ABOUT US


Background

  • The past few decades have seen a rise in spiritual awakening, both within and outside of religious contexts.
  • Spiritual searches and journeys, when taking place within a pluralistic, humanistic, and pro-social context, can potentially make a significant contribution to human development, at the individual level as well as at that of society.
  • The academia in Israel and around the world has a major role in researching spiritual processes and in teaching and promoting the understanding of and the openness towards spirituality and its beneficial potential.

Our Vision

  • We aspire to expand and significantly increase our knowledge and understanding of the spiritual realm in human existence.
  • We wish for the spiritual realm to become legitimate and accessible for all individuals and societies, to be fully integrated into academia and every other aspect of life, and for its increased contribution to a beneficial life and the fulfillment of the potential within every human being and every society and culture to thrive and grow.

Our Missions

The center will initiate and promote integrations between academia and spirituality, in the following forms:

  • Research contributing to the study and understanding of spirituality, its various expressions, and its impact on one’s life and on society
  • Academic programs concerned with spirituality
  • Disseminating knowledge and making it accessible to scholars and the general public
  • Research-based applications of the spiritual realm in various arenas, such as education, psychotherapy, health, business and organizations, and inter-group reconciliation

Our Guiding Principles

  • Integrating spirituality and academia
  • Pluralism – respecting and appreciating the variety of spiritual traditions
  • Pursuing new frontiers for learning, researching and implementing new ideas
  • Multi-disciplinary approach in all areas of research and practice
  • Combining work in the field and practical applications with academic research and teaching
  • Making information, news and events accessible to the public
  • Cultivating communities of scholars and practitioners who are interested in spirituality, who will use the center as their home base
  • Developing connections with other scholars and scientific institutions in Israel and abroad

What Makes Us Unique

  • The center presents a holistic, innovative and unique model for the academic study of spirituality and humanity’s high potential.
  • This model of multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional collaboration is innovative and groundbreaking in the academic arena, and its organizational structure and pluralistic perspective reflect the best of the human spirit.
  • The University of Haifa, with its pluralism, breathtaking beauty and vitality, is particularly suitable to serve as the central hub for the collaborative effort to establish this kind of center for the study, teaching and promoting the human spirit at its best.

What is spirituality?

Human spirituality is relevant to individuals both within and outside of religion, and is manifested (among other things) in beliefs, world-views, experiences and practices.

  • Spirituality involves recognizing the existence of a sublime, sacred, endless and eternal realm, usually seen as beyond and outside the person, and in some traditions, within them as well
  • Spirituality is seen as a personal, experiential connection to this sacred realm, which provides our life with meaning

At its best, spirituality includes:

  • A connection to one’s authentic self, referred to in some traditions as one’s “soul” or “divine spark”
  • An ability to experience and maintain a deep affinity with our human and natural surroundings, and a sense of responsibility towards all that exists
  • Aspiring to connect to a higher eternal, boundless and sacred essence(s)
  • Conducting one’s life in a sensible, balanced, caring, giving and pro-social manner