Abstract

In Formative Spirituality consonant human formation flows as persons observe and internalize the self-manifestation of the mystery of formation in their life fields. The experience of exile is one of the modes of the mystery's self-manifestations. Many such events occur in life of which some may not be perceived or may be ignored, or may be deformatively perceived, while others may leave a lasting impression on human life. ;This dissertation has been an attempt to demonstrate how the experience of exile may manifest the mystery of formation drawing subjects to a deeper interiority, a disposition that facilitates the dynamics of differentiation and integration in human life formation. It has been the contention of this research that the experience of exile may provide the necessary climate in fostering human persons' openness to their innate capacity to respond harmoniously to their fields of life in ways that go beyond fatalism. ;The research has shown that the experience of exile for persons caught up in functionalistic self-encapsulation, may foster the deformative disposition of depreciative abandonment. Yet, the experience of exile may also provide the ambience for the cultivation of formative privacy conducive for formative reflection. In this reflective mood, such displaced persons may be graced with the holistic appraisal of their lives and the awareness of their own finitude and the transforming power of the present moment. This may enable them to affirm their own vulnerability and appreciatively surrender themselves in new relationships to the process and the source of their lives in formation