What is spirituality?
“Unless our knowledge of the soul is rooted in personal experience, our abstract definitions simply hang in space, devoid of meaning and rooted in nothing” (David N. Elkins, 2005).
People tend to have fixed ideas about what spirituality is. Many think spirituality only means religion, or the beliefs of people who own crystal shops. Either/or understandings of spirituality are also common. For example – the way we position science and spirituality as two opposing sides. Or the idea you can be either spiritual or an atheist, but not both. There was international uproar when the Harvard Chaplains Organisation chose an atheist to lead them.
It's also common to feel an internal wall go up when we come across anything religious. And that would be understandable. The dogma of organised religion has much to answer for. You might feel this wall when you hear the word ‘God’. Or the wall could be about spirituality. Maybe you picture cult-leading, conspiracy theory grifters. Also understandable. Social media spirituality also has a lot to answer for.
But spirituality is not one set of beliefs. It is about how we experience life. It is any experience of value, depth, awe, peace and reverence. It is inward (how we feel inside) and outward (how we act). In spirituality we can find; a sense of identity, wellbeing, comfort, meaning and purpose. We can transcend our individual selves and connect to each other and to a larger whole. This is all possible even when you believe nothing happens after you die.
We know that spirituality has been foundational to ‘what it means to be human’ for millennia. Spiritual teachings vary across traditions and cultures but share a common goal. Spirituality guides us toward a deeper understanding of ourselves, our relationship with the universe, and our place in the world.
Mia Leijssen (Emeritus Professor in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Leuven, Belgium) says ‘The mystical can be considered a transformation from a limited ‘I-reality’ to the experience of a more encompassing reality. It considers that a personal experience of belonging to a greater whole is the most important experience. Since we live in a multicultural world, we are introduced to a multitude of representations of the ‘greater whole’. Terms such as: Soul, Ātman, Spirit, Tao, Buddha, Allah, Brahman, Yahweh, God, Goddess, Divine Essence, the Higher Self, Unity Consciousness, Love, (energy, nature) etc.’ In this definition you can find people from Indigenous or religious communities, to scientists, and even atheists. Humanists build meaningful, ethical lives that consider the greater whole without a belief in any god.
Spirituality cannot be contained to definitions or specific words. For one person spiritual or mystical experience might be when they gaze at stars, when they are in nature, or when they meet their newborn child. For another it might be when they are deep in mediation, or when they dance, or help someone in need. For others it might be when they take action to improve the world, when they are in church, or when they develop a mathematical proof. It might be all these things. There is no limit to spirituality.
Albert Einstein said about his own spirituality “the scientist's religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of (the scientist’s) life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire. It is beyond question closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages.” Einstein used the phrase ‘God's thoughts’ as a metaphor for the underlying order of the universe. For Einstein God was not a divine form of a person ‘out there’ but found in the structure of the universe itself. In this way he can be considered a Deist – someone with a natural theology (‘study of God’) where ‘God’ is revealed through nature. It can be argued that it was this mystical view that made Einstein such an extraordinary scientist.
In the quote Einstein suggests that the questions that ‘possessed’ him, were the same questions that consumed the prophets of all religions. But in contrast to Einstein, the prophets spoke of how that same concept of Oneness can inform our everyday lives. This can be seen in the common values we find in all major systems of meaning. Things like love, compassion, goodness, kindness, selflessness. Or forgiveness, gratitude, discipline, truth and justice. Or creativity, beauty in art or nature, mindfulness and contemplation.
Our individual spirituality is both extremely broad, and extremely personal. It includes any practice or belief that helps you live a connected, meaningful, peaceful and joyful life. Jo Philips (participant in the Existential Wellbeing Counselling course, KU Leuven University, 2011-2012) captured this when reflecting on her own spirituality, based on the Celtic tradition: “It is almost as if the inner and outer landscape, my soul and nature, are one and the same. The divine is therefore in me as well as around me. There is this inner core and this immeasurable wealth outside it. And perhaps they are identical? This greatly involves the experience in the moment, there here and now. Thus my bible is nature and my belief the (inner) experience of it, with a great many layers and symbols, in the here and now.”
Spirituality is about how we each uniquely choose to play the adventure of life.