A Spiritual Approach to Job Satisfaction and Motivation among Special Education Teachers

pirituality and ethics are the core values shaping human life from ancient times (1). The term spirituality has different meanings and can be usually considered identical with the word religion. However, it is important to distinguish between religion and spirituality since they are not of the same nature and are two different concepts while being relevant (2). Spirituality is defined as a personal quest to search for the deeper meaning of life in relation to God and universe. There are common concepts associated with this structure, such as communication with the inner self, search for common values beyond personal effort, a deep empathy with all aspects of life, and a desire to be linked with the sources of life (3). Given the positive effects of spirituality on the improvement of main psychological structures, such as life satisfaction (4,5) mental health (6,7), and happiness (8), as well as the negative effects of perceived everyday stress (9), this concept has been taken into consideration in the workplace and developed greatly. A growing number of employees are seeking meaning in work as they are looking for meaning in their personal life given the fact that although life without work is pointless, soulless work also ruins life (10). In addition to employees, large organizations support workplace spirituality due to its higher impact on their success, compared to other factors (11). In this regard, the employment of spirituality facilitates the organizations to create a human environment based on human values in which employees can flourish all S Abstract