"This Is What Real Spirituality Is All About": A Phenomenological Exploration of the Experience of Spirituality Outside Institutional Religion

Processes of personal and individual spiritual change outside institutional religion lack common moral guidelines and authority as well as accepted systems of beliefs and truths. Despite the existence of studies on processes of spiritual change outside religious doctrines (Fuller, 2001; Kraus, 2014; Streib, Hood, Keller, Csoff, & Silver, 2011), the issues of veracity, genuineness, and validity in such contexts remain unaddressed. This study used a qualitative-phenomenological approach to explore how individuals who experience spiritual change outside institutional religion construe such issues during their spiritual journey. In-depth interviews with 27 Israeli adults (13 men and 14 women) undergoing such change revealed a pervasive concern with realness and major touchstones they developed as criteria to identify what they perceive as real spirituality: others-oriented touchstones (dogmatic vs. open, unmediated, and autonomic conduct; and seclusion vs. coping with real-life complexities) and self-oriented touchstones (bodily experience that provides a sense of ultimacy and attentiveness to signs).