This project has four main aims:
(1) deepening our understanding of the connection between devotion and spiritual yearning
(2) promoting interdisciplinary work on the nature of devotion
(3) distinguishing the different forms and objects that non-religious devotion can take
(4) assessing these manifestations of devotion, aiming to determine which constitute healthy expressions and which are problematic or pathological
You can read more about these aims here.
You can watch a two-minute introductory video here.
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What is Devotion?
Devotion Some goals, relationships, and projects require sustained, long-term, resilient commitment. We have to persevere in the face of obstacles, challenges, and setbacks. But some of our commitments seem more robust than others. Consider the difference between ordinary commitment and devotion. When we describe a person as devoted to some goal, relationship, or project, what does this mean? We often use the term "devotion" to pick out a particularly robust form of commitment, which might differ from standard forms of commitment in its intensity, stability, resistance to compromise, epistemic status, or deliberative weight. But this is an underexplored area in philosophy and psychology. We aim to deepen our understanding of devotion. |
What is Spiritual Yearning?
Spiritual Yearning As a working definition, we understand spiritual yearning as the longing that drives us to ask existential questions about life’s meaning, purpose, or significance. Those who do not satisfy this yearning through religious frameworks and communities often find other ways of imbuing their lives with a sense of meaning, purpose, or significance—for example, through their long-term commitments to certain groups, activities, goals, or projects. If we see spiritual yearning as the longing that drives us to ask these existential questions, and if we additionally note that many individuals find at least partial fulfillment of this longing through these long-term commitments, then we can predict that certain types of long-term commitment will be integral to fulfilling our spiritual yearnings. Our hypothesis is that devotion, rather than less robust forms of long-term commitment, plays an essential role in fulfilling this longing. The devoted individual finds a sense of meaning, purpose, or significance through their devotion to some object. The devotion is not just an ancillary or dispensable part of their lives: rather, it is through the continuously maintained stance of devotion to some object that they fulfill, in whole or in part, their spiritual yearnings. |
