It is a popular, and apparently unexamined, belief that the word "spirituality" need not refer to our own spirit or that of anyone else. It can serve as a convenient label for our own personal collection of religious beliefs.
For many "spirituality" is like a shopping cart into which we can drop our own eclectic collection of beliefs picked from the aisles of the religions of the world. To put into our "spirituality" cart we can from the aisle of Christianity pick some of the sayings of Jesus we like, hands on healing, prayer, angels, love, forgiveness, and helping the weak, sick, and poor.
From the aisles of Hinduism and Buddhism, we can pick karma, reincarnation, non-violence, yoga, meditation, vegetarianism, mantras, mindfulness, devaluing our ego and identifying with the divine Self, and living in the present moment.
On the Native American aisle we can pick love of Mother Earth and all of nature.
From the Theosophical aisle we can pick Ascended Masters and Guides as well as the unity of all religions.
And from the Occult aisle, we can add some Angel cards for guidance.
Since there are many individual shoppers and many different aisles from which to choose, there are many different combinations of beliefs. Many refer to their collection of beliefs as their spirituality.
The "spirituality" label is convenient because it allows us to avoid applying the dreaded "r" word to ourselves: religious. So many of us are allergic to religion. We're "spiritual but not religious." It sounds so righteous, so "holier than thou" when said by some.
From the perspective of Thumotics, when we use of the word "spirituality" as a label for a personal collection of religious beliefs it begs this question: What word do we use to refer to a collection of ideas and practices related to spirit? More about this in Part Two.
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