Diverse Meanings of Spirituality
If we search through the Internet today we discover that there are more than 5 million entries when we search for spirituality definition and more than 11 million entries when we search for spirituality meaning.
When we put the quotation marks in order to search for the exact terms, we discover that there are more than 15 thousand entries for “definition of spirituality” and more than 1.9 million entries for “meaning of spirituality.”
This just shows us even on a cursory level the diversity of definitions and meanings of the word “spirituality.”
Here are some examples from the Internet of the definitions of spirituality.
According to Dictionary.com with a site in http://dictionary.reference.com/ “spirituality” is 1. the quality or fact of being spiritual; 2. incorporeal or immaterial nature; 3. predominantly spiritual character as shown in thought, life, etc.; spiritual tendency or tone; 4. Often, spiritualities. property or revenue of the church or of an ecclesiastic in his or her official capacity.
From http://www.livingwordsofwisdom.com/definition-of-spirituality.html “The definition of spirituality is that which relates to or affects the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.”
From http://www.theorderoftime.com/spiritual/spiritualessence.html#The%20definition%20of%20spirituality we have this entry. “The definition of spirituality Many wonder what spirituality is. What is the definition? The dictionary (the Merriam Webster) will tell you that it is something deeply religious, something relating to the spirit and sacred matters.”
And finally, for our purpose here, from http://www.kriyayoga.com/english/encyclopedia/spirituality.htm the entry is “Spiritual Encyclopedia: Definition of ‘spirituality’ and ‘spiritual’ Spirituality often abused as word - the true and strict definition is a directly God related spiritual being or development of spiritual being.”
That is only for its definition. When we go to its meaning we find more diversity. We discover that there are different meanings for different classes of persons. In the web we find that there is a Meaning of Spirituality Among Nonreligious Persons at http://www.joinnursingcenter.com/prodev/ce_article.asp?tid=832639
There is a meaning of spirituality for individuals with disabilities at http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a727455890
And at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12175360
There is the meaning of spirituality relevant to health and nursing today.
And the wiki.answers at http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_te_meaning_of_spirituality has this about the meaning of spirituality: “The meaning of spirituality is the meaning of life. To be faced with good and evil, and evolve for good into a positive energy source willing to do good in such a corrupt and manipulated world.”
What is most obvious in the meaning of “spirituality” is that it comes from its root word, which is “spirit”. The suffix “-uality” qualifies the use of “spirit” in this instance.
So a basic definition of spirituality is the quality of one’s sensitivity to the things of the spirit. And what are these things of the spirit? These are those that cannot be directly perceived by our senses but whose effects can be deduced or inferred by our observations, like love, justice, peace, etc.
Basic to this understanding of spirituality is the premise that we regard the human being and/or the rest of creation as composed not only of matter, but of something immaterial, something invisible, something beyond our present knowledge. There is always more to what we can perceive with our senses and know with our reason.
So the basic meaning of spirituality is that it is a term which encompasses everything that we cannot see directly with our eyes, directly perceive by the other senses and know by our mere reason. That is spirituality in its basic meaning.
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Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:
http://bit.ly/spiritdev for your spiritual growth
http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health
http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us
http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet
Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.
