Why Spirituality?

[MattH]

I have at times thought of myself as a spiritual person, and while my inner journey hasn't changed all that much, my relationship to the word "spirituality" has. I don't really understand why we need it, and when I hear people define themselves as spiritual, It really doesn't seem to mean anything. It is akin to asking someone if they believe in God. Whether they answer "yes" or "no", doesn't really give an answer. The chances that they define "God" or "belief" the same way that I do are slim to none. The root word of spirituality is spirit, so wouldn't spirituality imply a belief in spirits? If so, what kind of spirits? Ghosts? I have come to think of the word "spirit" to be a representation of what I would call an emotional meme. A meme (in the sense that Dawkins defines it) is an idea that continues to propagate itself again and again through generations and cultures. A spirit, would be an emotional version of that, like, say, compassion, love, or generosity. It is not uncommon to hear someone say "In the spirit of generosity", or "In the spirit of compassion" Furthermore, we have various archetypal personifications of these spirits. Jesus, you could say, personifies the spirit of love, where Saint Nicholas personifies the spirit of generosity, and where The Buddha personifies the spirit of happiness, and so on.

Mystical seems to be a better word for what I think people are referring to when they talk about "spirituality". The root word of mystical is mystery. Success, in any sense of the word, be it monetary, personal, or otherwise, is truly the mystery. Failure is easy to define, success is not. When people are continually pushing their boundaries, and living at the edge of their knowledge, and at the edge of their potential, they are more likely to have "mystical" experiences, in that they are always peering off into the mystery, and welcoming some part of it into their lives to add to their successes.

At any rate, this is my basic thinking on the matter, I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts. How do you define spirituality and mysticism?

~Matt

 

[sLiPpY]

A decade ago, I might have had a societally programmed answer for the question...

Today, even atheism could be described as a form of spirituality.

During the pre-Christian period in Europe; there were common threads shared by indigenous peoples around the globe. Aspects that Judaism also reflected in their descriptions of their sky/mountain gods, sacred trees, etc.

People would simply describe those aspects as being "our ways." Primarily oral traditions, stories that would describe the human experience and encounters with nature, in the form of archetypes, and symbols. The variations between groups, primarily had to do with the locality/climate.

For example in the alps, the nature symbol of the bear, associated with a goddess, agricultural and child fertility is the only archetypal concept surviving. As with any religion that leaves it's "indigenous" home; aspects of the pre-existing culture are woven in and preserved. Although the Christians more often than not, attempted to erase and/or destroy indigenous European spirituality and culture. Aspects of "paganism" are almost always preserved where-ever it goes.

Today, spirituality can mean a lot of differing things, as you'd pointed out to varying people. Ancestral DNA memory has a few studies that point to the plausibility of the concept. 'Memories' pass between generations - BBC News

The idea of "pilgrimage" or visiting a sacred space is a common concept across many cultures. Most interesting are hearing the stories of others who made the journey to where their ancestors were of, many generations ago... I'd describe the way they light up in speaking of something as having a "switched on" quality; something that expanded their spirit, encountering the familiarity of land, space...and sometimes people.

 

[MattH]

That article is a fascinating read, thanks for sharing. I might be doing my thesis next year on the intersection of psycho-biological make-up and environment, tailored specifically to middle school students. This is very timely . You mentioned the "switched on" quality that someone gets when speaking about a pilgrimage to their ancestors' sacred spaces. It seems you are using the word spirit to define a general feeling of being intimately connected with something infinitely larger and deeper than the individual self. That makes sense, and realistically, I think that we are all limited in our use of language to describe such things. That is probably why words like spirituality are used to describe so many different things. It would be really interesting to see if there was any research done on how "switched on" experiences like that can alter DNA. In therapy alone, cleaning up old baggage can produce the same "switched on" feeling as you begin to realize that you don't have to carry it around any more, and that you have a lot more "space" available to fill yourself up with other, more beneficial beliefs about yourself.

 

[sLiPpY]

Sounds you've a potentially fun, and innovative topic under consideration. Years ago, I wrote a final paper for a Sociological research class, that dealt with Genetic Proximity and ESP/Telepathy. There wasn't much peer reviewed material out there to chose from, but it was enough to make for an interesting paper. My own survey sample of 250 seemed to match up well with what could be reasonably inferred from the GSS.

Wasn't my Major, but heard the department staff passed it around...for something a little different to read from the typical fare. Felt like it was a potentially risky topic to select, but the one research paper I found most satisfying out of all. Basis of my own interest was reading the Roman descriptions of how the Teutonic peoples, could seemingly communicate across miles by what implied telepathy, along with being fascinated by a Canadian study I'd read online of a similar theme.

 

[Typh0n]

How do you define spirituality and mysticism?

Yeah, words tend to lose meaning when beaten to death. The word "spirituality" is like that. It has ceased to mean anything profound, to me at least. I keep hearing it used in the sense of "spiritual but not religious", so as a contrast to organized religion. "Spiritual but not religious" I understand to mean people who seek meaning beyond material existence but are not affiliated with an organized religion.

I understand "spirit" to mean the mind. I don't see mind as merely a natural phenomenon (as in simply being brain activity) but something which exists on its own. The question of whether our consciousness could continue to exist without the brain though, is another matter. I'm just saying it is not the brain.

Actually, mysticism is kinda dissapointing since it is not about mystery, but about the mystical. I understand the mystical to mean convergence, like the perception that "everything is one" or some such nonsense. Not necessarily mystery or the mysterious, just another New Age sugarcoating of potential experience, experience which is vast and not summed up by "the oneness of all things".

 

[Lark]

I have at times thought of myself as a spiritual person, and while my inner journey hasn't changed all that much, my relationship to the word "spirituality" has. I don't really understand why we need it, and when I hear people define themselves as spiritual, It really doesn't seem to mean anything. It is akin to asking someone if they believe in God. Whether they answer "yes" or "no", doesn't really give an answer. The chances that they define "God" or "belief" the same way that I do are slim to none. The root word of spirituality is spirit, so wouldn't spirituality imply a belief in spirits? If so, what kind of spirits? Ghosts? I have come to think of the word "spirit" to be a representation of what I would call an emotional meme. A meme (in the sense that Dawkins defines it) is an idea that continues to propagate itself again and again through generations and cultures. A spirit, would be an emotional version of that, like, say, compassion, love, or generosity. It is not uncommon to hear someone say "In the spirit of generosity", or "In the spirit of compassion" Furthermore, we have various archetypal personifications of these spirits. Jesus, you could say, personifies the spirit of love, where Saint Nicholas personifies the spirit of generosity, and where The Buddha personifies the spirit of happiness, and so on.

Mystical seems to be a better word for what I think people are talking about when they talk about "spirituality". The root word of mystical is mystery. Success, in any sense of the word, be it monetary, personal, or otherwise, is truly the mystery. Failure is easy to define, success is not. When people are continually pushing their boundaries, and living at the edge of their knowledge, and at the edge of their potential, they are more likely to have "mystical" experiences, in that they are always peering off into the mystery, and welcoming some part of it into their lives to add to their successes.

At any rate, this is my basic thinking on the matter, I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts. How do you define spirituality and mysticism?

~Matt

Spirituality has just been a word used as distinct from or to distinguish something from traditional religion or religosity as I understand it.

Why do people do it? They're deeply and seriously alienated by all things religious or traditional, mostly and mainly because those things have been monopolised by assholes and everyone has let them be monopolised that way and hasnt resisted it and has pretty much respected their claim instead of challenging it. Probably because they were never part of those traditions or had any ownership or relationship to it to speak of.

Psyche used to mean spirit too, or rather soul, which is kind of cool when your realise that one meaning of psychology could be soul science. Anyway, that's the way language gets abused or the original meanings become detached from what the words are. Marriage is another good example. It used to mean a relationship between a man and woman. Now it means whatever you want it to. Its the law.

I'm pretty sure no one suffers when words and language are totally debased like that. No one has written about it being an issue. Oh wait.