Spirituality
Spirituality
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The spiritual and the religious
An important distinction needs to be made between spirituality in religion and spirituality as opposed to religion.In recent years, spirituality in religion often carries connotations of the believer's faith being more personal, less dogmatic, more open to new ideas and myriad influences, and more pluralistic than the faiths of established religions. It also can connote the nature of a believer's personal relationship with Deity, as opposed to the general relationship with Deity understood to be shared by all members of that faith.
Those who speak of spirituality as opposed to religion generally believe that there are many "spiritual paths" and that there is no Objective truth about which is the best path to follow. Rather, adherants of this definition of the term emphasize the importance of finding one's own path to Deity, rather than following what others say works. The best way to describe this view is a variation on Occam's Razor: The path which makes the most sense is the correct one (for oneself). Many adherents of orthodox religions who consider spirituality to be an aspect of their religious experience are more likely to contrast spirituality with secular "worldliness" than with the ritual expression of their religion.
Others of a more New Age disposition hold that spirituality is not religion, per se, but the active and vital connection to a force, spirit, or sense of the deep self.Directed spirituality
One aspect of 'Being spiritual' is goal-directed, with aims such as: simultaneously improve one's Wisdom and willpower, achieve a closer connection to Deity/the universe, and remove illusions or false ideas at the sensory, feeling and thinking aspects of a person. The 'Plato's cave' analogy in book VII of The Republic is one of the most well known descriptions of the spiritual development process, and thus, an excellent aid in understanding what "spiritual development" exactly entails.
Others say that spirituality is a two-stroke process: the "upward stroke" is inner growth, changing oneself as one changes his/her relationship with God, and the "downward stroke" is manifesting improvements in the physical reality around oneself as a result of the inward change.
Spirituality and personal well-being
Due to its broad scope and individual nature, spirituality is perhaps better understood by highlighting a number of key concepts that arise for people when asked to describe what spirituality means to them. Research by Martsolf & Mickley (1998) highlighted the following areas as worthy of consideration:- Meaning – significance of life; making sense of situations; deriving purpose.
- Transcendence – experience and appreciation of a dimension beyond self.
- Connecting – increased awareness of a connection with self, others, God/Spirit/Divine, and Nature.
- Becoming – an unfolding of life that demands reflection and experience; includes a sense of who one is and how one knows.
Spirituality, according to most adherants, is an essential part of an individual's Holistic health and well-being, by developing an awareness of a "transcendent dimension" to life.
The Spiritual and Science
Analysis of spiritual qualities in science is bedeviled by the imprecision of spiritual concepts, the subjectivity of spiritual experience, and the amount of work required to translate and map obsrvable components of a spiritual system into empirical evidence. Hackwrench 03:07, 6 November 2005 (UTC) Spiritual traditions and communities
See also
References
- Azeemi,K.S.Muraqaba: The Art and Science of Sufi Meditation. Houston: Plato, 2005.(ISBN 0975887548)
- Bolman, L. G., and Deal, T. E.
Leading With Soul. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995. - Borysenko, J.
A Woman's Journey to God. New York: Riverhead Books, 1999. - Cannon, K. G.
Katie's Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community. New York: Continuum, 1996. - Deloria, V., Jr.
God is Red. 2d Ed. Golden, Co: North American Press, 1992. - Dillard, C. B.; Abdur-Rashid, D.; and Tyson, C. A. "
My Soul is a Witness." International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 13, no. 5 (September 2000): 447-462. - Dirkx, J. M. "
Nurturing Soul in Adult Learning." in Transformative Learning in Action. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education No. 74, edited by P. Cranton, pp. 79-88. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997. - Eck, D.
A New Religious America. San Francisco: Harper, 2001. - Elkins D.N. et al (1998)Toward a humanistic-phenomenological spirituality: definition, description and measurement.
Journal of Humanistic Psychology 28(4), 5-18 - English, L., and Gillen, M., eds.
Addressing the Spiritual Dimensions of Adult Learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, No. 85. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. - Holtje, D. (1995).
From Light to Sound: The Spiritual Progression. Temecula, CA: MasterPath, Inc. ISBN 1885949006 - Martsolf D.S. & Mickley J.R. (1998) The concept of spirituality in nursing theories: differing world-views and extent of focus. Journal of Advanced Nursing 27, 294-303
External links
- LifeTheory.com: An online forum on life and spirituality
- Gnosticweb Providing Free Global Access to Spiritual Information.
- A new definition of spirituality
- AvatarSearch.com: A search engine for spiritual-related topics
- Kheper.net: An overview of everything spiritual
- International Association of Sufism
- Long Term (monthly) Private Spiritual Riverside Retreats
- Multi-faith Spirituality
- New Age Spirituality
- Science of Spirituality
- Spiritual Awakening and Spiritual Growth
- Spiritual Book Club
- Spiritual Cinema Circle
- Spiritual Forums
- Spiritual Purification and Wellness
- Spirituality and consciousness forum
- Spirituality and Rudraksha
- Spirituality begins where religion ends - Shri Ram Chandra Mission
- Spirituality in Adult and Higher Education
- Spiritual Dawn - Morality and Philosophy Essay
- Sufism -- Sufis -- Sufi Orders by Dr. Alan Godlas, University of Georgia
- SufiBlog Sufism online spiritual magazine of Sufi Meditation (Muraqaba) and Healing
- The Spiritual: Journal of Natural Spirituality An on-line resource of rare texts and reflections on natural spirituality, thoughtless-ness, egoless-ness and mind-brain duality.
- Spiritual Wisdom There is a universal spirituality which can be expressed in many ways, but this site uses the insights of Emanuel Swedenborg to help explain the meaning of our lives.
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