Abstract

A growing segment of contemporary mainstream society is turning away from conventional Judeo-Christian organized religion and towards alternative spiritual practices. A significant number of these engage in Native American traditions such as the sweat lodge ceremony. Review of the literature provides no insight into this phenomenon. ;Non-native individuals who participated in respectable sweat lodges for a number of years and had adopted the Red Path as their spiritual way of being were individually interviewed. This method of gathering data provided information-rich material; interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Ethnograph. Ethnograph, a computer software program for analysis of textual material, revealed themes around three basic phases in a participant's quest for spiritual fulfillment. First, individuals moved away from organized religion due to spiritual disquiet. Second, participants went through a searching phase. Finally, subjects encountered creation-centered Native American spirituality. The apophatic/cataphatic aspects of native spirituality resonated deep within each participant. In other words, once a subject's own sacredness was found, it was also recognized in all other living things. Furthermore, individual well-being as a result of being engaged in creation-centered Native American spirituality was prevalent