What is Spirituality?

WindSock

What would you define spirituality as, and would you say that you have it?

CerebralCortex

As Daniel C Dennett said everyone has a soul its just mechanical. Theists or believers in the supernatural would have you believe that the material and the spiritual are separate but if don't that has to be the case.

getz

i believe it is a holy person who i respected for his or her wisdom,dedication to their faith[spirituality]

Rev Hellfire

I think it can be applied in one of two manners. The first with has a direct connection to the supernatural (ie. the belief in the soul) and the second which can be connected to the first (though need not be) is a taking a philosophically reflective stance on yourself and your place in the scheme of things.

pH

Spiritual
What to call a belief that perhaps is not terribly plausible or even possible but makes people feel special and magical.
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/dictionary.php

Beruthiel

I would consider the writings of say, the Dalai Lama spiritual, you don't have to be religious to read or follow them.

Dades

Just FYI, see a previous disagreement on 'spirituality' here.

MrDaithi

WindSock wrote: »

What would you define spirituality as, and would you say that you have it?

Could be when you drink Spirits?

condra

I think spiritual experiences tend to deal with powerful human emotions and states, like wonder, awe, arousal, delusion, enlightenment, delirium, nostalgia, love, grief etc, to varying extents.

Some people find it in meditation. Some in nature. Others in fantasy.

I imagine ones "spiritual well being" is closely linked to ones general state of happyness, i.e. depressed people very often have delusions of impending doom, guilt, demons, etc, whereas the polar opposite is often referred to as "nirvana" or "inner peace".

As a fan of Maslows (somewhat outdated) Hierarchy Of Needs, I also think "spirituality", like philosophy, tends to be more relevant to people who are financially comfortable, although both make great distractions to those on the breadline.
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Beruthiel wrote: »

I would consider the writings of say, the Dalai Lama spiritual, you don't have to be religious to read or follow them.

I would consider them the dangerous ramblings of a deranged self-proclaimed spiritual leader, that nobody should read without due skepticism and inquiry.

Dave!

For me it's either (a) wishy washy 'i believe in an energy' stuff for people who don't want to say they're religious, or (b) a general 'connectedness' with or reverence for nature, ie. pantheism.

I wouldn't say I have either, though I do quite enjoy nature.

Obni

The misguided viewpoint, that declares that the merit of a belief depends more on the intensity and depth of conviction with which the belief is held, than on any mere evidence for said belief.

Furthermore, the conviction that somehow the elevation of an idea to the realms of the 'spiritual' places it beyond any requirement for mundane proof, while its location in the realms of the mystical simultaneously imbues the idea with additional merit. In reality, merit and elevation are not merely co-incidental; the act of promoting a belief to the spiritual is required in the absence of mundane proof to lend the idea (false) viability.

It is all too human a characteristic to convince ourselves that the intensity of our mental and emotional experiences is so great, that there must, as a consequence of such subjective experiences, be a manifestation of said experiences capable of objective comprehension. If the inevitable manifestation is not apparent in the physical realm, then there must be a realm where such manifestations reside. Otherwise, all my experiences are just internal sensations experienced by a sample of carbon-based life, on a small rock, in a vast disinterested universe.

Let's not forget that being spiritual somehow demonstrates your intellectual depth, by your admission that there are things that you can't explain because they are beyond all human understanding, rather than because they are beyond your personal understanding. If anyone objects that the attribute of spirituality is not exclusively applied to oneself as self-praise, then ask yourself the last time you heard it used negatively, by someone about themselves .

anti-venom

womoma wrote: »

I think spiritual experiences tend to deal with powerful human emotions and states, like wonder, awe, arousal, delusion, enlightenment, delirium, nostalgia, love, grief etc, to varying extents.

Some people find it in meditation. Some in nature. Others in fantasy.

I imagine ones "spiritual well being" is closely linked to ones general state of happyness, i.e. depressed people very often have delusions of impending doom, guilt, demons, etc, whereas the polar opposite is often referred to as "nirvana" or "inner peace".

That's pretty close to how I would define spirituality too. It seems to me to be a catchall word for the whole spectrum of human emotions. Anything that jolts us out of our emotional equilibrium, deviates from or transcends the norm, can be described as a spiritual experience.

WindSock

Does anyone here meditate?

Galvasean

WindSock wrote: »

Does anyone here meditate?

Sort of, but not in a religious sense.

Whispered

WindSock wrote: »

Does anyone here meditate?

Yes. But thats not religious.

Goduznt Xzst

WindSock wrote: »

Does anyone here meditate?

By meditate do you mean isolate myself in a quiet, peaceful environment, relax, and think deeply about my existence and what it all means? Yes, frequently, in fact I just came back from the toilet a few minutes ago.

WindSock

Not a religious thing no, but I would consider it spiritual in a sense that my mind goes off in a little journey to somewhere that I would find it hard to imagine otherwise.

Whispered

I think thats what meditation is whether or not you are religious. It's allowing yourself time to switch off. So, funny and all as you are Goduznt Xzst, technicially if you relax and allow your mind to wander in the bathroom then you are meditating

Then again I just equate meditation as allowing your mind to drift, so you know when you find yourself staring into space, I would consider that a form of meditation. So what I say probably doesn't count as I'm sure windsock, you meant proper meditation?