Program Overview
What does it mean to be human, and how are religion and spirituality involved? These are key themes you'll explore in Spirituality and Personal Development, a thought-provoking program based at St. Paul's United College that draws on insights from philosophy, psychology, religious studies, and sociology.
You'll learn how a human being develops over a lifetime and how to evaluate this development using psychotherapy, journal writing, and dream analysis. You'll be introduced to the theories of leading figures in the world of psychology and psychotherapy such as Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. And you'll take a critical look at social and cultural influences on personality: for example, how our consumer society creates false needs that can prevent personal growth.
Because the goal of Spirituality and Personal Development is to develop the whole person, you'll also be encouraged to reflect on your own values and goals. Whether or not you're connected to an organized religion, Spirituality and Personal Development can give you a better sense of your own life's meaning.
Spirituality and Personal Development is for you if ...
- You want to understand the relationship between religion, psychology, and psychoanalysis
- You want a broad foundation for a career in counselling or ministry
- You want an intellectual basis for your own spiritual and psychological development
Whatever your particular interest, you can focus on it by combining your major with an option or minor in Spirituality and Personal Development. Here are some of the many possible combinations:
- Want to round out your statistical and experimental studies in Psychology with a more humanistic perspective? Choose from many courses in Spirituality and Personal Development.
- Want to u nderstand religion's role in human evolution and personal growth? Combine a program in Religious Studies with Spirituality and Personal Development.
- If you're interested in exploring the influence of society and culture on psychological goals and development, add Spirituality and Personal Development to a program in Sociology.
- Want to gain a deeper psychological understanding of the symbols and archetypes found in literature? Combine courses in Spirituality and Personal Development with a program in English Language and Literature.
- Explore aging as a time of change and growth by adding Spirituality and Personal Development to a program in Social Development Studies.
- If you're interested in tracing the historical role of religion and rounding out your understanding of important historical figures, consider adding Spirituality and Personal Development to a History program.
Student Projects
Here are some interesting projects students in Spirituality and Personal Development have recently completed:
- A biographical essay of the student's own father, the first French-Canadian head of the RCMP
- A study of the role of religion in the ten years
- An analysis of a series of the student's own dreams, showing how their meaning illuminated his own development
- A study tracing an individual's progress from disorientation to wholeness during the mid-life transition
- A statistical research study of the characteristics associated with lucid dreamers— people who are aware they are dreaming and can manipulate their dreams
- A study of the psychological development of women in a fundamentalist religious community
- An essay on Jungian archetypes in the novels of Robertson Davies.
