What is Spirituality?

[Cochrane]

The current Science vs. Religion (http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthread.php?t=189313) thread includes not only religion, but spirituality, and I know many people make a distinction between religion and spirituality. That raises a problem: What is spirituality? I have no real clue. Wikipedia says:

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality;[1] an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.”[2]
which is too vague to be a useful answer; I also get the impression that spirituality means something different for every person.

So: What is spirituality to you?

[Avalon SARL]

I really don' know, but I can tel what I think.

Being a religious person with a very deep faith and love to GOD, my spirituality comes from love to my religion.

Spirituality is to be aware of how things happen around you and why they really happen. It is having an insight about everything around you and eventually have some sort of sense on why a certain event is taking place; why someone is crying and why some horrible incident or misfortune happened to someone else instead of giving COINCIDENCE as a solution.

It may also be related to your feelings, and finding peace and happiness regardless from all the misfortunes that may happen to you.

Sometimes I can also be aware of certain events that are going to happen later and make a decision based on that

At least that is how I see it.
Hope I made any sense :)

[Ikas90]

The problem with religion is that it is a structured belief system, specifically made for other people to follow. Religion can contain a lot of stories that I believe are misleading. When people start telling you to follow their faith because it's the only "correct" one, I know they are full of it. The worst thing about it, is it instills fear into other people to pressure them into following it.

Spirituality focuses more on your inner self. It's being able to clear your mind and see the world from an unbiased point of view. It's about getting rid of your ego. It's about finding yourself on your own, and finding out your own meaning to life. Your belief doesn't hold much value if it was forced upon you. True believers make the effort to search for meaning themselves.

It's nothing you can really understand properly until you've been on that path yourself.

What Buddha said, and I agree with:

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."

I've explained it in another thread too:

Religion

Religion is something that's external. It's nothing but a structured set of belief systems. It's a constitution, like any other, that can be abused and used to control the masses. It is there for people who don't allow themselves to question or think for themselves, sticking to only one avenue. They are not searchers for the truth, whatever that may be. They don't even try. They just stick to what they were raised to believe in. I would sooner think that if there is a God, he would prefer us to be more open-minded and question ourselves, rather than simply rely on an external source that they were told to abide by by their parents.

Spirituality

Spirituality is something that's internal. It's more about yourself and your own beliefs on the meaning of your life, who you are, and why you live this life. You can believe in a God. You can be a free-spirited free-thinker. It's much more about self-awareness, where you can be aware of your karma and how you live your life, as well as self-acceptance, where your ego is removed and you're able to look at yourself from a completely unbiased perspective.

Life is a journey, not a destination. That's according to spirituality. To religion, it's the other way around, where life is about reaching a destination. I think if you treat it that way, you will be constantly chasing something and that will never end, nor get you anywhere.

[Avalon SARL]

I am sorry but whoever put that identification for Religion knows nothing probably about Religion, because Islam you have to think and question everything, even GOD himself ;)

[patriots88888]

What is spirituality to you?

That would be my personal relationship with my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Hope that isn't too vague for you because I don't know of any better way of conveying my thoughts/feelings on it.

[tampi]

I believe that anyone who can think within her/himself, is a spiritual person.
Then there is the degree of inner thought that that person is able to reach or like to achieve or whatever.
Everyone has their own spirituality. Each devotes that part of life to fill it up with some or other ideas and with a determined(particular) level of thinking.

[Cochrane]

I really don' know, but I can tel what I think.

Being a religious person with a very deep faith and love to GOD, my spirituality comes from love to my religion.

Spirituality is to be aware of how things happen around you and why they really happen. It is having an insight about everything around you and eventually have some sort of sense on why a certain event is taking place; why someone is crying and why some horrible incident or misfortune happened to someone else instead of giving COINCIDENCE as a solution.

It may also be related to your feelings, and finding peace and happiness regardless from all the misfortunes that may happen to you.

Sometimes I can also be aware of certain events that are going to happen later and make a decision based on that

At least that is how I see it.
Hope I made any sense :)
Yes, it made!

The problem with religion is that it is a structured belief system, specifically made for other people to follow. Religion can contain a lot of stories that I believe are misleading. When people start telling you to follow their faith because it's the only "correct" one, I know they are full of it. The worst thing about it, is it instills fear into other people to pressure them into following it.

Spirituality focuses more on your inner self. It's being able to clear your mind and see the world from an unbiased point of view. It's about getting rid of your ego. It's about finding yourself on your own, and finding out your own meaning to life. Your belief doesn't hold much value if it was forced upon you. True believers make the effort to search for meaning themselves.

It's nothing you can really understand properly until you've been on that path yourself.

What Buddha said, and I agree with:

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."

I've explained it in another thread too:
So basically, spirituality is a sort of belief system or faith, but an internal one that others do not (necessarily) share?

That would be my personal relationship with my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Hope that isn't too vague for you because I don't know of any better way of conveying my thoughts/feelings on it.
I think that kind of spirituality is easy to understand; I'm in particular wondering about the people who say that spirituality is (for them) something different from religion or religious faith.

I believe that anyone who can think within her/himself, is a spiritual person.
Then there is the degree of inner thought that that person is able to reach or like to achieve or whatever.
Everyone has their own spirituality. Each devotes that part of life to fill it up with some or other ideas and with a determined(particular) level of thinking.
That sounds similar to what Ikas said, isn't it?

[tampi]

That sounds similar to what Ikas said, isn't it?

Quite similar. Yes.
On issues like this, I tend to be close enough to the thoughts of Ikas, yes.

[t-raider26]

Spirituality is when you can, like, see ghosts and stuff.
I'm kidding. But this girl in my class answered with that when my teacher asked this question. :pi:

[Ikas90]

I am sorry but whoever put that identification for Religion knows nothing probably about Religion, because Islam you have to think and question everything, even GOD himself ;)

My bad. What I meant was there are many people who don't even so much as question their faith, they just accept it without thinking it over. If you do that, your belief has no value. Religion is fine, but there are lines to cross when it comes to irrational thinking.

So basically, spirituality is a sort of belief system or faith, but an internal one that others do not (necessarily) share?

It's not really a belief 'system' at all, it's a divine connection with which anyone can tune into. No mystical godly figures or stereotypes of God, just a divine connection with the most direct source; your consciousness and nature. Of course, I believe consciousness is a lot more than just synapses firing in your brain, and that's where spirituality or pretty much any religion can come in. Spirituality is about being able to let go and free your mind entirely from any bias. Religion isn't necessary. Religion doesn't even need to exist; you can always be spiritual, with or without religion ever being known to man.

[Avalon SARL]

My bad. What I meant was there are many people who don't even so much as question their faith, they just accept it without thinking it over. If you do that, your belief has no value. Religion is fine, but there are lines to cross when it comes to irrational thinking.



It is he problem with the people and not the religion;

Reviewing Quran, When God is talking about a certain thing, He never told you Do this and that as an order.

Review the Book and You will say the verses (ayat) start with certain words linked to enticing you to think on your own and make your own conclusion about a certain thing.

The ayat may begin with: Read, re-think, revalue, evaluate, gaze, look, ask, seek etc...

That is why I don;t consider my Religion and spirituality to be different from each other.

They are both constituents of my relation with God

[Blackmoor]

For me, spirituality is about your "soul" or "spirit", as opposed to the physical world.

Some people believe in it and others don't.

All sorts of "stories" are told around the nature of the soul and its purpose, and some of them become officialised (Religions) with many believers.

[Tyrannosaurus]

I think that kind of spirituality is easy to understand; I'm in particular wondering about the people who say that spirituality is (for them) something different from religion or religious faith. I think this is one occasion where the dictionary might be more useful than Wikipedia:


Definition of SPIRITUALITY

1: something that in ecclesiastical law belongs to the church or to a cleric as such

2: clergy

3: sensitivity or attachment to religious values

4: the quality or state of being spiritual

And the definition of Spiritual is as follows:

1: of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit : incorporeal <spiritual needs>

2 a : of or relating to sacred matters <spiritual songs> b : ecclesiastical rather than lay or temporal <spiritual authority> <lords spiritual>

3: concerned with religious values

4: related or joined in spirit <our spiritual home> <his spiritual heir>

5a : of or relating to supernatural beings or phenomena b : of, relating to, or involving spiritualism : spiritualistic

Defintion 1, of course, requires us to look up the word spirit, but I'm assuming you have a clear idea of what that means, whether you believe such things exist or not. 2 and 3 are obviously within the realm of religious thought, but do not necessarily require adherence to a specific religious belief system. 4 is obviously not the context about which you're inquiring, and 5 is a bit too specific.

So there is an obvious link between religion and spirituality. And there is a correlation with morality as well, though they are not dependent. When people say they are "spiritual, but not religious", and then profess to have no belief whatsoever in God, the supernatural, the afterlife, the soul, karma, or in any reality outside of the physical world, I cringe. Yes, I totally believe that they are good and deep and moral and questioning people who make the world a better place. But they cannot by any stretch be described as "spiritual".

I believe that anyone who can think within her/himself, is a spiritual person.
Then there is the degree of inner thought that that person is able to reach or like to achieve or whatever.
Everyone has their own spirituality. Each devotes that part of life to fill it up with some or other ideas and with a determined(particular) level of thinking. Waaaaay too broad. An obese man who worships food is the opposite of spiritual, as is a businessman who worships money. Once men tear down their old gods, they will quickly erect new ones in their place, and sometimes they are all the worse for it.


It's not really a belief 'system' at all, it's a divine connection with which anyone can tune into. No mystical godly figures or stereotypes of God, just a divine connection with the most direct source; your consciousness and nature. Of course, I believe consciousness is a lot more than just synapses firing in your brain, and that's where spirituality or pretty much any religion can come in. Spirituality is about being able to let go and free your mind entirely from any bias. Religion isn't necessary. Religion doesn't even need to exist; you can always be spiritual, with or without religion ever being known to man.

It's futile if you think about it. Religions never would have started if the individuals of the tribe didn't have collected beliefs and folk traditions to share anyway. What religions do is develop and properly order these beliefs. Why toss aside millennia of rich tradition and the carefully cultivated contemplation of the divine in order to revert back to stone-age 'lone ranger' sort of spirituality?

When people speak of the benefits of spirituality without the confines of religion, my impression is usually (though not from you specifically) of a strange and shallow sanctimoniousness. But the failure of religion in the modern world (or the failure of the modern world to properly align itself to religious values) can have this effect, and it is good that these people are at least aware that the material world does not alone satisfy their deepest yearnings.

That is why I don;t consider my Religion and spirituality to be different from each other.

They are both constituents of my relation with God Well said.

[Ikas90]

It's futile if you think about it. Religions never would have started if the individuals of the tribe didn't have collected beliefs and folk traditions to share anyway. What religions do is develop and properly order these beliefs. Why toss aside millennia of rich tradition and the carefully cultivated contemplation of the divine in order to revert back to stone-age 'lone ranger' sort of spirituality?

When people speak of the benefits of spirituality without the confines of religion, my impression is usually (though not from you specifically) of a strange and shallow sanctimoniousness. But the failure of religion in the modern world (or the failure of the modern world to properly align itself to religious values) can have this effect, and it is good that these people are at least aware that the material world does not alone satisfy their deepest yearnings.

Of course it's fine for people to develop some kind of culture through spirituality, as that's the way it evolves, as people share ideas, but you still need to be aware of when something seems out of place. Rational thinking, regardless of religion, is what makes you a true human being. If religion tells you you're going to go to hell for doing a certain something, you need to stop and truly think about it, with your heart, from the perspective of the universe, if it is something that sounds truly rational. I think you pay exactly what you owe; the universe wastes nothing. That's the problem I have with religion. The punishments don't fit the crime. I don't need a religion to tell me what is right and wrong; it's something I should know in my heart (the spiritual approach).

Spirituality is along the path of sheer acceptance and understanding. It's fitting yourself into the world, understanding your role, being a good noble person, and treating other people good, purely because it's good to treat them good, and not expecting a reward for it. The way I see it is that certain religions teach it wrong. Ultimately I don't think they ever teach you true enlightenment, nor elevate your level of consciousness, at least from my experience.