Human spirituality is at a crossroads.  Spiritual Care providers encounter this reality daily.  The “old” ways of framing experiences and crises are becoming less effective for an increasing number of people, regardless of their religious traditions.  Fear and insecurity permeate our culture to such an extent that many people have become stuck within or departed from spiritual frameworks that are not as helpful or healthy now as they may have been generations ago.  A new framework, or perhaps new interpretations of the human spiritual experience, are needed.   This book proposes that pneumaplasticity, the ability of human spirituality to rewire itself, is a key factor in making these necessary changes. This book also exposes and addresses the undercurrent of fear that permeates human existence.  Spiritual care providers will find an astute assessment of this issue and its implications for human spiritual development in this work.  They will also learn to better identify and facilitate rewiring of fear as it emerges in their interactions with patients, clients, and congregants.  Rewiring fear via pneumaplasticity has numerous benefits for both care recipients and providers.

This book details the novel concept of pneumaplasticity, and applies it to spiritual care in a way no one else has done.  It draws on the previous work of spiritual care and counselling professionals, but applies it to human spirituality in new ways.  By connecting pneumaplasticity to spiritual care generally, and to rewiring fear specifically, the author opens the door in a unique way for spiritual care clinicians, clergy, and seminarians to better support and empower those who struggle with spiritual rigidity and fear.  It then becomes possible for such professionals to approach their work from a broader perspective, and to facilitate the development of increased pneumaplasticity, both in themselves and in others. As human beings learn to cultivate our pneumaplasticity, we will begin to also rewire our fear, and to embrace our full potential.  We will begin to embrace our common humanity, to discover new ways of forming community, and to articulate new and renewed senses of meaning and purpose.