MEN-TOR

Dear Friend,

Thank you for agreeing to take part in this survey. As you will see it is not a standard  questionnaire requiring Yes or No answers.  Rather, it is aims to find out about spirituality in contemporary Britain. I am doing this as part of a bigger research project in the Theology Department of  Manchester University. In the first year I examined the role of the spiritual mentor and now want to narrow this down to the specific issue of masculine experience and expressions of spirituality. I do this by sharing a personal story from my own spiritual journey.

 In my academic research I have gone along with what is becoming the standard tri-partite division into the practice of traditional religion such as Christianity, the pagan strand which includes Druidism and Wicca, and the holistic strand encouraging self-enlightenment. This division, like all such divisions, is extremely fluid but it has some usefulness. In many ways, however, this particular story spans all three – which just goes to show how inadequate the analysis is! That is precisely why I have chosen to share it; it can reach  people in in all three strands. I have explained terms and concepts which I thought might not be generally known. It is up to you whether you simply state that you do not understand some of its ideas or whether you google (or whatever) to find out more.

I am not primarily interested in the specific historical context of Glastonbury Tor.  So do not worry if you do not know the place personally. What I want to gauge is how men have experienced spiritual issues, whether they have been able to express that adequately, how they have been mentored  and how they would envision future spiritual movements.

This is only a minor part of my overall research and so will involve a relatively small sample (of about 50 men and 5 women). I will try to keep the balance by approaching a variety of different spiritual groups and individuals. It is my original aim to use the findings as a basis for an article for the Pagan academic journal, 'Pomegranate' although it would be a delight to me if I managed to get it published simultaneously in a Christian journal.

Pauline