Facts on Spirituality

 


Spirituality as a word defined from the dictionary means the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.

Generally, it referrers to a religious process of re-formation, aims to recover the original shape of a man. It has been developed and expanded over time from ancient ages till recent days and it differs from belief to another.

In the other side, it is often misunderstood and people mixed between Religion and spirituality and so they bring their beliefs and prejudices about religion to discussions about spirituality.

Though all religions it is clear that spirituality is a part of faith you can be spiritual without being religious or following some religious beliefs.

Therefore, Religion is a specific set of beliefs and practices shared by some group of people while Spirituality is the sense of peace and purpose, developing beliefs around the meaning of life and it is more than individual practice without set any spiritual values.

However, there is no single widely agreed definition for this term. It exists many definitions according to the one who named it.

 

Beginning of the Term

Christianity used early this word to refer to a life oriented to the “Holy Spirit”, first found in the Late Middle Ages to include mental aspects of life as opposite to the sensual and materials of life.

Alternatively, with ascending centuries, Spirituality changed from meaning to another. In the 13th century it acquired a social and a psychological meaning. Therefore, in the 17th and 18th the idea totally got another shape and there was a distinction between higher and lower forms of Spirituality.

Finally, they agreed on “a spiritual man is one who is Christian 'more abundantly and deeper than others.”

Coming to the 19th and 20th centuries, Spirituality became abundant from ancient traditional religious after it was mixed between Western tradition and Asian elements especially Indian.

And sometimes it associated with psychological, social and political movements such as Liberalism and feminist theology.


Traditional Spirituality



Catholic Christianity is the spiritual practice of living out of act of faith following the acceptance of faith. They developed many private prayers over the centuries when they took a way of approaching to God.

Islam announced the word Jihad that describes the inner spiritual struggle and an outer physical struggle where the "greater jihad" is the inner struggle by a believer to fulfill his religious duties.

Sufism which is the best-known form of Islamic mystic spirituality in which Sheikh transmits spiritual discipline to students. Worship and serve Allah as you are seeing Him and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you.

Buddhism practices are known as Bhavana, which literally means "development" or "cultivating” or "producing"in the sense of "calling into existence.

Hinduism has no traditional ecclesiastical order, no centralized religious authorities, no governing body, no prophet(s) nor any binding holy book. Spirituality according to them is the journey towards Moksha which means awareness of self, true nature of reality and the discovery of higher truths.

Modern Spirituality is taken as donating the existence of unseen/the life-giving forces, it centers on the "deepest values and meanings by which people live"

 

Spiritual Practices

Psychological practices such as meditation where the soul, body and mind work aim together to the calmness.

Social practices which include the practice of obedience and communal ownership, reforming ego-orientation into other-orientation.

Somatic practices in other meaning deprivation and diminishment. It is achieved while practicing Fasting.

Spiritual practices that aim to purify the ego-centeredness and direct the abilities towards the divine reality. Examples love and compassion, mindfulness prayer, contemplation of religious texts and ethical development.

 

More and More Facts

It is identified four boards of spirituality which are the Ascetical, the abstinence from sensual pleasures often for the purpose of spiritual goals.

The mystical, is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute.

The Active-practical is about applying our spirituality to our daily lives. It's about how you can experience more joy and peace of mind.

The Prophetic-practical is a way of being religious imbued with a burning concern for social justice and the improvement of flawed social institutions.

Furthermore, Spirituality can be Secular which appears in non-religious contexts. It emphasizes the personal growth and inner peace of the individual, rather than a relationship with the divine.

The “Secular Saint” is a term referred to someone who is respected for a noble cause but not recognized as Saint by a religion. A king or a leader can be a secular saint for example Mohandas Gandhi

The different types foster self-transcendence and transformation via a movement away from what they see as ‘inauthentic’ towards the authentic. They answer where transformation is taken place, how (practices and ways of life) and what the ultimate purpose of transformation (human destiny).

The collection of values, beliefs, knowledge and dispositions that drive societal, organizational and interpersonal behavior is called the “Spiritual Capital”.

The origins of this concept can be traced to fundamental ideas in philosophy, economics, sociology, theology and increasingly in current leadership and management literature. 

Practicing Spirituality include various styles of meditation and contemplation, artistic practices, going away on solitary retreats, or undertaking a pilgrimage to a religious shrine or place of religious power.

These practices are regular and disciplined activities related to spiritual development. They clearly involve a degree of self-sacrifice in that it means setting aside time and energy which might have been given to more immediately pleasurable activities.


Spiritual Intelligence is a term defined by some philosophers, psychologists and development theorists to indicate spiritual parallel to IQ which also include some underlying principles such as self-awareness, spontaneity, Holism, compassion, humility and others.

Spirituality organized your role in life, bring calmness and peace and it can relieve you from material world toward greater purposes that will help you reach high levels of mindfulness.

It is a way of coping with change and uncertainty and it can be your own road.


Written by - Rayan Issa

Edited by - Adrija Saha