Spiritual Interview

[Showbread]

So, I have a somewhat odd request to make. As some of you know I am currently in graduate school to become a school psychologist. Because my program is part of the general graduate department of counseling, I have to take quite a few of the counseling prerequisites. One of those classes is on integrating client spirituality into the therapeutic process. As an assignment for this class I need to interview someone who is not a close relation that also has markedly different spiritual practices/religion than I do. Given that I met most of my current acquaintances either at my Christian high school, or my Christian undergraduate institution, I am coming up a bit dry. Obviously, I do have friends and family members of other faiths, but I would say they are too intimate of connections to fit the assignment criteria.

So, basically I am looking for volunteers. The interview would need to be done over Skype, or a similar set up. Maybe a private vent room? At your request I can leave your real name out of the write up. I will NOT be turning in the recording, or a verbatim transcript of it. I will also post the questions I will ask below, so you have an idea what information I am looking for. At the end of the interview, I will be more than happy to answer any of the questions for you, if you are curious about my own spiritual beliefs. Additionally, given the nature of the questions an interviewee who identifies as a strict Atheist probably would not be ideal, because most of the questions are related to spiritual practices, not the lack thereof.

Oh, and for the record I consider myself an Evangelical/Protestant Christian. Any sect/denomination of Christianity/Catholicism is probably going to be too similar.

Thank you in advance!

Spirituality Interview Questions
• How would you describe yourself in terms of religion, spirituality or faith?
• How did you come to this place in your journey?
• What do you consider to be your core beliefs or values and how do you seek to live them 
out?
• Who has been most influential in your spiritual journey and how have they influenced you?
• What practices do you find useful for sustaining and developing your inner life?
• What have been the most challenging experiences you have had thus far in your spiritual 
journey and what have been the outcomes?
• With what questions or doubts do you wrestle in your spiritual life?
• What do you think is your next step in your spiritual journey and how might you take it?
• What other aspects of your faith/religion/spirituality would think important to share with other counselors?
• What has it been like for you to reflect on these questions and also to share your thoughts 
with someone else?

 

[Coriolis]

[MENTION=19948]Showbread[/MENTION]: I am a pagan. If you think that's different enough, I'm game to be interviewed.

 

[Showbread]

[MENTION=19948]Showbread[/MENTION]: I am a pagan. If you think that's different enough, I'm game to be interviewed.

I know very little about paganism, so that would probably be perfect! I'll pm you to figure something out.

 

[Zangetshumody]

I am a non-Protestant/non-Catholic Christian, I don't think I can answer your questions as they stand without long qualifications, also my last psychiatrist believed I had psychoaffective disorder, although he was a bit ambivalent about his diagnosis because of my "good intellectual ability". I have since escaped psychiatry and am writing a book on psychology with respect to deep religious teachings and understandings that have been ignored or overlooked by pretty much all organised religion.

 

[Zangetshumody]

it might not have been obvious, but I was giving that you informatio, because I'm open to being interviewed, although I foresee it being troublesome for your particular requirements you need to fulfill with your project. Which is perhaps itself an example of the greater murky waters that the theoretical work behind your project will have problematic accountability about: because all methodology must be grounded by some kind of epistemological position, and epistemological pluralism is certainly troublesome, but an unadaptable position that manifests as a presumption on matters of truth is just as troubling. And then assuming a superficial role that pretends to have neither a pluralistic position or a definitive position, is its own species of philosophical fascism (and a tyrannical deceitfulness hidden in plain sight).