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What Is Spirituality?
Do you have to be religious to find meaning and purpose in life?
As a priest, I have to admit that I am always a little confused when I hear people refer to themselves as “spiritual” rather than specifically religious. I would say that this definition represents people who are searching for something, but don’t really want to commit to anything in order to find it.
Spirituality and religion, on the other hand, have been intimately linked throughout history. Acceptance of a deity brings with it a completely different perspective on life, where we are fully included in a vastly bigger plan for the universe and can even feel loved and special within that vastness.
This reality is enshrined in the word spirituality itself which represents the spirit, soul or “breath” of a higher power within us. In other words, it has historically represented meaning and purpose in our existence, derived from an external and yet intimately loving divine source.
“if we reject the concept of a deity altogether, we are left with very subjective encounters”
Whilst spirituality is not restricted to religious experience nor even to the existence of a supernatural force which influences our lives from another dimension, I want…