What exactly do you think is spirituality? Have you ever had any spiritual experience?
This description is one which resonates with me:
Spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater whole, of which we are a part is cosmic, or divine in nature. The shamans, healers, sages, and wisdom keepers of all time in their ageless wisdom say that human spirituality is composed of three aspects: relationships, values, and life purpose.
What do you mean by ‘something more to being human than sensory experience’? Can there be any evidential support for this?
The trouble with all my "spiritual" experiences is the lack of evidential support that they were anything other than emotions, dreams or coincidence.
Feel free to relate you experiences of spirituality.
Why is that trouble?
I'd have trouble attributing a verifiable supernatural force to the phenomena.
Use of the vernacular 'trouble', as you have coyly cajoled me to clarify, is intended to mean difficulty such as the ones you might encounter on sea-lioning adventures.
Spirituality is the emotion attached to events.
Yes, I'm having one now.
What's your perspective?
Spiritual is just an antique word for psychological. There’s a psychological aspect to every experience.
There’s no need to be afraid of words.
This word, or variations of it, are used daily without harm or fear of harm.
Team spirit.
In the spirit of cooperation.
A spirited debate.
The spirit of fair play.
Dispiriting experience.
Her spirits improving daily.
Holiday spirit.
Spirituality is just being mindful of how your attitudes and actions affect your own emotional buoyancy and that of those around you.
Religion, in turn, is whatever practice a person or group employs to manage and promote this kind of mindfulness.
In the examples you have given "Spirit" has an etymology derived from the Latin "Spero" meaning hope, whereas in the original post Spirituality has an etymological root in the Latin word "Spiro" the verb to breathe and by extension to live.
Hence the famous maxim
Dum spiro spero While there is life there is hope
@LenHazell53
Interesting story but I have not been able to verify. I would love to know if that is true. Do you know of a source that claims any meaning of the word “spirit” is from “spero”?
For me, there is no such thing. While I am constantly in awe of nature and experiences that I’ve never previously experienced, I’d define that as “emotionally moving”, not spirituality. What I hear “New Agers” say SEEMS to be just another kind of “religion” from my perspective.
Your views seem to be another definition of spirituality. Thanks.
Spiritual implies spirits exist. There is no evidence whatsoever they do, thus, I do not use the word or believe in the concept.
Spiritual is how people describe themselves when they think religion has a bad name and that is why I am not that but I am also not a denier of a higher being. I am in the middle which to me is - not here, not there. Also 'spiritual' sounds cool. Yeah, I am spiritual. Ask them to describe what 'spiritial' exactly means, you will get unintelligent and poor responses. This is very common in dating sites. Usually you'll get that from women because they don't want to sound dumb to men.
I think spiritual is a transitional phase until the world fully migrates to atheism and religion will be looked upon as a primitive belief that only ignorant people used to do in the old times.
In reality, there is no such thing as spirituality and anybody who says so does not know what they are talking about. It is an underdeveloped concept.
Well said. Thank you
To me a "spiritual" experience is anything that allows me to see a bigger picture than what is physically visible to me. Meaning maybe a poetic sentiment, or a symbolic gesture or artistic creation, or even a beautiful landscape, sea scape or glimpse of the night sky with billions of years worth of stars to help me get out of my own head.
Beautifully said. Thank you
Leave me a lone with a bottle of Napoleon Brandy and I'll show you a spirit-ual experience
So succinct an explanation with a tinge of humor. Thank you.