Spirituality

[Lightkeeper]

What is your deifinition of spirituality?

If one does not believe there is a divine essence in all things, can they still be spiritual?

[arthra]

Mmmm.. a definition of spirituality?

I dislike the definitions of spirituality related to the "church" as I see spiirtuality beyond the confines of church.. but here is one I found:

The quality or state of being spiritual;
incorporeality;
heavenly-mindedness.

This one from wikipedia is alright:

A perceived sense of connection forms a central defining characteristic of spirituality — connection to a metaphysical reality greater than oneself, which may include an emotional experience of religious awe and reverence, or such states as satori or Nirvana.

Here's an example of the use of the word spirtuality by Abdul-Baha that I like:

"It is the springtime of the inner world. After the spring, summer comes with its fullness and fruitage spiritual; autumn follows with its withering winds which chill the soul; the Sun seems to be going away until at last the mantle of winter overspreads and only faint traces of the effulgence of that divine Sun remain. Just as the surface of the material world becomes dark and dreary, the soil dormant, the trees naked and bare and no beauty or freshness remain to cheer the darkness and desolation, so the winter of the spiritual cycle witnesses the death and disappearance of divine growth and extinction of the light and love of God. But again the cycle begins and a new springtime appears. In it the former springtime has returned, the world is resuscitated, illumined and attains spirituality"

[Fahad1]

It is not easy to define spirituality just as it is not easy to define kindness,justice and some other stuff.

Spirituality according to my understanding and knowledge is a metaphysical aspect of a creature which changes the outlook of a person in life.

Islam encourages a person to develope his or her spirituality because this stage of life helps you understand the facts and figures that ordinary people cannot understand.

[Fahad1]

A spiritual person can come in close contact with God .

[shaw-n]

I realised some time ago that us humans in our daily experience, talk about the spirit world or outer space as out there somewhere.

We are in space, we don't need to go in a rocket to be "out there" .
The earth is going around the sun and the sun is going around the galaxy etc., so in a true sense we are already on our space ship.

It's just our perception and consensus reality where we fool ourselves collectively into believing everyday things are mundane and special things are somewhere else or someone else or some other entity.

Similarly some people talk about a spirit world and connecting to it, but i think the truth is we are already in spirit.

Our focus of attention just happens to be conciously with this three dimensional experience which is fine in itself as it is part of the spirit world.

We are not disconnected so the question of do we have to be "spiritual" is a funny one as we cannot help but be spiritual, as it's our very essence and we manifest every moment.
It's like asking a question does 4 have to be a number to be in an equation.

Us humans are funny with our perceptions.
We play hide and seek with our real self , just because we can.

[angeleyes]

Originally Posted by Lightkeeper

If one does not believe there is a divine essence in all things, can they still be spiritual?

I think this is a hard question to answer. One the one hand, I agree with shaw-n that our essence is spirit. One the other hand, for those who feel we're a product of our biology, and deny any reality beyond our "reality," I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing. But I like the concept anyway, because it's much more inclusive than religion could ever be.