Conversations on ROOTS: A focus on S-Splendor and Resilience

Colere’s position on resilience has led to much interest surrounding the idea and topic. Here, we may explain how resilience research has historically emphasized the adaptive benefits of adversity and how this, in turn, has created a narrative that suggests hardship itself may cultivate psychological and social strength. Our stance, however, acknowledges recent studies that complicate this assumption. We have been following this idea for about a decade, beginning with a large-scale study that suggests a more accurate understanding is rather a U-shaped relationship. This U-shaped model explains that moderate adversity can be associated with growth. However, extreme hardship erodes well-being, and resilience is often sustained not by suffering per se, but by the presence of positive resources, such as hope, safety, and meaning (Seery, 2011; Seery et al., 2010). This study highlights the importance of beauty in trial (and the frightening reality of enduring trial without), and it set us out to discover more about what data shows in resilience literature.

So, diving deeper and beyond adversity-centered research, we found that from a psychological standpoint, the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2001, 2004) demonstrates how joy, awe, and contentment expand cognitive repertoires and build enduring resources. Experimental studies have confirmed that exposure to beauty, through nature, art, or awe-inspiring experiences, enhances prosociality, emotional regulation, and health outcomes (Monroy et al., 2023; Piff et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2014). Parallel lines of research highlight hope as a predictive factor in flourishing and adaptive coping (Snyder, 2002; Baxter 2017, Sege, 2017). Meanwhile, spiritual well-being and religious faith have consistently been associated with resilience across diverse cultural contexts (Aggarwal et al., 2022; Schwalm et al., 2022). Likewise, psychological safety has emerged as a key factor enabling collective resilience in organizational and communal life (Edmondson & Lei, 2014), aligning with a pedagogy of care.

Beyond such, a biblical worldview affirms this framework by repeatedly linking resilience to beauty experienced as hope, faith, and safety in God. For example, David’s resilience in crisis is framed not by valorizing suffering but by his longing “to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD” (Ps 27:4). Additionally, the joy of the Lord, rather than affliction itself, is declared to be Israel’s strength (Neh 8:10). Commonly cited, Paul exhorts believers to anchor themselves in hope as “a sure and steadfast anchor for the soul” (Heb 6:19) and to dwell upon what is “true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable” so that “the God of peace” will be with them (Phil 4:8–9). In Psalms, we see the Shepherd’s provision of “green pastures” and “still waters” (Ps 23), depicting beauty and safety as the environment that restores the soul. While Scripture acknowledges that trials may produce perseverance (Jas 1:2–4; Rom 5:3–5), the operative force is not hardship alone, but adversity reframed through divine presence, hope, and love.

The conceptual model developed here in the S of our ROOTS framework, then, and in educational contexts, positions what we call splendor, more commonly referred to as beauty as the mediating environment of resilience. Inputs such as aesthetic experience, spiritual practices, relational security, and hopeful narratives activate processes of broaden-and-build, theological transformation, psychological safety, and anchoring in hope. These processes yield outputs of resilience at individual (emotional regulation, maturity), relational (strengthened social bonds, generosity), and communal (righteousness-seeking, sustainability) levels feeding into our other aspects of ROOTS to include relationship, order, observation, and tenderness.

In this way, resilience emerges less as a byproduct of hardship itself and more as the fruit of inhabiting environments saturated with beauty where hope, faith, and safety create the interpretive lens through which adversity can be metabolized into growth rather than trauma. This reframing invites an integrative dialogue between psychology and theology where we see resilience cultivated not primarily in the crucible of suffering but in the preemptive and sustained encounter with God’s beauty and goodness.

More soberly, and to consider the long-term effects of conceptions in resilience… When adverse experiences accumulate, especially in the context of trauma, post-traumatic stress, or long-term instability, the limits of hardship as a supposed teacher of resilience become evident. Trauma research demonstrates how repeated or overwhelming stressors fracture neural integration, producing complex PTSD, heightened limbic system responses, and long-lasting alterations in emotional regulation (Herman, 1992/2015; van der Kolk, 2014). Neurodevelopmental studies show that chronic exposure to fear and stress reshapes the developing brain, impairing learning, memory, and relational capacity (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). These effects are magnified when compounded by co-occurring mental illness, inadequate protection for vulnerable individuals, and the prevalence of secondary trauma in caregiving systems (Figley, 1995). Children are particularly susceptible, as their neurobiological architecture and emotional templates are formed in relation to both the presence and absence of safety. Exposure to chronic adversity without stabilizing resources does not strengthen them; it undermines the very foundations on which resilience depends.

These realities challenge the pervasive cultural narrative that hardship itself builds strength. The notion that children must endure suffering to be “prepared for the real world” risks sanctifying harm and normalizing neglect. Such a belief system is both psychologically unfounded and ethically precarious, as it can justify the absence of protective environments. In contrast, developmental psychology and theology converge to suggest that resilience arises from secure, beauty-filled, and purposeful environments.

This shouldn’t be surprising, as such truths align with theological reflection; beauty has, after all, been described as that which reveals truth and goodness in a form that captivates and transforms (von Balthasar, 1982/1990). N. T. Wright (2008) emphasizes Christian hope as rooted in the resurrection of Christ (1 Cor 15), insisting that this eschatological vision empowers present endurance without glorifying suffering. Similarly, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1937/1995) describes Christian community as a protective environment where truth and grace are embodied together, invoking Psalm 133’s vision of the goodness and beauty of brothers dwelling in unity.

When children are immersed in safety, hope, and experiences of beauty, whether in nature, worship, or loving community, their “cups” are filled. Their minds are trained to recognize truth, and their spirits are fortified with courage. Thus, when hardships inevitably come, they are equipped not by prior wounds (often leading to false belief systems, conditioning, and limbic responses) but by stored resources of joy, faith, and belonging. In this framework, resilience is not the scar tissue of trauma but the fruit of abundance; not the endurance of fracture, but the overflow of beauty that allows individuals to meet adversity with valor.

References

Aggarwal, S., MacBeth, A., & Rowe, S. (2023). Religiosity and spirituality in the prevention and management of depression and anxiety in young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry, 23, 627. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-05091-2

Bonhoeffer, D. (1995). Life together (J. W. Doberstein, Trans.). HarperOne. (Original work published 1937)

Baxter, M. A., Hemming, E. J., & McIntosh, H. (2017). Exploring the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and hope. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 26(2), 134–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2017.1365319

Edmondson, A. C., & Lei, Z. (2014). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 23–43. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091305

Figley, C. R. (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. Brunner/Mazel.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218

Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), 1367–1377. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2004.1512

Herman, J. L. (2015). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence—from domestic abuse to political terror (Rev. ed.). Basic Books. (Original work published 1992)

Monroy, M., & Keltner, D. (2023). Awe as a pathway to mental and physical health. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(4), 822–842. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221094856

Perry, B. D., & Szalavitz, M. (2017). The boy who was raised as a dog: And other stories from a child psychiatrist’s notebook (Rev. and updated ed.). Basic Books.

Piff, P. K., Dietze, P., Feinberg, M., Stancato, D. M., & Keltner, D. (2015). Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(6), 883–899. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000018

Schwalm, F. D., Zandavalli, R. B., de Castro Filho, E. D., & Lucchetti, G. (2022). Is there a relationship between spirituality/religiosity and resilience? A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Journal of Health Psychology, 27(5), 1218–1232. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320984537

Seery, M. D. (2011). Resilience: A silver lining to experiencing adverse life events? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(6), 390–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721411424740

Seery, M. D., Holman, E. A., & Silver, R. C. (2010). Whatever does not kill us: Cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(6), 1025–1041. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021344

Sege, R., & Browne, C. H. (2017). Responding to ACEs with HOPE (Health Outcomes from Positive Experiences). Academic Pediatrics, 17(7S), S79–S85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2017.03.007

Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249–275. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1304_01

van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.

von Balthasar, H. U. (1990). The glory of the Lord: A theological aesthetics, Vol. 1: Seeing the form (J. Fessio & J. Riches, Trans.). Ignatius Press. (Original work published 1982)

Wright, N. T. (2008). Surprised by hope: Rethinking heaven, the resurrection, and the mission of the church. HarperOne.

Zhang, J. W., Piff, P. K., Iyer, R., Koleva, S., & Keltner, D. (2014). An occasion for unselfing: Beautiful nature leads to prosociality. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 37, 61–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.11.008