The Functional Role of Spiritual Meaning in a Spiritual Crisis

Over the past decade, there has been a steady increase in theoretical and empirical work in the field of academic psychology devoted to the study of the phenomenon of spiritual crisis. By the present, a significant amount of data has been accumulated on the interrelationships of spiritual crisis with well-being and health, but understanding the mechanisms of overcoming this condition remains a "blind spot" of the research field. The objective of this work was to determine the functional role of spiritual meaning in the structure of a spiritual crisis. The longitudinal qualitative study was conducted in 2021 and 2023 and involved 18 informants with an experience of a spiritual crisis. By the method of grounded theory, the model of a spiritual crisis was built, in which the key point of recovery from the crisis is represented by the acquisition of a spiritual meaning. According to the resulting model, the experience of a spiritual crisis goes through the following stages: 1) the destruction of the former meaning system; 2) the discovery of a higher spiritual meaning; 3) the struggle for the establishment of a new meaning hierarchy; 4) acquisition and incorporation of a spiritual meaning into the meaning system; 5) spiritual meaning as the "engine" of a different form of regulation. It is proposed to discuss the prospects of considering a spiritual meaning as a functional organ of personality development not only beyond its own limits, but in the internal dialogue with the absolute truth.