It Depends

Daily writing prompt

How important is spirituality in your life?

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I’m sure that many or most people who answer this question will point out that spirituality is quite a vague term, so maybe it depends on what is meant by the question. In 21st-Century Ireland and across the western world, an increasing number of people say that they are not religious but are spiritual. There’s a loss of confidence in organised religion. So to say that you are spiritual might mean that you don’t go to church, but at the same time, you don’t buy into the notion that scientific research is the only source of truth.

Personally, I’m a big fan of scientific research. Given a choice between being treated by an atheist who tries to apply treatment based on research and a spiritual healer, I’d choose the atheist. However, if I was living in New Testament times, evidence would clearly show that Jesus and the apostles did cure illness and raise the dead. So, I would go to them. Nowadays, I can seek medical means to cure any illnesses, but what’s to stop me from praying too?

Anyway, let me briefly list common meanings for spirituality and give my responses (I’ll try to be positive and avoid mocking “spiritual people” 😀):

• Humanistic Spirituality – goodness, love, and creativity—without necessarily involving a higher power. As Christians, we often focus on the shortcomings of humanism. Still, I’d sooner be among loving people than hateful people, whether or not they’re religious.
• Nature-Based Spirituality – Found in deep reverence for the Earth and the natural world. I obviously don’t believe in pantheism, the idea that the world is God. But nature can strike a very deep chord in all of us, whether or not we are religious.
• Mystical Spirituality – Focuses on direct, personal experiences of the divine or transcendent—often through meditation, contemplation, or rituals. For this, I think of what Paul said in Athens in Acts 17.  ²³ For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. I don’t see anything wrong with meditation, contemplation, or rituals but I wouldn’t mingle these with my Christian faith. I see these as a little bit more like music. But I suppose, everything can point us to God, as the hymn How Great Thou Art demonstrates.
• New Age Spirituality – A mix of metaphysical beliefs and practices, often borrowing from various traditions. I don’t really have an interest in this. I tend to associate it with people who are anti-science or who see Christ as just a “spiritual” human. But again, I’d sooner live among naive or silly new age people than nasty religious people.
• Philosophical or Existential Spirituality – Emphasizes introspection, self-awareness, and grappling with life’s big questions: Why are we here? What is the nature of existence? I am quite positive towards all this. Many great Christian theologians were also philosophers.
• Religious Spirituality – Rooted in the beliefs and practices of organized religions like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and others. Well, as a Christian, I respect people who search for truth, whatever their religion and even if they have no religion. I grew up as a Roman Catholic in Ireland. When I reached my teens, I found that I had a lot more confidence in the Bible than I had in Catholic traditions. So I now see myself as an evangelical Christian. I do think that faith has a corporate dimension. You can clearly see that in the New Testament. I can be negative about organized religion, but I wouldn’t have heard of Christ, and I wouldn’t have my Bible without some level of organization.

So, if I understand spirituality in terms of my faith, it’s all important, both at a day-to-day level and eternally – as my site logo shows.

John 5:24
Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.