mathoda.com

People often say they are spiritual, but what do they mean when they say it? I’m sure the definition varies from person to person (and even within a person; we’re so full of contradictions). Leigh Schmidt has written an essay describing some of the general attributes Americans give to spirituality. The essay says the main attributes are:

• a yearning for mystical experience or epiphanic awareness
• a valuing of silence, solitude, and sustained meditation
• a yearning for mystical experience or epiphanic awarenessa valuing of silence, solitude, and sustained meditation
• a belief in the immanence of the divine in nature and attunement to that presence
• a cosmopolitan appreciation of religious variety, along with a search for unity in diversity
• an ethical earnestness in pursuit of justice-producing, progressive reforms
• an emphasis on self-cultivation, artistic creativity, and adventuresome seeking

Personally, I’d say I tend to approach the world with:

• a yearning for wondrous experiences and truer awareness of the world about me
• a valuing of silence and solitude, and my curiosity
• a yearning to delve the complexity and simplicity of nature and attunement to that
• an appreciation of other’s beliefs, along with an appreciation of how similar and dissimilar such beliefs are
• a desire to not cause harm, and to help
• an emphasis on self-cultivation, artistic creativity, and adventuresome seeking

So, am I spiritual?

NPR has an interesting series of essays where people have written about their beliefs. Check it out here.

The essays can be starkly different.

For example, here’s one on relying on faith to bring hope in a dark time, and here’s one on the positive ramifications of being an atheist.