s report.

"Spiritually is a vital resource, sustaining people in the hard work of social change, and, on regular occasions, inspiring them to imagine possibilities that exceed realistic expectations."

In their report, Miller and Stanczak stress the importance of "engaged spirituality," which breaks away from a privatized notion of spirituality and incorporates a social dimension.

"This trend toward spirituality for social transformation is not suggesting that people should simply pray and the world will be a better place," they wrote. "Instead, spiritual practice is engaged as part of individual systems of meaning and broader social structures."

For each of the study’s participants – all of whom sought spiritual direction and guidance from a divine source – spirituality meant something different.

Some related mystical experiences of hearing a divine guiding voice or physically feeling the energy of the Holy Spirit. Others appreciated a more ordinary understanding of a spiritual relationship through prayer and mediation. Still others practiced spirituality through yoga, Tai Chi, reflection or reading religious writings.

Most of the participants were connected to religious communities within which they were also trying to bring about change.

Miller and Stanczak were surprised to find that many of the study’s participants had never before talked about their personal spirituality in the context of their public or professional lives.

"For some, this was the first time they had ever talked about their spirituality, or been asked about it in connection with the type of work they do to bring about change" said Stanczak. "It was very emotional for some and amazing to watch this all unfold around us."

"It’s this lack of communication about the social role of spirituality where the importance of this study lies," said Stanczak.

Despite its power and driving force, spirituality is not institutionally researched or well understood in today’s society, he said.

Over the last generation, shifts in American society have resulted in a split between religion and spirituality. Once seen as complementary pieces of an integrated whole, these are now increasingly viewed as separate phenomena.

Today, religion is associated with an institutionalized set of religious attitudes, beliefs and practices, while spirituality embodies a more individual and expressive phenomenon, said Stanczak.

Unlike religion, spirituality is scarcely mentioned in academic writings and in social movement literature, rarely talked about in broader social sciences and public policy and hardly ever connected to social transformation, he said.

"Spirituality is a significant missing variable in the institutional conversations about social life and transformation in America," the study reports. "[It] is an often-overlooked element within organizations that work for change and the policy decisions that make such change possible."

Miller and Stanczak’s research did uncover a rise in emphasis on spirituality in religious organizations, seminaries and rabbinical schools, however.

"The dramatic increase in spirituality over the past generation and the changing structures of religious organization suggest that substantial change is taking place within our country," the authors wrote. "The connections between this spiritual fervor and social commitments for a better world, we believe, are only a hint of what is yet to come."

Miller and Stanczak hope to further their research by examining the role spirituality plays in the lives of those addressing AIDS, poverty, hunger, violence and other social issues in global non-governmental organizations.

"We strongly suspect that spirituality is a driving force behind their motivation and endurance in these difficult roles," said Miller.

Contact: Gia Scafidi (213) 740-9335.