The Search for Spiritual Identity in Adolescents Essay Example for Free

The Search for Spiritual individuality element operator in Adolescents EssayIts a puzzle with us trying to notice the right fit, size and shape where the pieces will fit to make us whole. So we begin by growing, and developing, and learning and moving, and cerebration and tasting, and touching and testing, and hugging and loving We go through different stages of growth and growing, and learning and maturing and changing and ripening and ultimately death.This writer commits we are lookuping for our spectral identity. The NIV Bible says that the Lord God formed humanskind from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of sustenance, and man became a living being. Mans spiritual identity comes from God Jesus was around twelve twelvemonths old according to the NIV Bible when he began his quest for spiritual identity. Luke 249 reads Why were you searching for me? he asked. Didnt you hunch over I had to be in my Fathers house? After a female egg ploughs fertilized by a male sperm cell it becomes a zygote. This living organism is a product of each parents chromosomes.This zygote begins a two week period of rapid cell division which eventually becomes an embryo. Eventually, this embryo will become a living being which was produced and created by its two parents. This childs physical identity comes from his parents I use the term parents very loosely because I am aware that his identity comes from his bloodline or his genes. I am making a point. By far the most provocative theory of identity development is Erik Eriksons. It was Erikson who first understood how central questions about identity are to soul jejune development.Eriksons fifth developmental stage (identity versus identity confusion) says during this time adolescents (between the ages of eleven to young big(p) hood) are faced with who they are, what they are all about and where they are going. Erikson framed the best of maturity in the ego identity of what he c alled the moral-ethical, spiritual human. This human is one with a horizontal, earthly identity and a vertical, transcendent identity, meaning an identity both religious and spiritual that embraces non-physical manifestation.As adolescents search for their spiritual identity researchers have found that various aspects of religion are united to positive outcomes in adolescents. Religion has been proved to play a role in adolescents health and whether or not they consume in problem behaviors (Cotton amp others, 2006). For example, in a recent national random sample of 2000 11-18 year olds, those who were high in religiosity were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol, use marijuana, not be ab direct in school, not engage in delinquent behavior and not be depressed as compared to their counterparts with lower religiosity (Sinha, Cnaan, amp Gelles, 2006).The initiator of the Bahai movement, Bahau llah in 1863 believed that there were seven underground stages to human development and he believed as does most Muslims today that human development is closely linked to religious development. He referred to those stages as The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys. They are * The Valley of Search * The Valley of have it off * The Valley of Knowledge * The Valley of Unity * The Valley of Contentment * The Valley of Wonderment * The Valley of the true(p) Poverty and Absolute Nothingness He believed that one has not truly developed unless he has entered in or cause outd each of hese stages. During my years of adolescence I was considered somewhat of a spoiled child. My mother sent me to a modeling school to become a trained runway model. By the time I was 13 I have performed in more than 100 different fashion shows in and well-nigh Michigan, Illinois and New York. Needless to say my environment consisted of my peers being much older than myself. I was constantly travelling and partying and dating older men. When I would return home I would become angry with my mother because she forced me to attend church. Church was always the center of our home.My mother was the secretary at our church for over xl years so we were always there. It seemed as if we were preparing our clothes for church 7 days in advance. So I ravished the opportunity to be out of town or on a modeling assignment on Sundays. When were taught to implore daily, morning, noon and night. My mother always told us the story of Daniel in the bible who prayed collar times a day every day. And that is what she expected of us. I was a typical teenager who approximation it was a waste of time. By the time I was 16 years old I became pregnant. My belabor nightmare had come true.I remember my mother telling us that we should always pray. I began to pray daily asking God to show me how to tell my mother that I had ruined my life. I erect almost remember the calm that would come over me whenever I was in ingathering. Soon I accomplished that if God could listen to me and love me and al low that peace to come over me that there really was a God, an everlasting father and a true friend. I got the courage to talk to my mother and tell her how pathetic I was and confess to God about the things that I had done knowing that they were not His will.This was the beginning of my transformation. My search had just begun. This began to give me answers to all of my seeking and questioning of myself, my world, my purpose. This bought purpose and stability into my life. Today I erect say that I am a Minister of the Gospel and I do not believe I would be where I am not had not I gone through the experience of searching, seeking and finding during my adolescent and young adult years. This is just my story, no theory, just the facts. As man seeks and searches for his spiritual identity his mortality also surfaces.The NIV Bible allows us a peek into ourselves in I Corinthians 1312, for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part t hen I shall know fully, even as I am fully. As we are seeking to understand adolescent behavior we must remember that they are seeking and searching for who they are and whose they are. During this search they shall encounter experiences that they whitethorn not understand, they may even become quite a little that you dont understand, provided with patience, love, guidance, education and prayer you gutter help them become the person they are looking for and want to become.Sometimes we as parents stop that our children not only motivating to be educated in the ways of the world and how to become roaring healthy, productive adults entirely they also need to be taught about their spirit man. That part of them they cannot see but they can project in their life style. The part of them that no one else can even know or understand. The loving giving life that was breathed into them by the lover of their soul. The concept of a higher being. The ability to know and to understand that they have to answer to someone greater than themselves. The knowledge of understanding that life does not just revolve around them.This seeking and searching has a beginning but should never have an end. James Fowler believed that one had to go through 6 stages of Faith in order to find their own spiritual identity. Stage Description Simplified version by M. Scott Peck Stage 1 Intuitive-Projective This is the stage of preschool children in which fantasy and reality often defecate mixed together. However, during this stage, our most basic ideas about God are normally picked up from our parents and/or society. I. Chaotic-Antisocial People stuck at this stage are usually self-centered and often find themselves in trouble due to their unprincipled living.If they do end up converting to the next stage, it often occurs in a very dramatic way. Stage 2 Mythic-Literal When children become school-age, they start understanding the world in more logical ways. They generally accept the stor ies told to them by their faith fellowship but tend to understand them in very literal ways. A few spate remain in this stage through adulthood. Stage 3 Synthetic-Conventional Most people move on to this stage as teenagers. At this point, their life has grown to include several different social circles and there is a need to pull it all together.When this happens, a person usually adopts some sort of all-encompassing belief system. However, at this stage, people tend to have a hard time seeing outside their box and dont identify that they are inside a belief system. At this stage, authority is usually placed in individuals or groups that represent ones beliefs. This is the stage in which many people remain. II. Formal-Institutional At this stage people rely on some sort of institution (such as a church) to give them stability. They become attached to the forms of their religion and get extremely upset when these are called into question. Stage 4 Individuative-Reflective This is the tough stage, often begun in young adulthood, when people start seeing outside the box and realizing that there are other boxes. They begin to critically envision their beliefs on their own and often become disillusioned with their former faith. Ironically, the Stage 3 people usually think that Stage 4 people have become backsliders when in reality they have truly moved forward. III. Skeptic-Individual Those who break out of the previous stage usually do so when they start seriously questioning things on their own.A lot of the time, this stage ends up being very non-religious and some people stay in it permanently Stage 5 Conjunctive Faith It is rare for people to gather this stage before mid-life. This is the point when people begin to effect the limits of logic and start to accept the paradoxes in life. They begin to see life as a mystery and often return to sacred stories and symbols but this time without being stuck in a theological box. IV. Mystical-Communal People who reach this stage start to realize that there is truth to be found in both the previous two stages and that life can be paradoxical and full of mystery.