What is "spirituality"?

[louis]

Let me try to say it differently. I believe the spiritual person is one who thinks seriously about ultimate questions: Do a god or gods exist, and what does that mean for the individual, for the world, for the universe? Is there life beyond - after or before - what we recognize as physical existence in the visible world? Is there meaning to our lives, to the world and universe we live in? What is that meaning? What are the best ways to conduct ourselves in relation to others, in relation to any possible god or gods, in relation to the world and universe? There are other such questions, but these are the ones that come most readily to mind right now.

From Louis...
I think about such things a lot, but I certainly don't consider myself "spiritual" - I don't have a clue what people mean by "spirituality" ! Frankly, I don't think
there IS such a thing. Nor do I think there is such a
thing as "intuition", "magic" or the "supernatural" .
If any of those things ever DO turn out to be real, then
then they will be found to be part of the same physical
reality we see every day - they were just a bit harder
to pin down and measure.

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by louis

Let me try to say it differently. I believe the spiritual person is one who thinks seriously about ultimate questions: Do a god or gods exist, and what does that mean for the individual, for the world, for the universe? Is there life beyond - after or before - what we recognize as physical existence in the visible world? Is there meaning to our lives, to the world and universe we live in? What is that meaning? What are the best ways to conduct ourselves in relation to others, in relation to any possible god or gods, in relation to the world and universe? There are other such questions, but these are the ones that come most readily to mind right now.

Good Day Mr. Louis!

What a breath of fresh air. Or perhaps it is better put, what a breath taking dive beneath the sepid thermal layer into the cool clear depths.

When one begins to question the validity of life (own life, life around one, and life in general), the process presents doors to be opened, if one chooses. Some would call this a labrynth (but then a labrynth is not meant to trap one, rather to compel one to find the way out). Labrynths always have clues, and lots of details to reflect upon, while ultimately searching for the way out.

You (we) are here, because we are curious about "something" we can't quite put a finger on. So we are drawn to each other, because we dare to ask, what is it missing in our existence. I don't care who posts here, deep inside something is bothering us. Something does not seem quite right. So we bounce thoughts and philosophies, and sometimes arguments and debates off each other, in the hope of getting a glint of the truth. None of us can describe the truth...but deep inside, we know we will recognize it if we stumble upon it. That is why we keep coming back.

And ultimately, none of us wants to be alone. I don't mean Humanly alone. We want something greater than self to be waiting for us at the end of what we call life. Some of us want to be right, and some of us want to be wrong (concerning our personal philosophies).

You are indeed on a spiritual quest, because you ask the question "What is life". And you keep asking, because you are not satisfied with the answers.

I submit, that the deeper you dive below the layers, the more you will find out.

v/r

Q

[louis]

However, I don't really believe that institutionalized religion in itself has much to do with spirituality. Does that make any sense?

From Louis...
I'm inclined to agree.
From my position as an impartial outsider, I percieve a
difference between "religion" and "church"
By "religion", I mean an honest desire to learn more about
the nature of reality - but using a subjective, non-rational
approach rather than the objective, strictly rational
approach of science.
By "church", I mean a limited set of ideas, fears, desires
and pre-conceptions being PROPPED UP AS the only possible realtity.
Obviously, I have never liked "church". I do admit that church involves a lot of GOOD PEOPLE - but I do not think
that church MAKES them good - they just use church as a
way to be with others like themselves and re-inforce their
values of honesty and sincerity. Too bad their church
doesn't always live up to their standards.