Definitions for Spirituality

At our Church we have been creating a new space for spiritual wellbeing of our community called the Spiritual Path to Awakening - SPA.  It is meant for folks uncomfortable with organized religion but searching for spiritual nurture.  We have many different programs.  On our webpage at www.abbyspa.com we use the language of the spiritual and many of the words we use might be ambiguous.  In order to facilitate the journey we are defining some of the terms we have used.  What follows in these posts are our working definitions.  They are not intended to pass the dictionary test rather they are definitions to help explain our work at the Spiritual Path to Awakening.

The first word is Spirituality

Spirituality

Spirituality has become a very broad term and includes many activities.  Once it might have included only the habits of some new age practitioner of eastern religious practices: Maybe meditation and yoga.  In recent years, the Spiritual but not religious descriptor has but become common among those seeking something more meaningful in their lives without the restrictions of organized religion.  To define Spirituality, tempts the exclusion and inclusion of particular behaviours and habits. This may not be helpful.

However, we need a starting point to frame our conversation.  There is a misnomer in saying spiritual but not religious. Religion is the collection of particular practices framed within a common set of beliefs.  Yet to take part in Spiritual practices, of for instance yoga, meditation, and many others is to participate in a chosen set of practices and these must be framed in a set of beliefs and values.  Thus, Spirituality in not some way in conflict or contrast to religion but perhaps a personalize expression of one’s religion.  Religion is a spiritual practice.

We are all beings of body, spirit and mind.  These three, and many other means of capturing the concept of being, do not exist as separate entities within us. We are body mind and spirit just as rock is hard, round and grey.  However, to describe a rock as grey and hard is to miss the essential characteristic of its’ roundness. Likewise, if we only accept our physical and intellectual interaction with the world we miss the essential nature of our beings as spirit.  

Spirituality is the practices, habits and thinking that acknowledges and nurture the wholeness of our being with particular focus on the non-physical and non-mental aspect.

Yet Spirituality cannot be separated from body and mind.  We are whole beings. Thus yoga, addresses both the physical wellbeing, the thinking process and the spiritual health. Creativity becomes an valuable spiritual practice.  Learnings that addresses the wholeness of being, addresses injustice, addresses meaning, are all important paths to spiritual health.  Spirituality is board and must be to offer a path to awakening for our whole and true beings. 

With this working definition, the Spiritual Path to Awakening (SPA) openly offers many different means and ways to spiritual wellbeing. 

Prepared by Bill Booth