Spirituality of the Czech university students -: a factor analysis pilot study

An original scale of spirituality was constructed and verified on a sample of 108 Prague students of human sciences and technical universities. Factor analysis of 30 items indicates the existence of three factors.,Pagan eco-spirituality" includes spiritual experiences in relation to earth, amazement with elements of nature and experience of connectedness with past and future generations.,Belonging" refers to the experience of harmony of souls with close people, emotional closeness, respect towards and responsibility for people as well as for natural entities. A factor interpretable as,transcendental mysticism" concerns experience of "highest reality", catharsis from inner impurity, endless.awe, deeper understanding of the world's Substance and sense of integration with-all life. All three aspects of spirituality bear on historical religious systems and trends, in the framework of which they have always existed. Theoretical base and results of the investigation are discussed in relation to Hood's Scale of Mysticism, Spiritual Transcendence Scale of Piedmont, Expressions of Spirituality Inventory of MacDonald, Index of Core Spiritual Experiences of Kass, Friedman et al., and other scales of spirituality (Reker, Moberg).