Spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality, like the spirit and the reality it expresses, is hard to pin down, to define or to institutionalize. Spirituality is concerned with the search for the transcendent dimension of life and with the manner of living that flow from its apprehension. (Clarke, 1991).
Etymologically, spiritual means anything that relates to spirit or soul and not to physical nature and matter.
Social scientists have defined spirituality as the search for the sacred, for that which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration, "a transcendent dimension within human experience...discovered in moments in which the individual questions the meaning of personal existence and attempts to place the self within a broader ontological context.
Spirituality is the search for transcendent meaning” – can be expressed in religious practice or …expressed ”exclusively in their relationship to nature, music, the arts, a set of philosophical beliefs, or relationships with friends and family”.
According to Waaijman, the traditional meaning of spirituality is a process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape of man, the image of God. To accomplish this, the re-formation is oriented at a mold, which represents the original shape: in Judaism the Torah, in Christianity Christ, in Buddhism Buddha, in the Islam Muhammad. In modern times spirituality has come to mean the internal experience of the individual. It still denotes a process of transformation, but in a context separate from organized religious institutions: "spiritual but not religious." Houtman and Aupers suggest that modern spirituality is a blend of humanistic psychology, mystical and esoteric traditions and eastern religions.
Christian Expression of spirituality is our life lived in awareness of the gift of the spirit received at our baptism into Christ, and in response to this spirit of God active in us as energy and presence. It means having an intimate and personal relationship with God.
Spirituality is more of an individual practice and has to do with having a sense of tranquility and purpose. It also relates to the process of developing beliefs around the meaning of life and connection with others. It is also used as a way of gaining perspective, recognizing that our role in life has a greater value than just what we do every day. It can separate a person from dependence on material things and establish a greater purpose
Different types of spirituality
Mystical spirituality is based around a desire to move beyond the material world, beyond the senses, ego and even beyond time. This approach centers on personal relationships and a sense of unity with all things.
Authoritarian spirituality is a particularly strong form of spirituality based around a need for definition and rules. This type of spirituality is particularly common in specific religious practices.
Intellectual spirituality focuses on building knowledge and understanding of spirituality through analyzing history and spiritual theories. This approach can be found in the study of religion, also known as theology.
Service spirituality is a common form of spirituality in many religious faiths. This is predominantly built around serving others as a form of spiritual expression.
Social spirituality is often practiced by people who experience a spiritual feeling in the company of others. Social support is often seen as one of the important aspects of spirituality in general.
Spirituality, like the spirit and the reality it expresses, is hard to pin down, to define or to institutionalize. Spirituality is concerned with the search for the transcendent dimension of life and with the manner of living that flow from its apprehension. (Clarke, 1991).
Etymologically, spiritual means anything that relates to spirit or soul and not to physical nature and matter.
Social scientists have defined spirituality as the search for the sacred, for that which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration, "a transcendent dimension within human experience...discovered in moments in which the individual questions the meaning of personal existence and attempts to place the self within a broader ontological context.
Spirituality is the search for transcendent meaning” – can be expressed in religious practice or …expressed ”exclusively in their relationship to nature, music, the arts, a set of philosophical beliefs, or relationships with friends and family”.
According to Waaijman, the traditional meaning of spirituality is a process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape of man, the image of God. To accomplish this, the re-formation is oriented at a mold, which represents the original shape: in Judaism the Torah, in Christianity Christ, in Buddhism Buddha, in the Islam Muhammad. In modern times spirituality has come to mean the internal experience of the individual. It still denotes a process of transformation, but in a context separate from organized religious institutions: "spiritual but not religious." Houtman and Aupers suggest that modern spirituality is a blend of humanistic psychology, mystical and esoteric traditions and eastern religions.
Christian Expression of spirituality is our life lived in awareness of the gift of the spirit received at our baptism into Christ, and in response to this spirit of God active in us as energy and presence. It means having an intimate and personal relationship with God.
Spirituality is more of an individual practice and has to do with having a sense of tranquility and purpose. It also relates to the process of developing beliefs around the meaning of life and connection with others. It is also used as a way of gaining perspective, recognizing that our role in life has a greater value than just what we do every day. It can separate a person from dependence on material things and establish a greater purpose
Different types of spirituality
Mystical spirituality is based around a desire to move beyond the material world, beyond the senses, ego and even beyond time. This approach centers on personal relationships and a sense of unity with all things.
Authoritarian spirituality is a particularly strong form of spirituality based around a need for definition and rules. This type of spirituality is particularly common in specific religious practices.
Intellectual spirituality focuses on building knowledge and understanding of spirituality through analyzing history and spiritual theories. This approach can be found in the study of religion, also known as theology.
Service spirituality is a common form of spirituality in many religious faiths. This is predominantly built around serving others as a form of spiritual expression.
Social spirituality is often practiced by people who experience a spiritual feeling in the company of others. Social support is often seen as one of the important aspects of spirituality in general.
Spirituality and the Family
Family spirituality is the spiritual dimension of everything that the family does to be a family. Its most important ingredient is the love flowing between family members. Where genuine love is, we always find God because God is love.
Family spirituality is best thought of as family life itself. It encompasses everything alive in the family. It thrives in the caring relationships between family members. God is particularly attuned to family living because, in a sense, God lives in a family, the Holy Trinity.
Spirirtuality and Love
The secret to experiencing the incredible thing we call love is found when you learn to move away from your ego, and towards a state of being that is loving. This is spiritual growth, and it is a fundamental part of our existence because it is who we are, and meant to become – loving human beings. It gives us the connection we all deserve.
Spirituality and Work
The holy and the transcendent can be found in the midst of the hustle and bustle of daily work. Rather than being a “grind,” our work can be “grist” for our spiritual mills. Indeed, the work we do has enormous spiritual significance.
10 disciplines of workplace spirituality include:
• finding sacred objects
• living with imperfection
• assuring quality
• giving thanks and congratulations
• building support and community
• dealing with others as you would have them deal with you
• deciding what is enough—and sticking to it
• balancing work, personal, family, church, and community responsibilities
• working to make “the system” work
engaging in ongoing personal and professional development
Spirituality and Physical Health
Doctors and scientists once avoided the study of spirituality in connection to medicine, but findings within the past 10 years have made some take a second look. Studies show that religion and faith can help to promote good health and fight disease by:
offering additional social supports, such as religious outreach groups
improving coping skills through prayer and a philosophy that all things have a purpose
Although research on kids hasn't been done, many studies focusing on adults point to the positive effects of spirituality on medical outcome:
In a 7-year study of senior citizens, religious involvement was associated with less physical disability and less depression. Death rates were lower than expected before an important religious holiday, which suggested to researchers that faith might have postponed death in these cases.
Elderly people who regularly attended religious services had healthier immune systems than those who didn't. They were also more likely to have consistently lower blood pressure.
Patients undergoing open-heart surgery who received strength and comfort from their religion were three times more likely to survive than those who had no religious ties.
Spirituality and Mental Health
Religious and spiritual beliefs are an important part of how many people deal with life's joys and hardships. Faith can provide people with a sense of purpose and guidelines for living.
When families face tough situations, including health problems, their religious beliefs and practices can help them fight feelings of helplessness, restore meaning and order to life situations, and promote regaining a sense of control. For some families, spirituality can be a powerful and important source of strength.
Medical studies have confirmed that spirituality can have a profound effect on mental states. In a study of men who were hospitalized, nearly half rated religion as helpful in coping with their illness. A second study showed that the more religious patients were, the more quickly they recovered from some disorders. A third study revealed that high levels of hope and optimism, key factors in fighting depression, were found among those who strictly practiced their religion.
Spirituality and Friendship
The deeper spiritual value of friendships and how it acts as real spiritual worth creating a force-field of light around you. It enhances what you are in very special way, linking you to the divine; so these relationships should be honored and cared for. I saw how your friendships offer you a protection. There’s real spiritual worth in whatever effort you invest if it is honest and true.
Gratitude for people’s kindness is important and forgiving the evil done to you is vital so you can release yourself from the emotional link you have with those that have hurt you. You see, thinking about them and how they hurt you locks you into the demonic; they possess you through the pain they caused so you have to forgive them and let the matter drop.
Developing and honoring your friendships with softness and generosity carries you on toward the divine light. Simple stuff.
Spirituality and Music
"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life." -- Ludwig van Beethoven
The spiritual nature of music cannot be defined by religion, culture or genre. Music precedes and transcends all of those frameworks. To even compare music and spirituality as if they were independent concepts feels a bit odd to me. Music is, at its essence, the sound of spirit. When created from the heart and with truth and pure intention, music is a spiritual expression of the most universal nature and the highest order.
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything." -- Plato
Spirituality and Art
Is there a special relationship between art and spirituality? There are many reasons to think so; indeed, there seems to be a rich web of relationships between the two. The arts have always been integral to religion. Sacred pictures, sacred symbols, sacred dances, chants, hymns and tunes have been used in rituals, in places of worship, and as aids to prayer and meditation in every religion. Judging by this alone, the arts seem to be natural vehicles for expressing or connecting with the transcendent.
The great art of the medieval Christian west is religious art, as is that of the Orthodox Christian east. For Hinduism and Buddhism it is the same. Even religions like Judaism and Islam, which consider images of God idolatrous, use decorative designs to embellish places of worship and sacred texts.
Outside of formal religious contexts, religion has traditionally been as integral to the arts as to the rest of culture. The arts in traditional cultures transmit the central beliefs and values of those cultures, and those beliefs and values have a strong religious or spiritual dimension.
Spirituality and Religion
Spirituality highlights qualities such as caring, kindness, compassion, tolerance, service and community, and, in its truest sense, so does religion. But where religion is defined by its tradition and teachings, spirituality is defined by what is real in our own experience, arising from an inner search within ourselves, the finding of our own truth.
Where religion tends to breed separation -- my religion vs. your religion, my God is the only real God, my ethics are better than yours, etc. -- spirituality sees all people as equal. We are not an "ism" or a label, we are spiritual beings whose purpose is to awaken to our true nature.
Spirituality and Food
Food has long been a part of faith and spirituality. From fasting during religious holy days to sharing a communal meal, food defines both our beliefs and us. The foods you choose, their preparation and how you eat are all elements that contribute towards your spiritual growth.
Spirituality and Culture
According to Martsolf (1997), there are 3 ways that spirituality and culture can be related:
Spirituality can be defined completely by the individual's culture
Spirituality can be individually defined by personal experiences unrelated to the culture
Spirituality can be defined by culture and personal experiences but are quite different from the cultural norms.
Spiritual assessment must, therefore, include assessment of the client's culture, utilization of complementary and spiritual practices common to that culture, preferences for spiritual interventions, and preferred spiritual care providers.
Family spirituality is the spiritual dimension of everything that the family does to be a family. Its most important ingredient is the love flowing between family members. Where genuine love is, we always find God because God is love.
Family spirituality is best thought of as family life itself. It encompasses everything alive in the family. It thrives in the caring relationships between family members. God is particularly attuned to family living because, in a sense, God lives in a family, the Holy Trinity.
Spirirtuality and Love
The secret to experiencing the incredible thing we call love is found when you learn to move away from your ego, and towards a state of being that is loving. This is spiritual growth, and it is a fundamental part of our existence because it is who we are, and meant to become – loving human beings. It gives us the connection we all deserve.
Spirituality and Work
The holy and the transcendent can be found in the midst of the hustle and bustle of daily work. Rather than being a “grind,” our work can be “grist” for our spiritual mills. Indeed, the work we do has enormous spiritual significance.
10 disciplines of workplace spirituality include:
• finding sacred objects
• living with imperfection
• assuring quality
• giving thanks and congratulations
• building support and community
• dealing with others as you would have them deal with you
• deciding what is enough—and sticking to it
• balancing work, personal, family, church, and community responsibilities
• working to make “the system” work
engaging in ongoing personal and professional development
Spirituality and Physical Health
Doctors and scientists once avoided the study of spirituality in connection to medicine, but findings within the past 10 years have made some take a second look. Studies show that religion and faith can help to promote good health and fight disease by:
offering additional social supports, such as religious outreach groups
improving coping skills through prayer and a philosophy that all things have a purpose
Although research on kids hasn't been done, many studies focusing on adults point to the positive effects of spirituality on medical outcome:
In a 7-year study of senior citizens, religious involvement was associated with less physical disability and less depression. Death rates were lower than expected before an important religious holiday, which suggested to researchers that faith might have postponed death in these cases.
Elderly people who regularly attended religious services had healthier immune systems than those who didn't. They were also more likely to have consistently lower blood pressure.
Patients undergoing open-heart surgery who received strength and comfort from their religion were three times more likely to survive than those who had no religious ties.
Spirituality and Mental Health
Religious and spiritual beliefs are an important part of how many people deal with life's joys and hardships. Faith can provide people with a sense of purpose and guidelines for living.
When families face tough situations, including health problems, their religious beliefs and practices can help them fight feelings of helplessness, restore meaning and order to life situations, and promote regaining a sense of control. For some families, spirituality can be a powerful and important source of strength.
Medical studies have confirmed that spirituality can have a profound effect on mental states. In a study of men who were hospitalized, nearly half rated religion as helpful in coping with their illness. A second study showed that the more religious patients were, the more quickly they recovered from some disorders. A third study revealed that high levels of hope and optimism, key factors in fighting depression, were found among those who strictly practiced their religion.
Spirituality and Friendship
The deeper spiritual value of friendships and how it acts as real spiritual worth creating a force-field of light around you. It enhances what you are in very special way, linking you to the divine; so these relationships should be honored and cared for. I saw how your friendships offer you a protection. There’s real spiritual worth in whatever effort you invest if it is honest and true.
Gratitude for people’s kindness is important and forgiving the evil done to you is vital so you can release yourself from the emotional link you have with those that have hurt you. You see, thinking about them and how they hurt you locks you into the demonic; they possess you through the pain they caused so you have to forgive them and let the matter drop.
Developing and honoring your friendships with softness and generosity carries you on toward the divine light. Simple stuff.
Spirituality and Music
"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life." -- Ludwig van Beethoven
The spiritual nature of music cannot be defined by religion, culture or genre. Music precedes and transcends all of those frameworks. To even compare music and spirituality as if they were independent concepts feels a bit odd to me. Music is, at its essence, the sound of spirit. When created from the heart and with truth and pure intention, music is a spiritual expression of the most universal nature and the highest order.
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything." -- Plato
Spirituality and Art
Is there a special relationship between art and spirituality? There are many reasons to think so; indeed, there seems to be a rich web of relationships between the two. The arts have always been integral to religion. Sacred pictures, sacred symbols, sacred dances, chants, hymns and tunes have been used in rituals, in places of worship, and as aids to prayer and meditation in every religion. Judging by this alone, the arts seem to be natural vehicles for expressing or connecting with the transcendent.
The great art of the medieval Christian west is religious art, as is that of the Orthodox Christian east. For Hinduism and Buddhism it is the same. Even religions like Judaism and Islam, which consider images of God idolatrous, use decorative designs to embellish places of worship and sacred texts.
Outside of formal religious contexts, religion has traditionally been as integral to the arts as to the rest of culture. The arts in traditional cultures transmit the central beliefs and values of those cultures, and those beliefs and values have a strong religious or spiritual dimension.
Spirituality and Religion
Spirituality highlights qualities such as caring, kindness, compassion, tolerance, service and community, and, in its truest sense, so does religion. But where religion is defined by its tradition and teachings, spirituality is defined by what is real in our own experience, arising from an inner search within ourselves, the finding of our own truth.
Where religion tends to breed separation -- my religion vs. your religion, my God is the only real God, my ethics are better than yours, etc. -- spirituality sees all people as equal. We are not an "ism" or a label, we are spiritual beings whose purpose is to awaken to our true nature.
Spirituality and Food
Food has long been a part of faith and spirituality. From fasting during religious holy days to sharing a communal meal, food defines both our beliefs and us. The foods you choose, their preparation and how you eat are all elements that contribute towards your spiritual growth.
Spirituality and Culture
According to Martsolf (1997), there are 3 ways that spirituality and culture can be related:
Spirituality can be defined completely by the individual's culture
Spirituality can be individually defined by personal experiences unrelated to the culture
Spirituality can be defined by culture and personal experiences but are quite different from the cultural norms.
Spiritual assessment must, therefore, include assessment of the client's culture, utilization of complementary and spiritual practices common to that culture, preferences for spiritual interventions, and preferred spiritual care providers.
http://www.bethanyfamilyinstitute.com/family_spirituality.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Spirituality-Work-Balance-On-Job/dp/0829413499
http://carolynhidalgo.com/the-connection-between-spirituality-love/
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/spirituality.html#
http://www.healyourlife.com/author-stuart-wilde/2010/07/lifeshelp/intuitive-guidance/the-spirituality-of-friendshiphttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-fitzpatrick/music-spirituality_b_3203309.htmlhttp://www.rowan.edu/open/philosop/clowney/aesthetics/art_spirit.htmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-and-deb-shapiro/religion-and-spirituality_b_967951.htmlhttp://www.psychicsuniverse.com/articles/mind-body/diet/nutrition/soul-kitchen-spirituality-and-food
http://wwwnew.towson.edu/sct/culture.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Spirituality-Work-Balance-On-Job/dp/0829413499
http://carolynhidalgo.com/the-connection-between-spirituality-love/
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/spirituality.html#
http://www.healyourlife.com/author-stuart-wilde/2010/07/lifeshelp/intuitive-guidance/the-spirituality-of-friendshiphttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-fitzpatrick/music-spirituality_b_3203309.htmlhttp://www.rowan.edu/open/philosop/clowney/aesthetics/art_spirit.htmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-and-deb-shapiro/religion-and-spirituality_b_967951.htmlhttp://www.psychicsuniverse.com/articles/mind-body/diet/nutrition/soul-kitchen-spirituality-and-food
http://wwwnew.towson.edu/sct/culture.htm
