Brandon Pantano
Mr. Barnitt
Issues and Social Justice
11 / 10 / 03
“Love can be defined as the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” This quote from M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled applies not only to nurturing spiritual growth, but also to the search for one’s self that everyone goes through. Nurturing one’s spiritual growth is a complex process. It begins very early, from the first years of life, until your last breath. As a baby, your parents are supposed to take care of you and nurture you as well as your spirituality. The attention and affection a child may receive has a tremendous impact on one’s life. The responsibility of nurturing lies in the parents of the children, but as the child grows older there is a shift in the responsibility. Slowly, there is a process of growing away from parents where the nurturing of one’s spiritual growth becomes your own responsibility. As your parents nurture you, they shape how you will be when the responsibility of spirituality is yours.