What is Spirituality?
The Authors page of this blog talks about my spirituality, so I guess I should spend more time pontificating on that preposterous blather here. It occurs to me that one searing question that bears answering is, “What is spirituality?”
Why anyone would want to waste his or her time worrying about such absurd nonsense is beyond me. Spirituality is primarily just an occupation for me. Nonetheless, since I’ve got nothing better to do at the moment, I’ll take a stab at sating your ridiculous curiosity.
Sorry. I’m not normally this snarky. You would be too if you’d just found out that your favorite cult religious leader has been sleeping with your best friend. But enough about that. I’m not going to talk about that bitch and bastard. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. Besides, I wouldn’t care at all except that it’s cut down on my time with him. But, never mind.
A definition of spirituality. OK. Here goes.
Some say that spirituality is a belief in and contemplation of the inner soul and the interconnectedness of all existence. To them, deities and the strictures of organized religion are not only not necessary for spirituality, but they are not a valid invocation of spirituality either. In fact, these people would say that spirituality and religion are mutually exclusive concepts. According to them, spirituality means that you posses a transcendent inner contemplativeness, but without any religion per se.
Other people take the opposite view. They say that spirituality is an integral part of religion. These people claim that there can be no religion without spirituality and no spirituality without religion.
Still other people have no answers whatsoever to contribute to the spirituality discourse. Instead, they relentlessly pose the question, “Would you like fries with that?” Most of these people work in fast food restaurants. Their spiritual and/or religious beliefs, or lack thereof, usually don’t enter into their questions about fries. So we can safely ignore them in the context of this discussion.
I take the broadest possible view of spirituality. I believe that you can be spiritual without religion, but religion can include spirituality as well. Of course, spirituality is much easier within the context of a religion because then others do the heavy spiritual lifting for you. I highly recommend getting others to do things for you whenever you possibly can.
Of course, spirituality varies from religion to religion. In some religions, it is the core of the faith. For others, it’s almost an afterthought. For them, as long as you pronounce the correct magic formulae and follow the myriad arcane rules, you’re good. Your eternal bliss is assured.
Despite the variations in the level of spirituality, almost all religions do expect their adherents to adopt some measure of spirituality, using the definition that each religion assigns to the term.
Some notable exceptions to this spirituality requirement are the cults religions promoted by various Shalampaxian companies. For most of them, spirituality is optional. You can practice it if you like, but it’s not mandatory. As long as you pay the dues, tithes or other fees assessed by the cult religion you’re considered to be a devotee in good standing. I highly recommend that approach. It’s expensive, but it simplifies your life.
Even in those few Shalampaxian cults religions that do expect some spirituality of their followers, you can gain special dispensation that allows you to forgo spirituality upon payment of an appropriate fee.
Well, that wraps up my discussion of spirituality for today. I’m glad that I could clear up some of these timeless questions for you. Until next time, may your spirit lift you to a better place. Although, if you’re not living in Shalampax you’re probably already in a better place.
