Grandfather and grandaughter

  • Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.

    Mahatma Gandhi

  • The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it.

    Henri J. M. Nouwen

  • Spirituality, for me, is everyone’s natural connection with the wonder and energy of life...and the instinct to explore that experience and its meaning.

    William Bloom
    http://www.williambloom.com

  • At the core of spirituality is the need to feel and express love and compassion for everyone, with the understanding that we are all part of a greater reality.

    Amma
    http://www.amma.org.uk/

  • In its simplest definition, ‘spirituality’ means knowing how to live with meaning and purpose.

    Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
    http://www.bkwsu.org

What is Spirituality?

Here are some definitions of spirituality - attempting to define the indefinable!

 

Spirituality is an awareness that there is something far greater than we are, something that created this universe, created life and that we are an authentic, important, significant part of it, and can contribute to its evolution.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross MD

Spirituality, for me, is everyone’s natural connection with the wonder and energy of life...and the instinct to explore that experience and its meaning.

William Bloom
http://www.williambloom.com

In my vision the collective unconscious is God; the conscious is man as individual; and the personal unconscious is the interface between them.'’ …'’I have come to believe and have tried to demonstrate that people’s capacity to love, and hence their will to grow, is nurtured not only by the love of their parents during childhood but throughout their lives by grace, or God’s love. This is a powerful force external to their consciousness which operates through the agency of their unconscious as well as through the agency of loving persons other than their parents and through additional ways which we do not understand.

M. Scott Peck
in ‘The Road Less Travelled’ (of spiritual growth)

At the core of spirituality is the need to feel and express love and compassion for everyone, with the understanding that we are all part of a greater reality.

Amma
http://www.amma.org.uk/

Spirituality is not about beliefs - it is about the way we live and conduct our day-to-day lives.

Satish Kumar
in his autobiography No Destination.

Together, spirituality, community, and justice constitute the living tree of lives of depth, joy, and meaning. Spirituality is our roots – the connectedness with the ground of our being that nurtures us. It is our support and our stability. We grow spiritually by deepening.

Community is the wood of the tree. It is the solid collection in which we may be protected and supported. Amid the collection of branches, we find relationship and are able to reach both toward one another and outwards. And the leaves, flowers, and fruit of our tree of religion may be identified with justice – with our reaching out to others and offering of beauty and nurturance to the world. It is through flowers and fruit – through justice – that seeds of a brighter future are generated.

We must recognise the essential interconnections between these aspects of the abundant life. The roots are fed not only by the ground, but by the leaves and woody parts of the tree. Without community and justice, spirituality weakens and eventually dies. Only in wholeness and integrity – with a balanced life that includes spirituality, community and justice – will we truly flourish.

Andrew Pakula
The London Spirituality Network http://www.ukspirituality.org

In its simplest definition, ‘spirituality’ means knowing how to live with meaning and purpose.

Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
http://www.bkwsu.org

Since the 1960s increasing numbers of people have turned to spirituality rather than religion as a source of solace and to find sanctuary from the busy consumer world. People are eager to express their spirituality and to promote spirituality in society…What people mean when they use the word ‘spirituality’ varies enormously. When somebody says that they are spiritual this could mean they enjoy meditation or that they like to go for solitary walks. Or it could mean that they appreciate great art or that they love music. Above all, it usually means that they believe in the infinite value of human love.

Abbot Christopher Jamison
in his book ‘Finding Sanctuary’

The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Spirit is an invisible force made visible in all life.

Maya Angelou