Spiritual Literacy Certificates Program

Learn how to bring such qualities of heart and mind as attention, beauty, compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, hospitality, openness, transformation, vision, and wonder into your home, community, workplace, and the larger world. You will be part of a global effort to foster a loving world in which all people live with dignity, a sense of belonging, and a reverence for all life through the sharing of transformative practices and the wisdom of the world's religious, spiritual, psychological, and cultural traditions.

Why Spiritual Literacy?

Spiritual Literacy is the ability to read the signs that point to the active presence of Spirit within and around us. This skill can be applied in all life experiences to discern a world full of meaning and connection. As such, it is a foundational study for any personal growth or professional development program.

Spiritual Literacy powerfully enhances engagement both within and beyond the arena of spiritual work. It generates a wider perspective on your experiences and expands your capacities for teamwork, networking, and effective communication. As you practice attention, compassion, kindness, openness, transformation, and 32 other universal practices, your spiritually literate approach will result in more resilience, empathy, patience, equanimity, and adaptability. Spiritual Literacy training enables spiritual leaders, chaplains, life coaches, educators, counselors, spiritual directors and companions, psychologists, social workers, community organizers and activists, healthcare professionals, nonprofit and business leaders, and others to thrive both personally and professionally.

How & What Will You Learn?

Spiritual Literacy is learned through examples and spiritual practices. In our 12-month Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life, you will reflect upon examples of this perspective on life through spiritual quotations, book excerpts, and films. You will be inspired by the experiences of our exemplars (bestselling authors, professors, and renowned teachers). You will have opportunities to try a wide variety of spiritual practices, and you will be able to share what you are learning with a small group.

Your training will begin with an immersion in the Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy. This extraordinary tool for cultivating a life of meaning and connection was developed by Spirituality & Practice's founders, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, as the foundation of their acclaimed book Spiritual Literacy. The 37 letters of this alphabet — from Attention to Zeal (see complete list at right) — are universal spiritual practices in every transformative tradition. They can also be understood as core values and qualities of heart and mind. Each has been carefully vetted and validated through a deep study of the world's religious, spiritual, psychological, and cultural traditions. They are essential to personal transformation, wellbeing, strong relationships, social commitment, and openness to diversity.

This training on the Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy will help you learn to read the sacred in everyday life. Participants will be encouraged to share with their peer groups how they are applying the week’s Alphabet Practice to their personal or professional life. You will also be asked to keep track of your participation, weekly teachings, monthly exemplar presentations, and practice experiences by completing a short and simple questionnaire and writing a brief reflection for each Alphabet Practice to be submitted three times throughout the course of the year.

Should you wish to become a Spiritual Literacy Facilitator, graduates will have the option to complete a capstone project. The capstone project will give you experience in leading others in living a meaningful life. The capstone project should illustrate competency with teaching Spiritual Literacy to others. Examples include convening a group at the local library, hosting an interfaith council series on the Alphabet Practices, and creating models for using Spiritual Literacy in different settings.

Throughout the Certificates program, you will discover that what makes this study truly unique is the virtually endless set of resources that have been gathered and curated to help you explore, understand, and illustrate Spiritual Literacy. Students and graduates of our program join a worldwide community supported by the Spirituality & Practice website and its 65,000+ pages of content — all coordinated and curated around the framework of the Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy. You will never run short of resources and support as you continue in this profound way of life.

Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life

• 12-Month "Exemplar" training
• Receive a Certificate in Spiritual Literacy and Transformative Practices
• Upcoming Cohort: January 27, 2024 – December 15, 2024

This program will give you practical experience with the 37 practices in the Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy. You will develop a deep personal understanding of each practice through readings, reflections, peer conversations, and regular spiritual practices. Guest "Exemplars" will share how they use these practices in their own lives. These esteemed spiritual teachers will provide concrete examples of spiritually literate approaches along with wisdom from their traditions and experiences to support them.

Live and video lessons will explore what Spiritual Literacy is, what blocks it, and how it is described in the spiritual traditions. You will explore multiple ways to "read the sacred in everyday life" from the course leaders, guest exemplars, your own small group, and the resources at SpiritualityandPractice.com. You will discover what recognizing the sacred within us, in others, and in the world around us looks and feels like every day.

Graduates will receive a Certificate in Spiritual Literacy and Transformative Practices based on attendance, participation, reflections on each Alphabet Practice, and a final project. Graduates who do not plan on obtaining a Certificate as a Spiritual Literacy Facilitator will complete a final project – written, audio, video, performance – that demonstrates spiritual literacy. The project should explain or illustrate how the participant applies at least one Alphabet Practice and how applying Spiritual Literacy through an Alphabet Practice(s) has changed how they see and respond to the world.

Leading Others in Living a Meaningful Life

• Capstone Project
• Prerequisite: Graduation from Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life
• Receive a Certificate as a Spiritual Literacy Facilitator
• Within one year of graduation from Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life
• No additional tuition to participate

Upon completion of Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life, graduates may deepen their practice of Spiritual Literacy with a capstone project. The capstone project is intended to give practical experience to today's leaders, who often find that people come to them seeking ways to deepen their spiritual lives, achieve greater emotional intelligence, embrace a broader perspective, and discover a deeper connection to all of life.

Facilitator candidates will demonstrate their competency with teaching Spiritual Literacy to others. Example projects might be convening a group at the local library and hosting an interfaith council series on the Alphabet Practices. The goal of the capstone projects will be to bring Spiritual Literacy to a wide variety of life experiences. Facilitators may eventually be called upon to apply Spiritual Literacy to relationship situations, work cultures, and service activities.

The Spirituality & Practice team will be available to support those doing capstone projects. For example, some may want to work with the “Spiritual Rx Prescriptions” using specific Alphabet Practices to enhance qualities an individual or a group seek to enhance, balance, or minimize. Over time, additional program material will be developed to help facilitators guide others in Spiritual Literacy in both personal and professional settings.

Spiritual Literacy is a growing movement of training, study, and support and is fueled by the robust online resources in our celebrated website SpiritualityandPractice.com. Spiritual Literacy Facilitators will be encouraged to establish their own groups and centers, develop their own applications, and contribute to the Spirituality & Practice website.