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Spirituality
by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality
Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. The spiritual, involving (as it may) perceived non-physical eternal verities (or even abilities) involving humankind's ultimate nature, often contrasts with the earthly, with the material, or with the worldly. A perceived sense of connection forms a central defining characteristic of spirituality — connection to a metaphysical reality greater than oneself, which may include an emotional experience of religious awe and reverence, or such states as satori or Nirvana. Equally importantly, spirituality relates to matters of sanity and of psychological health. Like some forms of religion, spirituality often focuses on personal experience (see mysticism) and prayer.
Spirituality may involve perceiving or wishing to perceive life as more important ("higher"), more complex or more integrated with one's world view; as contrasted with the merely sensual.
Many spiritual traditions, accordingly, share a common spiritual theme: the "path", "work", practice, or tradition of perceiving and internalizing one's "true" nature and relationship to the rest of existence (God, creation (the universe), or life), and of becoming free of the lesser egoic self (or ego) in favor of being more fully one's "true" "Self".
Scoping the idea of spirituality
Some traditions define spirituality as that which pertains to the self or soul.
Certain forms of spirituality can appear more like philosophy: note in particular the scope of metaphysics. And Ursula King writes: "... spirituality is now understood anthropologically as an exploration into what is involved in becoming fully human".
Due to the broad scope and personal nature of spirituality as a term in various usages, however, one can perhaps gain an overview of the field by focusing on key concepts that arise when people describe what spirituality means to them. Research by Martsolf and Mickley2 highlighted the following areas as worthy of consideration:
Meaning – significance of life; making sense of situations; deriving purpose.
Values – beliefs, standards and ethics that one cherishes.
Transcendence – experience, awareness, and appreciation of a "transcendent dimension" to life beyond self.
Connecting – increased awareness of a connection with self, others, God/Spirit/Divinity, and nature/Nature.
Becoming – an unfolding of life that calls for reflection and experience; including a sense of who one "is" and how one knows.
The American magazine What is Enlightenment?, in its tenth anniversary issue, published an article which drew a distinction between what it called "feel good" or "translational" spirituality, and "transformational" spirituality, the former covering essentially the practices whereby a person feels better or changes approach, without in fact enhancing personal underlying spiritual centering (or ego-related viewpoint).
Osho, a controversial Indian teacher, comments of spiritual teachers that "out of one hundred masters, there is only one Master, ninety-nine are only teachers. The teacher is necessarily learned, the Master ... it is not a necessity... The Master is a rebel. He lives out of his own being, he is spontaneous, not traditional..."3
The spiritual and the religious
An important distinction exists between spirituality in religion and spirituality as opposed to religion.
In recent years, spirituality in religion often carries connotations of a believer having a faith more personal, less dogmatic, more open to new ideas and myriad influences, and more pluralistic than the doctrinal/dogmatic faiths of mature religions. It also can connote the nature of believers' personal relationship or "connection" with their god(s) or belief-system(s), as opposed to the general relationship with a Deity as shared by all members of a given faith.
Those who speak of spirituality as opposed to religion generally meta-religiously believe in the existence of many "spiritual paths" and deny any objective truth about the best path to follow. Rather, adherents of this definition of the term emphasize the importance of finding one's own path to whatever-god-there-is, rather than following what others say works. In summary: the path which makes the most coherent sense becomes the correct one (for oneself).
Many adherents of orthodox religions who regard spirituality as an aspect of their religious experience tend to contrast spirituality with secular "worldliness" rather than with the ritual expression of their religion.
People of a more New-Age disposition tend to regard spirituality not as religion per se, but as the active and vital connection to a force/power/energy, spirit, or sense of the deep self. As cultural historian and yogi William Irwin Thompson (1938 - ) put it, "Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization." (1981, 103)
For a religious parallel to the approach whereby some see spirituality in everything, compare pantheism.
To Christians, referring to one's self as "more spiritual than religious" implies relative deprecation of rules, rituals, and tradition while preferring an intimate relationship with God and/or talking to Him as one's best friend. Christians with such views usually belong to a non-denominational church.
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