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Religious Education Vol. 97 No. 2 Spring 2002DOI: 10.1080/00344080290060923

FROM SPLINTERED LIVES TO WHOLE PERSONS:FACILITATING SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IN

COLLEGE STUDENTS

David M. HindmanWesley Foundation

Abstract

College provides students opportunities to examine and rethinkspirituality, values, and faith. Spirituality is defined as a dynamicexpression of who we are, truly. Students’ spiritual development canbe assisted as faculty and staff acknowledge what is personally sa-cred and valuable; institutions commit to assisting in such develop-ment; communities strive for consistency in mission, goals, andactions; time and space are provided for reflection and growth; genu-ine care is expressed; service opportunities are offered; living mod-els and images of the spirited life are shared; and faculty and staffattend to their own spiritual development through living togetheras a spirited community.

Recently my family and I entered the local ice cream store to buya cool treat on a hot day. As a young woman took our order, a look ofdawning recognition broke across her face. “I know you! You came tomy residence hall last year and did a program on spirituality. It wasgreat! I wish we had more opportunities for those kind of conversa-tions, and to develop that kind of intimacy with others. That’s a reallack in our college education.”

With regularity, residence hall assistants will contact a campusminister at The College of William and Mary to request such a pro-gram on “spirituality.” Four questions are used as a framework forbuilding conversation among students about this topic: Who are you?Who do you want to be? What do you do? What are your deepesthungers? Provided with paper, pencil, quiet, time, and music to drownout other background noises, the responses are sometimes quite pro-found and honest. They are windows onto the personal spirituality ofthe participants.

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Young adulthood is a fertile time for attending to one’s spiritual-ity. College can be the catalyst for intense growth, reflection, and ex-ploration. Such exploration can be both liberating and disconcerting.Two images illustrate this.

The first image emerges from a story told by a Catholic campusminister about leaving home for college. He was on an ocean linersailing for Rome. Aboard the ship, he held one end of a paper streamer.He tossed the other end to his mother, who was standing in the crowdon the dock. As the ship began to pull away on its voyage, the paperstreamer grew taut, stretched, and broke. It was an electric, exhilarat-ing, and terrifying moment. In his hand he still held a visible reminderof his ties to family, memories, values, and commitments. But he wasalso heading toward the open sea, freedom, and a new place of un-known mystery and adventure.

The second image comes from a national morning news program’sreport about students beginning college. It began with this descrip-tion, “Going to college is like moving to a new planet, but a planetwith no gravity.” Students leave the safety of home to begin the ad-venture of college, but suddenly find themselves in a world whereeverything seems free floating. How will they find their bearings, bal-ance, and direction? The navigational skills which made the journeypossible elsewhere may still work in this new environment, or theymay not. It is a time of reassessment, instability, fear, excitement, ex-perimentation, adjustment, risk. College is a time for testing the spir-its, and having one’s own spirit tested.

Going to college might be described as an experience of liminality.In some cultures children of a certain age are suddenly taken fromthe safe, familiar environment of home and village, and delivered toan unknown and potentially hostile location. There they learn the rightsand responsibilities of adulthood. This liminal time is dangerous, fullof potential, possibility, and risk. It is a time for learning and lettinggo, for leaving behind childhood’s identity and entering adulthood.Those who participate in this crucial and formative experience returnto the village as new people. Those who work with students on cam-pus, and those at home who try to figure out who this stranger is whohas taken up temporary residence once more for winter break, canattest to the validity of the statement that college is such a liminaltime for many young adults.

Scholars interested in the sturm und drang of young adulthoodhave sought to map out this unfamiliar territory for us. Erik Erikson

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(1963) suggests that young adulthood is the time for engaging in thelife crisis of intimacy versus isolation; nevertheless these years are alsoan opportunity to continue to deal with adolescence’s battle betweenidentity and identity diffusion, and to take first steps toward a life ofgenerativity and not stagnation. William Perry’s (1968) examination ofhow college students change through the college years tracks a pathin cognitive and moral development in which students move fromauthority-based morality, to relativism, and finally to personal com-mitment in the midst of a world of relativism. Persons interested inhow faith develops in young adults also report a pattern of movementand change, describing transitions from mythic-literal to synthetic/conventional to individuative/reflective faith (Fowler 1981) or fromaffiliative to searching to owned faith (Westerhoff 1976); or from per-sonalized to established to reordered faith (Gillespie 1988). SharonDeloz Parks (1986) contends that as young adults develop in theirfaith and spirituality, they need images and models of mature, respon-sible, admirable adults to imitate and incorporate into their own adult-hood. All agree that young adults need advocates, guarantors, resourcepeople, reflective counselors to accompany them on the faith journey,to help them survive, and to find their way as they leave behind child-hood in order to become adults. They need wise friends and mentorswho, in this liminal transition to adulthood, can make the strange sud-denly seem familiar, and the familiar suddenly seem strange. WhileTom Beaudoin’s (1998) writing on the spirituality of Generation X isdifferent from the above mentioned works in its highly subjective andpersonal nature, he contends that this generation has spiritual hungerand depth, and that humble adults can participate in assisting its fur-ther development and growth. In the spirituality of young adults,Beaudoin argues that organized religion and other institutions aresuspect, personal experience has its own intrinsic validity and truth-fulness, suffering has a religious dimension, and ambiguity is not tobe feared. Instead of being problems or liabilities, persons in religiouscommunities can draw on resources available in their heritage whichcan build upon these characteristics and offer a oasis of hospitality foryoung adults seeking a deeper life of the spirit.

Spirituality is one component of faith development. It is one di-mension of how one lives faithfully in the world. Spirituality is a wordfrequently used these days, but rarely defined. Paul Johnson describesspirituality as a component of a faith stance. Spirituality is


. . . how I live at the center of who I am. I live at a center with an image ofwho I am, how I am embodied and in touch with the concrete, and withwork, a career, and a calling. I have an individual family history, and I candraw upon my religious heritage. I stand in a particular social class fromwhich I look at the world, and I do not see as others see from other socialclasses. I do not stand alone, but interact with others and am a part ofseveral different communities. I feel strange toward, or unfamiliar with, oram a companion with frailty and death. My spirituality is the way I live atmy center and connect within myself these factors in my life. There aretimes when I need to shift my center, or realign it, allow the connections toloosen or break and be redrawn. (1983, 252)

A second definition of spirituality is offered by Joan Chittister whenshe writes

Spirituality is more than church-going (sic). It is possible to go to church(sic) and never develop a spirituality at all. Spirituality is the way in whichwe express a living faith in a real world. Spirituality is the sum total of theattitudes and actions that define our life of faith. (1990, 4f)

Finally, James W. Jones presents his understanding of spiritualityby writing

What gives meaning to our life is being connected to something beyondour own ego. This is essentially a spiritual experience. Although there isplenty of talk in this culture about religion, most people tend to restrictreligion to sabbath celebrations or an occasional holiday. Finding our life’smeaning and purpose may appear to have little to do with creeds, rituals,or commandments. We therefore fail to see that the search for deeperconnections, which echoes through our most intimate personal struggles,is essentially a spiritual quest. The experience of connection to a greaterreality that gives us meaning and purpose is the core of what I mean byspirituality . . . Spirituality means tuning the spirit within us to its source.(1995, 2, 25)

In other words our spirituality is a dynamic expression of who weare, truly. It gives shape to, and is shaped by who we really are at ourdeepest levels. “It is what we are and how we do what we do that is themark of the spiritual life” (Chittister 1990, 164). There is also a rela-tional dimension to spirituality. At its best, the spiritual life is life livedwith consciousness, attentiveness, alertness, and awareness. It can beenriched or hampered by the relationships that comprise our life.

This understanding of spirituality carries with it the possibility thatnot all spiritualities are the same, or even beneficial. An individual

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could exhibit a spirituality grounded on race, gender, selfishness, ma-terial acquisition, or cultural superiority. One’s spirituality could alsobe affected by traumas such as war, neglect and deprivation, or sexualexploitation. Not all spirits are of God; nor does every spirituality en-hance life for self or others.

In Hebrew, ruach has multiple definitions, including breath, wind,spirit; in Greek pneuma may be defined as wind, breath, life, soul, oran energizing dynamic force, including the power to influence or af-fect relationships. Thus, in both Hebrew and Christian scriptures, spirithas to do with that which enables and brings life. In light of thesemeanings, spirituality may also address such questions as these: If ourspirituality is “the wind beneath our wings,” what lifts and energizesus? If it is a dynamic, forceful energy, what drives and empowers us?If it is soul or life or breath, what enlivens us and is essential to us? Inanswering these questions we discern that which brings us life, whole-ness, and integrity. To live the answers to these questions is to becomemore than mere forms of life, but living realities. To borrow languagefrom the children’s story The Velveteen Rabbit, spirituality can be thatwhich enables us to become real.

In one scene in the film Dances with Wolves, the tribe’s medicineman tells Kevin Costner’s character, “There are many paths peoplemay choose. I believe you are on the path to becoming a real humanbeing.” In the residence hall program on spirituality described above,students are invited to reflect and respond to these questions: Whathelps you to feed your deepest hungers? What hinders you? Whathelps or hinders you from doing or being at your best? What factorshelp keep you on the path, and which ones can lead you astray? Inother words, they are asked to consider what aids or abets their spiri-tual quest to become real and fully alive.

In order to renew our spirits and attend to our spirituality, weneed love, intimacy, and trust. In the language of Parker Palmer (1983),we need truth, that is, commitment to truth, to the other, whether theother is a colleague or a student. To borrow Martin Buber’s (1970)phrase, we need I–thou relationships in which we see one another assubjects, or persons to be encountered, and not as objects or things tobe manipulated or used.

Students come to college with a desire to examine, explore, re-think. They want to find their bearings, to delve into issues of spiritu-ality, values, faith and commitments. Many desire to integrate beliefs,values, and lives. In recent years the Chronicle of Higher Education


has published each month a “Top 10” list of what students are read-ing. The list often includes writings that to some degree address ques-tions of good and evil, the meaning of existence, or spiritual growth,such as Memnoch the Devil, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Don’t Sweatthe Small Stuff—And Its All Small Stuff: Simple Ways to Keep theLittle Things From Taking Over Your Life, and The Meaning of It All:Thoughts of A Citizen Scientist. The January 13, 1995 issue reporteda survey of entering students, indicating that 16.6% planned to beactive in religious life, which was more than those who planned to joina Greek organization (This Year’s College Freshman 1995, A30–31).More recently, 18.9% of entering students planned to volunteer or dosome form of community work. Although a significant percentage ofentering students have no religious preference (14.5%), most studentscome to college with at least nominal religious affiliation (more than45% are either Roman Catholic or Baptist). Perhaps the percentageexpressing no preference includes disaffected or non-religious per-sons, and is an indication of our culture’s increasing secularity. It alsomay include those who perceive themselves to be religious/spiritualbut antiinstitutional, or persons who have no loyalty to a particulardenomination.

Nevertheless, regardless of background, many students are search-ing for more than a job, career, or money. As goals in life, 40.9% wantedto develop a meaningful philosophy of life, 36.4% wanted to influencesocietal values; and 59.9% wanted to help others in need (This Year’sCollege Freshman 1999, A48–49). In another study, 63% of the en-tering students indicated that one reason they went to college was toformulate values and life goals (Boyer 1987, 67), and 81% of studentsreportedly wanted help in clarifying beliefs and values (44). Shouldwe then be surprised that at least some students feel cheated, frus-trated, and robbed if all they get in college is objective and imper-sonal lectures, grades, career skills, GPA, hours accumulated towardgraduation?

An essay by Robert Coles in the September 22, 1995 issue of theChronicle of Higher Education tells of a student who arrived at Harvardwith a midwestern, working class background. She was working herway through college by cleaning rooms for fellow students, encoun-tering students who forgot (or never learned) the meaning of “please”or “thank you.” No matter how high their SAT scores, she met stu-dents who did not hesitate to be rude, even crude, to her. The studentreached the breaking point when she was overtly propositioned for

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sex by a male she knew to be a bright, successful pre-med student andan accomplished journalist. To Coles she said

That guy gets all A’s. He’s in the top academic category. I’ve taken twomoral-reasoning courses with him and I’m sure he’s gotten A’s in both ofthem. And look at how he behaves with me, and I’m sure with others. I’vebeen taking all these philosophy courses, and we talk about what’s true,what’s important, what’s good. Well, how do you teach people to be good?What’s the point of knowing good, if you don’t keep trying to become agood person? (A68)

Coles writes that the young woman left Harvard. His philosophi-cal sparring with her in his office that day did not change her beliefthat Harvard was fancy yet phoney.

But he was changed by the encounter. Recognizing that attemptshad to be made to bridge the chasm between behavior and intellec-tual assent to certain principles, Coles imagined that community ser-vice enriched by classroom learning and discussion might be useful.He began to ask students to write papers about particular efforts theywere making to practice the noble thoughts they discussed in class.He knew it was a small step, with small victories now and then. ButColes remembers one student who wrote, “I thanked someone serv-ing me food in the college cafeteria, then we got to talking, the firsttime.” That was a decisive break with that student’s previous indiffer-ence to those she regarded abstractly as “people who work on theserving line.” In the encounter she had learned something aboutanother’s life and had tried to show respect for that life.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to thinkcritically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the great-est menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the persongifted with reason, but no morals. We must remember that intelligence isnot enough. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true educa-tion. The complete education gives one not only power of concentrationbut worthy objects upon which to concentrate. We must work passionatelyand indefatigably to bridge the gulf between our scientific progress andour moral (spiritual) progress. One of the great problems of humanity isthat we suffer from a poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrastto our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have becomematerially the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. (1983, 41,67)


Will Willimon and others have suggested that unfortunately, whilewe may value such a grand vision of education, colleges and universi-ties too often do not provide the means to actualize it. In The Aban-doned Generation: Rethinking Higher Education, coauthors Willimonand Thomas Naylor (1995, 6) write, “College students suffer from amore fundamental malaise than alcohol and drug abuse. Their livesare meaningless.” They suggest that students abuse themselves, oth-ers, alcohol, and other substances because they receive inadequateparenting and experience separation, alienation, economic uncertainty,and meaninglessness. They have been abandoned by parents and otherelders to fend for themselves. In addition, higher education has aban-doned the moral, character-related aspects of their education, believ-ing that it is possible to have a college without having an opinion aboutwhat sort of people ought to be produced by that institution.

Thomas Buford (1995) suggests in In Search of a Calling: TheCollege’s Role in Shaping Identity that students come to college want-ing to learn skills necessary for career and job, but they want more.They also want to attend to beliefs and values; to become more ethi-cal; to make a difference in society; and to gain a better sense of whothey are, and what they are to do and to be. But their lives have be-come splintered and fragmented into separate and seemingly unre-lated parts: academic and social life, job and family, producing andbeing.

“Splintered lives” is a powerful and troubling image for the livesof students. Splinters are dead and lifeless. They are the residue ofwhat once was vital and vibrant. They are also painful. Buford arguesthat to bring wholeness and integrity to splintered lives, several thingsmust come together. Students must have an image of a whole life.They must be able to see that image take shape in a real human being,such as faculty or staff. They must have the opportunity to imaginepossibilities for who they may become, given the talents and gifts theypossess. They must be able to see themselves as having a place in alarger story which gives meaning and shape to life. To find wholenessin life, or to discover who they are and what they are to do and to be,students must learn to be committed to reason, justice, love, compas-sion, the larger community, and respect for life. Such character for-mation occurs in the context of the community in which studentsdiscern their identity and assess honestly their personal lives, skills,and experiences.

Such a journey from splintered lives to wholeness is a spiritual

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quest. Faculty, staff, and campus ministers have some responsibilityin aiding, shaping, and guiding that journey for the novice adults wework with in higher education. Sondra Higgins Matthaei (1996) con-tends that adults play a significant role in the faith and spiritual devel-opment of the young. More experienced adults can mentor the youngtoward faith and spiritual maturity by performing the roles of guide,model, guarantor, and mediator. A 1998 survey of first year studentsin college suggests that they have an extraordinary amount of trust inthe moral integrity and honesty of adults. Nearly 80% have a lot oftrust in the grandparents’ generation and nearly 70% have that samehigh level of trust for their parents’ generation (Krane and Cottreau1998, 3). This is an extraordinary amount of capital that can be in-vested wisely in the spiritual and moral development of young adults.But how does that take place in a university setting?

Some clues may be found in three monastic tales told by JoanChittister in Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St.Benedict Today. The first involves a teacher and a traveler.

One day a traveler begged the Teacher for a word of wisdom thatwould guide the rest of the journey.

The Teacher nodded affably and though it was the day of silence tooka sheet of paper and wrote on it a single word, “Awareness.”

“Awareness?” the traveler said, perplexed. “That’s far too brief. Couldn’tyou expand on that a bit?” So the Teacher took the paper back and wrote: “Awareness, aware-ness, awareness.” “But what do these words mean?” the traveler insisted.

Finally the Teacher reached for the paper and wrote, clearly and firmly,“Awareness, awareness, awareness means . . . Awareness!” (68)

Spiritual maturity reflects an attitude of acute awareness of thesacred in life. To assist in the spiritual development of students, weourselves must be aware of what is sacred and valuable in our ownlives. By modeling such things in our own lives, we can help studentsto be attentive to how they spend their time, to differentiate betweenwants and true needs, and to treat the world (and one another) withrespect and reverence.

Here is another illuminating tale from the monastics.

Once upon a time . . . the Elder said to the businessperson :“As the fish perishes on dry land, so you perish when you get en-

tangled in the world. The fish must return to the water and you must re-turn to the Spirit.”


And the businessperson was aghast. “Are you saying I must give upmy business and go into a monastery?” the person asked.

And the Elder said, “Definitely not. I am telling you to hold on toyour business and go into your heart.” (13)

Those who wish to assist in developing the spirituality of studentswill enable them to pay a visit on themselves in order to explore deeplywho they are and their sense of self and vocation. They will also pro-vide occasions for students to have space and time to go deeply intothe meaning of their relationships, their values, and commitments. Asin the hall program described above, students need venues for identi-fying their true hungers, hurts, and hopes.

The third story goes like this:

“Where shall I look for Enlightenment?” the disciple asked.“Here,” the elder said.“When will it happen?” the disciple wanted to know.“It’s happening right now,” the elder said.“Then why don’t I experience it?” the disciple asked.And the elder answered, “Because you do not look.”“But what should I look for?” the disciple wanted to know.And the elder smiled and answered, “Nothing. Just look.”“But at what?” the disciple insisted.“Anything your eyes alight upon,” the elder continued.“Well, then, must I look in a special kind of way?” the disciple said.“No,” the elder said.“Why ever not?” the disciple persisted.And the elder said quietly, “Because to look you must be here. The prob-lem is that you are mostly somewhere else.” (201)

Development in spirituality occurs as students are helped to deepentheir awareness of the sanctity of their own lives in the here and now.Spiritual growth happens as they explore who they are and what they doas true expressions of spirit, values, and commitment. Spiritual matu-rity brings together the fragmented, splintered aspects of life to ad-dress questions of who I am and what I am to know, to do, and to be.

What follows are specific suggestions for how students can be as-sisted in their quest for spiritual growth during their college years.Neither exhaustive nor guaranteed to succeed, these proposals offer avariety of settings for such development to occur. They also challengeprofessionals and institutions to be attentive to their own spirituality,values, and commitments.

It should also be noted that these suggestions are broad and gen-

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eral, and not specific to particular religious traditions. I would con-tend that the optimum environment for spiritual development is toparticipate in a particular religious community, experience its uniquecommunal life, critically engage with its sacred texts and traditions,and live in its social construction of reality. What is presented here issupplemental and secondary to the spiritual development that canhappen in church, mosque, or temple. It is not to replace particularpractices of religious groups, and is addressed broadly to faculty andstaff. Clergy, other religious leadership, and faculty and staff at homein a specific religious tradition would agree with many of the sugges-tions listed here, but probably would develop programs and approacheswith greater specificity designed to facilitate the spiritual develop-ment and formation of persons in a particular tradition.

One crucial, yet oftentimes neglected, component in helping stu-dents to develop their spirituality is an explicit, overt, public commit-ment from the institution itself to assist students in acquiring aparticular set of values and attitudes about themselves and the largercommunity. Will Willimon and Thomas Naylor write that when one ofthem began their undergraduate studies, the president of that institu-tion welcomed them with these words:

You are among the best students ever to matriculate at Wofford College.You have the best high school records of any class before you. We areproud to have you as our students.

Yet because most of you come from South Carolina, that means thatmost of you happen also to be racist. Your racial attitudes are mostly amatter of your history, your culture, the notions handed down to you byyour parents. This college hopes to change that about you through yourstudies here. We hope to make you into the sort of people who will be ableto know, from your education here, the errors of such opinions as racialsuperiority. It will take us about four years to do this. And though we maynot succeed in changing all of you, we hope to change enough of you tomake a difference in our state in the future. (1995, 70f)

As with the rest of education, the spiritual development of stu-dents requires intentionality and consistency of aim. Unfortunately,colleges and universities can send mixed messages which are confus-ing and contradictory. When an institution laments its undergradu-ates’ abuse of alcohol, and then gushes with gratitude upon receipt of$900,000 from a brewery to build an athletic facility bearing thebrewery’s name, will students hear clearly the institution’s alcoholpolicy? When an institution of higher learning expresses commitment


to diversity and inclusivity, but its board of trustees is predominantlyolder White men, is its commitment credible?

The spiritual development of students can be enhanced as theylive in a community committed to consistency of moral purpose andaction. When a college or university publicly commits itself to the taskof transforming itself and its constituency into those who are dedi-cated to justice, compassion, reason, and respect for life and others,and makes it a priority to help students develop some sense of whothey are and what they are to be and to do, faculty and staff havesanction to assist in realizing these goals. When an institution makes ita priority for its community not only to know the good but to do it,attention to values and morals are no longer extracurricular, optionalaspects of a student’s life. They become central components of the lifeand mission of the institution.

In a similar fashion, organizations and groups affiliated with theinstitution can assist in the spiritual development of students by pub-licly committing themselves to work toward those same goals. Once acollege or university has established its mission and priorities, it isreasonable for it to ask clubs, fraternities and sororities, and othercampus organizations to identify concrete ways they will embody thosegoals and priorities. For example, if a college is committed to racialinclusivity, how will this goal be addressed by various student organi-zations? What help will they need from the institution? What barrierswill have to be removed? How will they be addressed? David Hoekema(1990, 177–93) has suggested that once an institution has identifiedits priorities, groups on campus should assist in realizing them, orshould not receive institutional sanction or funding. Student organi-zations could continue to exist without striving to address the goals ofbecoming individuals and a community of self-awareness, justice, com-passion, reason, and respect; but they would not have access to theresources of the institution to implement their goals and priorities,and the burden of proof for the value of their existence as an organi-zation would lie with their members.

The possibility for the spiritual development of students is en-hanced as time and space for reflection and dialogue is intentionallyprovided. Will Willimon and Tom Naylor (1995, 93) suggest that stu-dents need wise friends who can help them become initiated into theworld of adulthood. Students are novices who need assistance, guid-ance, friendship from those who have been on the path longer andwho know where some of the dangerous pitfalls are. Such occasions

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are limited if students are shut off from their elders, or if faculty, staff,and local citizens do not make themselves available for such reflec-tion and friendship. Nevertheless, students are hungry for such inter-action.

Recently two students came to visit, clearly searching for guid-ance. They presented the details of a situation and concluded, “We donot want you to tell us what to do; we will decide the best approach totake and live with the consequences of our actions. But we are youngand know that there are more options for action than we have consid-ered. Because you are older and have a wider range of experiences,we want to talk to you and to see if there are other possible directionsto take, and to get your help as we think and weigh our options care-fully.” What these students wanted was not for someone else to tellthem what to do; they wanted wise friendship, and respectful trustthat they could act appropriately as adults.

As a component of our wise friendship, one of the things we cando is to tell our students that we love them. Oftentimes students areaffirmed for their intellectual acumen, their physical prowess, or theirleadership potential. We easily affirm their gifts and graces of mindand body. But do they know we care for them? No doubt cautionshould be used in how one communicates such a feeling for students,lest the message be misunderstood. Nevertheless, wise people canfind appropriate ways to convey the message, “I cherish you as a per-son. You are a valuable, unique, precious work of art. I am committedto you. I love and value you enough to offer you help and advice if youwant it, to listen fully to you, to be there for you, to challenge andconfront you, not always to agree with you, and to hold you account-able for your words and actions. I do this so you may grow into a wiseand mature adult. I do this because your life matters to me, and Iwant the best for you. I hope these commitments helps you to under-stand how much I care for you.”

Space and time for such friendships to develop, and for dialogueand reflection to take place, can be made available in a variety of ways.Faculty and staff could be expected to have a certain number of hoursavailable each week for talking with students. They could join stu-dents for lunch or invite small groups into their homes. Such interac-tion with students could be considered an appropriate expression ofservice to the community when faculty apply for tenure. ListeningPosts, attractive meeting places where community members canmunch on peanuts or popcorn as they informally visit and chat with


trained listeners, can be set up at highly visible locations with fre-quent hours of operation. The Native American tradition of gatheringthe community and allowing whoever has the talking stick to be heardrespectfully could be introduced to small groups of students, as a wayof enabling them to share hopes and dreams, hurts and hopes. Fac-ulty could utilize the Praxis program as a resource for meeting classrequirements. In Praxis, students volunteer 20 hours in an appropri-ate, course-related community agency. They also meet twice duringthe semester with a trained facilitator to reflect on what their volun-teer experience has taught them about themselves, vocation, values,and life. Men’s or women’s groups, annual gatherings for students ateach stage of their academic journey (frosh, sophomores, juniors, se-niors), faith-based small groups, or hall programs such as the one de-scribed above, could provide students with time and space to reflecton what is going on in their lives, what is happening to them, and howthey are developing as persons with values, commitments, and spirit.

Of course, students must be given opportunities not only to think,reflect, and dialogue. They will have a greater likelihood of becomingpersons of spirit if they are given opportunities to act consistently withtheir thoughts. Service to one another and to the larger communityallows students not only to think about justice, compassion, respectfor life and other, but to act on their commitments to these virtues.Spiritual growth and development may happen as students give theirtime and energy to tutor a child, repair a home, prepare and serve ameal to a homeless person, dance with a retarded person, or sit by thebed of a dying woman. Such opportunities for growth of spirit arestrengthened when students find themselves working alongside fac-ulty and staff who also act on the values they profess, and are affordedopportunities to ponder what effect such deeds have on them.

The spiritual development of students is enhanced when they areprovided models and images of the spirited life. Through dramaticperformances, film discussions, and lectures, students can be intro-duced to heroic persons who exemplify self-awareness and commit-ments to compassion, justice, reason, and respect for persons andcreation. In classroom instruction, attention can be given not only towhat people did, but to the persons behind the actions and events.Students can examine the values, motives, commitments of personspast and present, and reflect on which values they want to incorpo-rate into their lives and what kind of persons they wish to become.Faculty and staff can also share, in and out of class or office, their

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values, beliefs, visions, values, and life stories, thus making themselvesaccessible as mentors or wise friends. In addition, they can recognizethe essential importance of students being given permission and powerto share their own stories, values, and beliefs in a context of both criti-cal reflection and friendship.

Of course this requires faculty and staff to be on their own spiri-tual journeys. If assistance is to be offered to students in their spiri-tual development, attentiveness to, and awareness of one’s own spiritualdevelopment is crucial. Perhaps the five tenets of Islam can be in-structive here. Those tenets include pilgrimage to Mecca, fasting, almsgiving, daily prayer, and confession of core truths (“There is no Godbut Allah and Mohammed is his prophet”). Faculty and staff, and thestudents they seek to assist, not only need to know their sacred spacesand “holy ground”; they must make pilgrimage sometimes and go therefor renewal and remembrance. Such space may be Athens or Jerusa-lem or Medina; or it may be a particular building on campus, a specialspace at the ancestral home, a certain street where reflection and quietare the only companions, or the coffee shop where a life-changingconversation occurred. Wherever those sacred places may be, growthin spiritual lives needs knowledge of, and return to them. Fasting frombusyness can provide such open spaces, but other forms of fasting canalso foster spiritual development. Fasting from food will inform usquickly where lie our personal weaknesses, shortcomings, and vulner-abilities; fasting from unnecessary words or destructive criticism canbring discipline to one’s own life and possible blessing to others.Almsgiving may take many forms of generosity, such as giving time towrite a letter of conscience for a political prisoner, giving oneself tocommunity service, or contributing financially to a scholarship formarginalized students. Quiet time for reflection, solitude, and/or prayermust be a regular part of daily life. Somehow we must be invited to it,whether by a voice within or without, or by a daily schedule that in-cludes open periods for such activity. Lastly, one’s affirmation of faithcan include not only the tenets of a faith community, but also declar-ing publicly and faithfully one’s own deepest personal values, priori-ties, and commitments.

Most religious communities also have sacred texts, rituals, times,and gatherings. Faculty and staff who know their own sacred texts(whether from the Bible, the Koran, Confucius, Robert Fulghum,Maya Angelou, or Emily Dickenson), life-giving and life-defining ritu-als, times, and gatherings (whether they have evolved from personal


experience or from religious communities), can exemplify for studentsthe value of discovering and incorporating such things in their ownlives. In the same way, institutions of higher learning have such texts,rituals, times and gatherings. To further the growth and developmentof their students’ spirits and lives, universities can tell their institu-tional stories of triumph and tragedy, celebrate and communicate tothe present generation the importance of their rituals, name their sa-cred times, and gather regularly to remember who they are, to nametheir hopes, and to commit themselves afresh to become the commu-nity they envision.

Finally models and images of the spirited life can be presented tostudents as faculty and staff live themselves as a spirited community.Colleagues also need to see and hear that they are loved, and thatthere is a commitment to one another transcending professional asso-ciation. Faculty and staff need opportunities not only to deal withinstitutional issues such as budget and staffing, but to be together toshare friendship, stories, intimacy, values and commitments, joys andsorrows. If students are to learn the virtues of compassion, respect,justice, reason, and self-knowledge, they will benefit from seeing suchvirtues embodied in how faculty and staff live and work together. Whatkind of spiritual understanding would be communicated to studentsif, when a near relative of a colleague died, offices or departments ranon a skeletal staff so everyone else could attend the funeral? What if amessage was posted, “Due to a death in the family of our colleagueand friend, Mary Smith, our staffing is reduced today. We believe it isimportant to show our love and care to our friend, and to be with herin this difficult time. We will also try to meet your present needs, andappreciate your patience, understanding, and cooperation.” What kindof spiritual understanding is communicated to students when we don’tdo such things? Do colleges and universities wish to assist students inbecoming spirited humans who know themselves as well as facts andtheories? Do they wish to equip students to know how to make a liv-ing and how to live compassionate, just, rational, and respectful lives?If so, it is important for students to see such things embodied in thelives of the faculty and staff in that setting.

Here is one final monastic tale told by Joan Chittister.

Once upon a time, a preacher ran through the streets of the city shouting,“We must put God into our lives! We must put God into our lives!” Andhearing him, an old monastic rose up in the city plaza to say, “No, Sir, you

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are wrong. You see, God is already in our lives. Our task is simply to recog-nize that. (1990, 206f)

Spirituality is not something we have to add to the curriculum, orinfuse into students’ lives like a missing additive or a diet supplement.It is already there. The question is what spirit shall be affirmed andnurtured. The task is to increase awareness, open eyes to see, andprovide ways for our spirited lives to move from being splintered andpainful toward wholeness and joy.

David M. Hindman is the director of the Wesley Foundation, theUnited Methodist campus ministry at The College of William and Mary inWilliamsburg, Virginia.

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Submitted: 20 June 1999; accepted 10 June 1999.