Document Type : Critical and theoretical research

Author

Associate Professor, Brigham Young University, United State

Abstract

Many people travel in search of life-altering experiences, which, in the form of epiphanies, lead to a profound and positive transformation in their daily lives. This paper focuses on the intersections of religion, spirituality, and wellness, and how similar experiences in these areas can be interpreted through viewing people through the lens of the human “soul”. After briefly defining religion, spirituality, and wellness, attention is turned to the medicalization of religion and spirituality in the form on wellness. The relationships between the soul, spiritual health, and travel are then briefly discussed before concluding.

Keywords

 Amundsen, D. W. (1995). Medicine, Society, and Faith in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Beckstead, Z. (2010). Commentary: Liminality in acculturation and pilgrimage: When movement becomes meaningful. Culture & Psychology, 16(3): 383-393.
Beckstead, Z. (2021). On the way: pilgrimage and liminal experiences. In B. Wagoner & T. Zittoun. Eds. Experience on the Edge: Theorizing Liminality. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp. 85-105.
Beyer, P. (2007). Religion and globalization. In G. Ritzer (ed), The Blackwell Companion to Globalization (pp. 444–460). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Ciocan, C. T. (2019). The value of the soul in the religious views. An overview targeting the salvation of an individual. Dialogo, 6(2): 233-244.
Devereux, C., & Carnegie, E. (2006). Pilgrimage: Journeying beyond self. Tourism Recreation Research, 31(1): 47-56.
Dhar, N., Chaturvedi, S. K., & Nandan, D. (2013). Spiritual health, the fourth dimension: a public health perspective. WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health, 2(1): 3-5.
Di Giovine, M. A. (2011). Pilgrimage: Communitas and contestation, unity and difference-An introduction. Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 59(3): 247-269.
Dobbs, D. (2013). Restless genes. National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/restless-genes.
Dolan, B. (2007). Soul Searching: a brief history of the mind/body debate in the neurosciences. Neurosurgical Focus, 23(1), 1-7.
Fennell, D.A. (2006). Evolution in tourism: The theory of reciprocal altruism and tourist–host interactions. Current Issues in Tourism, 9(2): 105–124.
Ferngren, G.B. (2014). Medicine and Religion: A Historical Introduction. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Gauthier, F., Martikainen, T., and Woodhead, L. (2013) Acknowledging a global shift: A primer for thinking about religion in consumer societies. Implicit Religion, 16(3): 261–276.
Ghaderi, A., Tabatabaei, S. M., Nedjat, S., Javadi, M., & Larijani, B. (2018). Explanatory definition of the concept of spiritual health: a qualitative study in Iran. Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 11(3): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6150917/.
Jackson, R.H. and Hudman, L. (1995). Pilgrimage tourism and English cathedrals: The role of religion in travel. Tourism Review, 50(4): 40-48.
James, W. (1961). The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Collier Books. (Original work published 1902)
Jaberi, A., Momennasab, M., Yektatalab, S., Ebadi, A., & Cheraghi, M. A. (2019). Spiritual health: A concept analysis. Journal of Religion and Health, 58: 1537-1560.
Jarvis, N.A. (1997). Taking a break: Preliminary investigations into the psychology of epiphanies as discontinuous change experiences. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Jeeves, M., & Brown, W.S.  (2009). Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion: Illusions, Delusions, and Realities about Human Nature. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press.
Jirásek, I. (2014). Pilgrimage-tourism continuum once again: Matrix of sacred, spiritual and profane connectedness to authenticity. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, 14(4): 46–53.
Maddrell, A., & Della Dora, V. (2013). Crossing surfaces in search of the Holy: landscape and liminality in contemporary Christian pilgrimage. Environment and Planning A, 45(5), 1105-1126.
McDonald, M.G. (2008). The nature of epiphanic experience. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48(1): 89-115.
McGroarty, B. (2018). Wellness Industry Statistics and Facts. Global Wellness Institute. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/press-room/statistics-and-facts/.
Olsen, D.H. (2012). Teaching Truth in “Third Space”: The Use of Religious History as a Pedagogical Instrument at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tourism Recreation Research, 37(3): 227-237.
Olsen, D.H. (2017). Other Journeys of Creation: Non-Representational Theory, Co-Creation, Failure, and the Soul. Tourism Recreation Research. 42(1): 120-124.
Olsen, D.H. (2019). Religion, Spirituality, and Pilgrimage in a Globalizing World. In D. J. Timothy. Ed. Handbook of Globalisation and Tourism. London: Edward Elgar, 270-283.
Olsen, D.H. (2020). Disease and Health Risks at Mass Religious Gatherings. In K.A. Shinde and D.H. Olsen. Eds. Religious Tourism and the Environment. Wallingford, UK: CABI, 116-132.
Olsen, D.H. (2022). Religious Tourism: A Spiritual or Touristic Experience? In R. Sharpley. Ed. Routledge Handbook of the Tourist Experience. London and New York: Routledge, 391-407.
Pine, B. J. and Gilmore, J. H. (2011). The Experience Economy: Work is a Theatre & Every Business a Stage. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.
Saad, G. (2007). The evolutionary bases of consumption. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Smith, M.K., & Diekmann, A. (2017). Tourism and wellbeing. Annals of Tourism Research, 66: 1-13.
Smith, M., & Kelly, C. (2006). Wellness tourism. Tourism Recreation Research, 31(1): 1-4.
Turner, V. (1987). Betwixt and between: The liminal period in rites of passage. In L.C. Mahdi, S. Foster, & M. Little. Eds. Betwixt and Between: Patterns of Masculine and Feminine Initiation. La Salle, IL: Open Court, pp. 3-19.
Voase, R. (2007). Visiting a cathedral: The consumer psychology of a ‘rich experience’. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 13(1): 41-55.
Wearing, S., McDonald, M., & Ankor, J. (2016). Journeys of creation: Experiencing the unknown, the other and authenticity as an epiphany of the self. Tourism Recreation Research, 41(2): 157–167.
Zinnbauer, B. J., & Pargament, K. I. (2005). Religiousness and spirituality. In R.F. Paloutzian & C.L. Park. Eds. Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. New York: Guilford Press, pp. 21-42.