Re-searching spirituality and culture: Transformative pilgrimage learning and living answers into Big Questions

ABSTRACT

This article explores the notion of transformative pilgrimage learning and what it might mean to deal with the Big Questions of life – such as who we are and what we are doing on the planet – in light of experiences of Love and Death. It examines the question at the heart of transformative learning theory – ‘What form transforms?’ – particularly in relation to spiritual experience. It summarizes the findings of a longitudinal research study on how spirituality and culture informed the learning of a multicultural group of North American adult educators teaching for social justice. It also discusses what the researcher learned from research participants, particularly about pilgrimage and the notion of wisdom, as well as from her own experiences of two pilgrimage journeys. It concludes by examining what the research findings and the learning from pilgrimage experiences might suggest for living life as pilgrimage.

KEYWORDS:

• Transformative learning
• pilgrimage
• spirituality
• the Big Questions
• researcher learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Dr Elizabeth J. Tisdell is Professor of Lifelong Learning and Adult Education as well as Chair of the Division of Health and Professional Studies within the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education at Penn State University–Harrisburg.