Alex Clark: Outside Source: wilderness and spirituality

The Wilderness Experience and Spirituality: What Recent Research Tells Us (JOPERD, vol. 74, 2003). This is an article written by Paul Heintzman that outlines some of the research done in the past decade that was meant to examine the relationship between experience of the wilderness and spirituality. Heintzman’s purpose in the article was to argue against another article that had claimed the strong relationship between wilderness and spirituality was a myth. The research is as follows. Spirituality is defined as "a way of being and experiencing that comes about through awareness of a transcendent dimension and that is characterized by certain identifiable values in regard to self, others, nature, life, and whatever one considers to the Ultimate" (Elkins, Hughes, Saunders, Leaf, & Hedstrom, 1988, p. 10). One study yielded the results that “45.8 percent of backcountry visitors to Canada's Prince Albert National Park felt that the opportunity to reflect on spiritual values was somewhat, quite, or very important to them in their decision to visit the backcountry.” In another study “almost 11 percent of the participants cited spiritual benefits (e.g., "feeling stronger spiritually," "gaining a sense of peace and serenity," and "experiencing a sense of oneness with nature and the cosmos") as the most valued benefit of these activities.” A study in California determined that “69 percent of the respondents acknowledged the spiritual value of wilderness.” In two trials of a certain study, approximately 53 percent of campers in one trial, and 58 percent of campers in the other, indicated that introspection/spirituality added to their satisfaction with the park experience. All of this is raw data is quite simply to say that wilderness is most definitely connected with spirituality. Heitzman’s article ends with; “In summary, the above studies suggest that although not all wilderness visitors seek the spiritual values or benefits of wilderness, a majority of them do.” Many individuals across the world seek the solace and the answers of wilderness spirituality, and the mystic bond between these two will continue to be pursued. I found reading and writing about this article to be intriguing. I was surprised by some of the numbers but I expected the overall outcome. This is mere qualitative support for the presence and force we all know exists within nature.