COGNITIVE ORIENTATION TO SPIRITUALITY AND THE CONCEPT OF A PERSONAL GOD

This contribution deals with the question, if there is any connection between cognitive orientation to spirituality and the concept of a personal God. MacDonald's subscale of COS (Cognitive Orientation to Spirituality) from the ESI Scale (Expressions of Spiritual Inventory) and Petersen's inventories of notions, feelings and relationship to God were administered to a sample of 206 students. The results confirm differences in concept of personal God among technicians and humanists, especially in God's evaluation and punishment. In the concept of God, no inter-sex differences were found. Four factors were found in this concept: Positive God, Intervening God, Mystical God and Negative God. Cognitive orientation to spirituality is bound with the perception of a spiritual/God as someone positive, accepting and inspiring. The dimension Feelings of proximity and security with regard to God explains 41.3% of variability in COS values.