Spirituality and personal well-being

While people may practice prayer and believe it affects their health (for example adherents of Christian Science), no scientific evidence supports the efficacy of prayer[citation needed]. In keeping with a general increase in interest in spirituality and complementary and alternative treatments, prayer has garnered attention among some behavioral scientists. Masters and Spielmans[16] have conducted a meta-analysis of the effects of distant intercessory prayer, but detected no discernible effects.

Spirituality has played a central role in self-help movements such as Alcoholics Anonymous: "...if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead.

If spirituality is understood as the search for or the development of inner peace or the foundations of happiness, then spiritual practice of some kind is essential for personal well being. This activity may or may not include belief in supernatural beings. If one has such a belief and feels that relationship to such beings is the foundation of happiness then spiritual practice will be pursued on that basis: if one has no such belief spiritual practice is still essential for the management and understanding of thoughts and emotions which otherwise prevent happiness. Many techniques and practices developed and explored in religious contexts, such as meditation, are immensely valuable in themselves as skills for managing aspects of the inner life.

Spiritual path

With regard to the quest for spirituality, it can be said[says who?] that there are various spiritual paths which can be followed, and therefore no objective truth or absolute by which to decide which path is better.[neutrality is disputed] Because every person is different,[says who?] the choice can be left to the individual's own sensitivity and understanding.

Spirituality, in a wide variety of cultural and religious concepts, is itself often seen as incorporating a spiritual path, along which one advances to achieve a given objective, such as a higher state of awareness, outreach wisdom or communion with God or with creation. Plato's Allegory of the Cave, which appears in book VII of The Republic, is a description of such a journey, as are the writings of Teresa of Avila. The spiritual journey is a path that has a dimension primarily subjective and individual. For a spiritual path may be considered a path of short duration, directed at a specific target, or a lifetime. Every event of life is part of this journey, but in particular one can introduce some significant moments or milestones, such as the practice of various spiritual disciplines (including meditation, prayer, fasting), the comparison with a person believed with deep spiritual experience (called a teacher, assistant or spiritual preceptor, guru or otherwise, depending on the cultural context), the personal approach to sacred texts, etc. If the spiritual path is the same in whole or in part, with an initiatory path, there may be real evidence to overcome. Such tests usually before a social significance, are a "test" for the individual of his reaching a certain level. Spirituality is also described as a process in two phases: the first on inner growth, and the second on the manifestation of this result daily in the world.

Spirituality and religion

Whilst the terms spirituality and religion can both refer to the search for the Absolute or God (or whatever name you want to use), an increasing number of people have come to see the two as separate entities; religion being just one way in which humans can experience spirituality. As cultural historian and yogi, William Irwin Thompson put it, "Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization."

Those who speak of spirituality outside of religion often define themselves as "spiritual but not religious" and generally believe in the existence of many different "spiritual paths" - emphasizing the importance of finding one's own individual path to spirituality. According to one poll, some 24±4% of the United States population identifies itself as spiritual but not religious.[2] One might say then, that a key difference is that religion is a type of formal external search, while spirituality is defined as a search within oneself.

The experience of 'spirituality'; the human emotions of awe, wonder and reverence, are also the province of the secular/scientific, in response to their highest values[vague], or when observing or studying nature, or the universe.

With respect to religion, this implies that spirituality takes on the following characteristics: faith becomes more personal, less dogmatic, more open to experimentation, and is based upon personal experience. From this perspective, religion and spirituality can be seen as merely two stages in the inner growth of the faithful aspirant, so much so that many followers of constituted religions consider spirituality to be an intrinsic and inseparable aspect of their religious experience. The relationship between religion and spirituality can, thus, be seen comparable to the relationship between container and content, between form and substance, or between theory and practice.

Defining spirituality

Traditionally, religions have regarded spirituality as an integral aspect of religious experience and have long claimed that secular (non-religious) people cannot experience "true" spirituality. Many do still equate spirituality with religion, but declining membership of organised religions and the growth of secularism in the western world has given rise to a broader view of spirituality.

Secular spirituality carries connotations of an individual having a spiritual outlook which is more personalized, less structured, more open to new ideas/influences, and more pluralistic than that of the doctrinal faiths of organized religions. At one end of the spectrum, even some atheists are spiritual. While atheism tends to lean towards skepticism regarding supernatural claims and the existence of an actual "spirit", some atheists define "spiritual" as nurturing thoughts, emotions, words and actions that are in harmony with a belief that the entire universe is, in some way, connected; even if only by the mysterious flow of cause and effect at every scale.

In contrast, those of a more 'New-Age' disposition see spirituality as the active connection to some force/power/energy/spirit, facilitating a sense of a deep self.

For some, spirituality includes introspection, and the development of an individual's inner life through practices such as meditation, prayer and contemplation. Some modern religions also see spirituality in everything: see pantheism and neo-Pantheism. In a similar vein, Religious Naturalism has a spiritual attitude towards the awe, majesty and mystery it sees in the natural world.

For a Christian, to refer to him or herself as "more spiritual than religious"[citation needed] may (but not always) imply relative deprecation of rules, rituals, and tradition while preferring an intimate relationship with God. The basis for this belief is that Jesus Christ came to free humankind from those rules, rituals, and traditions, giving humankind the ability to "walk in the spirit" thus maintaining a "Christian" lifestyle through that one-to-one relationship with God.

Meditation for beginners

Meditation for beginners

What is meditation?

Meditation is about accepting that challenge to change ourselves, and transforming our habits of interpretation. By learning to understand and focus on what is real, we go beyond the apparent reality and into subtler realms of our experience, becoming more connected with what is true for us. Fortunately, that which is real is continuously manifesting itself in this present moment, and in every present moment. It's as simple as that: just by letting go of the past and the future, we remain with our awareness of reality and increase our ability to embrace that reality.

In a broad, rational sense, meditation is about living in the present moment. But each person's experience of the present moment varies, and so naturally, the exact meaning of meditation is also unique. A wise man once said, "As many minds, so many paths." Just in the way that two people can watch the same movie and get two entirely different things out of it, meditation also yields subjective experiences.

Many of us aren't used to really looking within: at our thoughts, our intentions, our truer selves. And when things around us are going on full speed, it can be even more difficult to be aware of what's going on within us. So, one way to think of meditation is as an intentional simplification, a slowing down of sorts.

What to "do"?


Consider a shaken-up, muddy glass of water: it's hard to look through it, but if you let it sit still for a while, the mud goes to the bottom and the water remains clear on the top. Similarly, in meditation we still our minds to experience -- with increasing clarity -- that which is real for us right now.

As an object of attention, some people suggest simply watching the breath, the way it normally is, and if thoughts come up, objectively acknowledging them like a guard outside a castle, but not participating in them. With a little humor, a zen master once said, "In meditation, leave your front and back doors open. Let your thoughts come and go; just don't serve them tea." Our accumulated impressions, surfacing as thoughts and feelings, often dominate our experience of the present moment, but by simply observing them and "not serving them tea", we slowly change our tendency of conditioning experiences with the past and future.

Even more simply put, observe reality the way it is right now.