Philippine E-Journals

Paghahanap-buhay: Spirituality in the Margins*

Ronel P. Dela Cruz

Discipline: Religion

 

Abstract:

This study explores the spiritual expressions of select materially poor urban residents of Metro Manila as revealed in their ordinary activities marked by constant struggle to live. The study used a naturalist paradigm where the participants’ constant struggle to live coalesced with the multiple meaning they ascribed to their lived experiences. The ‘life narratives’ were subjected to the four lifeworld existentials, namely, their lived space, lived body, lived time, and lived human relations, which became the lenses for interpreting narratives, revealing a kind of spirituality that provides a powerful invitation to encounter the divine in the margins of society. The spirituality of the people in the margins of society is a spirituality that is grounded in their lifeworld. As an exploration about spirituality, the study provides “voices from below” that can broaden, enrich and perhaps challenge the present understanding of spirituality that has been shaped by our particular religious traditions or doctrines.