Recently, I have encountered another very interesting article describing a poll about religious feelings here in the United States. The poll questioned close to 7,000 Americans that were between 12 and 25 years of age.
A majority said that they were HIGHLY SPIRITUAL BUT NOT AT ALL RELIGIOUS. What do it all mean?
93% said they believed there is a spiritual aspect to life. The survey also revealed that there is a definitive “disconnect” between spirituality and religion with most respondents saying they “don’t trust organized religion”.
I have mentioned before that my wife is a self-proclaimed spiritualist even though she totally enjoyed her upbringing in the Church of Christ Christian denomination.
Living with me for over 37 years, she does not doubt me when I tell her that civilizations produced gods and creation stories to give themselves a beginning and an explanation for why things are the way they are. So if organized religions are just perpetuating self created myths, how can we satisfy our need for something spiritual or supernatural in our lives that we can actually believe in?
There are probably many definitions of spirituality and I do know that spirituality is a growing field with many books published on the subject so far. What I have been able to glean from my wife and other sources is that at its basic level SPIRITUALITY IS A STRONG BELIEF IN THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF THE WORLD.
In simpler terms, we imagine Mother Earth as a single entity with everything and everyone as part of this single entity; we are all one with Mother Earth and share in the force that is earth.
George Lucas of Star Wars fame studied various eastern philosophies and incorporated many of them in his films. His use of “the force” in his Star Wars series is how he perceives of spirituality and the force it generates.
My wife feels that this earth force does exist and is made stronger when many people gather for a single purpose.
When asked where people feel their spirituality the most, the respondents said: 1. spending time in nature, 2. listening to music, 3. helping others or their community.
Emmanuel Kant (old time philosopher) tried to describe a feeling of awe when looking at ultimate beauty as in nature. He came up with the word “sublime”, we just say spiritual experience.
I am happy to see that young people and older people are finding satisfaction for their religious craving in spirituality; a unifying philosophy and belief system, something they did not get out of organized religion.
A majority said that they were HIGHLY SPIRITUAL BUT NOT AT ALL RELIGIOUS. What do it all mean?
93% said they believed there is a spiritual aspect to life. The survey also revealed that there is a definitive “disconnect” between spirituality and religion with most respondents saying they “don’t trust organized religion”.
I have mentioned before that my wife is a self-proclaimed spiritualist even though she totally enjoyed her upbringing in the Church of Christ Christian denomination.
Living with me for over 37 years, she does not doubt me when I tell her that civilizations produced gods and creation stories to give themselves a beginning and an explanation for why things are the way they are. So if organized religions are just perpetuating self created myths, how can we satisfy our need for something spiritual or supernatural in our lives that we can actually believe in?
There are probably many definitions of spirituality and I do know that spirituality is a growing field with many books published on the subject so far. What I have been able to glean from my wife and other sources is that at its basic level SPIRITUALITY IS A STRONG BELIEF IN THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF THE WORLD.
In simpler terms, we imagine Mother Earth as a single entity with everything and everyone as part of this single entity; we are all one with Mother Earth and share in the force that is earth.
George Lucas of Star Wars fame studied various eastern philosophies and incorporated many of them in his films. His use of “the force” in his Star Wars series is how he perceives of spirituality and the force it generates.
My wife feels that this earth force does exist and is made stronger when many people gather for a single purpose.
When asked where people feel their spirituality the most, the respondents said: 1. spending time in nature, 2. listening to music, 3. helping others or their community.
Emmanuel Kant (old time philosopher) tried to describe a feeling of awe when looking at ultimate beauty as in nature. He came up with the word “sublime”, we just say spiritual experience.
I am happy to see that young people and older people are finding satisfaction for their religious craving in spirituality; a unifying philosophy and belief system, something they did not get out of organized religion.
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