Spirituality Studies (Apr 2023)
Meaningful Contexts of Interpretation of Transpersonal Experience by Representatives of the Eastern Spiritual Practices in Ukraine
Abstract
The article explores the lives of individuals who practice Eastern spiritual practices in modern society, such as yoga, qigong, reiki, and others. The subject of this article is the problem of interpreting transpersonal experiences by those who practice Eastern spiritual practices in Ukraine. Based on a qualitative sociological study using the tactics of life history and the method of narrative interviews (29 interviews), the author proposes a classification of meaningful contexts for interpreting transpersonal experiences. The author identifies several meaningful contexts, including the reasoning meaningful context, adventure meaningful context, cognitive meaningful context, eudaimonic meaningful context, the meaningful context of the impossibility of articulation, epiphenomenal meaningful context, the meaningful context of reward, and the compensatory meaningful context of the interpretation of transpersonal experiences. This typology provides a deeper understanding of the lives of individuals who practice Eastern spiritual practices and may help formulate hypotheses regarding their increasing popularity.
