The Spiritual Self Schema (3-S) Development Program

It seems that once accessed, a habitual self-schema, just like a highspeed
highway, can be extremely difficult to exit. If we were able to stop
and examine it carefully, we may find that it is actually not taking us
anywhere that is personally meaningful. That you are reading these
words suggests you are someone for whom the word "Spirituality" has
personal meaning. However, you, like many others, may be finding it
difficult to experience and express your Spirituality in your daily life
while being transported rapidly, automatically, through each day by
your habitual self-schemas.
Even if you have found a Spiritual path that is capable of providing
meaning and relief from suffering, chances are that you are finding it
difficult to travel this path in the normal course of a day in which it has
to compete with the high-speed highway of your habitual self-schemas.
In comparison, your Spiritual path may seem like a narrow and
overgrown trail through a thicket, difficult to access, and once accessed,
slow to travel; its destination often hidden from view.
In the 3-S program, the concepts of "self-schema," "path," and "highway"
are regarded as useful metaphors for the purpose of personal
transformation. They do not, of course, reflect the complexity of the
concepts of "the self" or "spirituality" as psychologists, philosophers,
and theologians might discuss them (the interested reader is referred to
the literature cited in the References). In the 3-S program, a Spiritual
self-schema (i.e., the individual's Spiritual path) is viewed as a cognitive
structure which, when carefully and elaborately constructed and
maintained, provides the individual access to the experience and
expression of what will be referred to in the 3-S program as, Spiritual
nature. The 3-S program makes no attempt to define Spiritual nature for
the individual. Qualities and characteristics attributed to it, such as a
sense of interconnection with all living things and/or with a Supreme
Being or Higher Power, will vary widely. However, in seeking some
common ground, the program does begin with the proposition that
individuals who seek to understand their Spiritual nature will, at the
very least, view this intrinsic aspect of their being as wholly compatible
with compassion, and wholly incompatible with causing harm to self or
others.
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