Spirituality

Spirituality is, in a narrow sense, a concern with matters of the spirit, however that may be defined; but it is also a wide term with many available readings. It may include belief in supernatural powers, as in religion, but the emphasis is on personal experience. It may be an expression for life perceived as higher, more complex or more integrated with one's worldview, as contrasted with the merely sensual.

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 God, 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 God, rather than following what others say works. The best way to describe this view is: 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. As cultural historian and yogi William Irwin Thompson put it, "Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization." (1981, 31)

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. Another connotation is that change will come onto itself with the realization that all is oneself; whereupon the divine inward manifests the diverse outward for experience and progress.

Spirituality and personal well-being
Spirituality, according to most adherants, is an essential part of an individual's holistic health and well-being.

Due to its broad scope and personal nature, however, spirituality can perhaps be better understood by highlighting key concepts that arise when people are asked to describe what spirituality means to them. Research by Martsolf and Mickley (1998) highlighted the following areas as worthy of consideration:


 * Meaning – significance of life; making sense of situations; deriving purpose.


 * Values – beliefs, standards and ethics that are cherished.


 * Transcendence – experience, awareness, and appreciation of a "transcendent dimension" to life 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.

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 observable components of a spiritual system into empirical evidence.

Spiritual traditions and communities

 * Bahá'í Faith
 * Buddhism, Jainism
 * Catholic Spirituality
 * Feminist spirituality
 * Gnosticism
 * Hinduism, Hare Krishna
 * Humanism
 * Islam, Sufism
 * Judaism, Kaballah
 * Neo-confucianism, Taoism
 * Paganism, Neopaganism, Modern Gallae
 * New Age, New Thought, Spiritualism, The Dances of Universal Peace
 * Shamanism
 * Sikhism
 * Subud
 * Surat Shabda Yoga
 * Unitarian Universalism