What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

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Angolmois

What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Angolmois »

How do you see spirituality in human life in practice? What does it mean if someone states that he/she is a spiritual person? How does it manifest in practice and in daily life? What kind of requirements would you pose for a person in order to label him / her as spiritual? What are the "minimum requirements" of practical legitimate spirituality?

Certainly not the active participation in ceremonial ritual work, aye? - not denigrating that side of magical / spiritual practice of course, I just mean that although I personally love ritual work, i do not see that as one of the essential factors of spiritual life if the persons temperament is not adjusted to that kind of work. if one considers ritualism being an essential factor of being religious, certainly one can still be spiritual without being religious per sae.

There are many kind of ways to be a spiritual person considering the different temperaments of human beings, but certainly there are some essential factors that one must fulfill in order to be considered a spiritual person. Do we again come to the ethics first? I think so.
Hairetikos
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Re: What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Hairetikos »

Quite a huge question to cover. I'd say that some essential content is

- a drive towards ascension
- will to do good/become better
- open-mindness

Of course, the whole process could be seen depending on one stating or confessing "I'm spiritual", since without it there most certainly isn't any spiritualism. As mentioned, ways of work are various and I consider no certain ritual or a ceremony more important than other.
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Polyhymnia
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Re: What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Polyhymnia »

Hmm, I think to be classified as spiritual the key tenet would be some form of ascension, or at the very least the belief in a higher form, whether it be intrinsic or external. A yearning for connection beyond what our human bodies can manage. A belief in a soul, perhaps.
Paradoxically I know some atheists who are more spiritual than some self-professed spiritual people I know.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
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Smaragd
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Re: What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Smaragd »

Polyhymnia wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 8:29 am Hmm, I think to be classified as spiritual the key tenet would be some form of ascension, or at the very least the belief in a higher form, whether it be intrinsic or external. A yearning for connection beyond what our human bodies can manage. A belief in a soul, perhaps.
Paradoxically I know some atheists who are more spiritual than some self-professed spiritual people I know.
When this topic came I started thinking that it is idealism which defines spiritual to me. This meaning that an ideal is recognition of, and devotion to some "spirit". And perhaps also philosophical acknowledgement of the hierarchy of ideal sculpting the clay, comes handy and intuitively known fact in actualizing the connection between the idea and powers giving form to it. While an atheist might have too much negation towards everything religious, thus not allowing to make the connecting line between words 'spirit' and 'idea(l)', she might still be very much an idealist and taking profound spiritual steps forth. Ofcourse not all idealism and devotion to every spirit is necessarily "spiritual". Here I kind of understand the position of monotheism; if the spirit and ideal isn't including in the specific nature of such devotion to lower spirits the potential of oneness, that sort of idealism leads to ruin, where the ideal is being fixed and realigned.
"Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets”, Numbers 11:29 as echoed by William Blake
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Insanus
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Re: What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Insanus »

I dislike the words. It's a good question what do they actually mean, if it's actually necessary or correct to even use them.
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Polyhymnia
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Re: What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Polyhymnia »

“Religious” feels like one belongs to a system confined by dogma. I’m not the biggest fan of that word either. “Spiritual” doesn’t have the same negative attachment to it for me. It’s broader and less offensive and perhaps less prone to extreme zealotry.
But that’s only my own personal interpretation of the word religion, and my distaste comes from my experience with religious extremism in my family.
Last edited by Polyhymnia on Thu Dec 03, 2020 7:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
Mars
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Re: What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Mars »

I think that spirituality necessitates activity, it is something you do. To put it simply, spirituality is the pursuit of spirit, and therefore it obviously takes a wide variety of forms. Occultism isn't necessarily spirituality, especially on a downward path.

Religion is an organised and ossified form of a certain type of spirituality.
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Re: What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Kenazis »

Polyhymnia wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 7:57 pm “Religious” feels like one belongs to a system confined by dogma. I’m not the biggest fan of that word either. “Spiritual” doesn’t have the same negative attachment to it for me. It’s broader and less offensive and perhaps less prone to extreme zealotry.
But that’s only my own personal interpretation of the word religion, and my distaste comes from my experience with religious extremism in my family.
For long time I saw words "religious" and "spiritual" in same manner. But the word "spiritual" seems to mean anything and nothing nowadays, and I think I would use the word "religious" rather than "spiritual" for describing myself. But still rather I use none. This comes also from my studies of "traditional religions" that I respect more than modern new age stuff where everything goes, except hard work and responsibility.
"We live for the woods and the moon and the night"
Kenazis
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Re: What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Kenazis »

Insanus wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 6:25 pm I dislike the words.
I love words.
Insanus wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 6:25 pm It's a good question what do they actually mean, if it's actually necessary or correct to even use them.
Studying the meaning of the words is one of the greatest joys. And from that study we found out are the words necessary or correct.

ps. I know there's nothing interesting or new in this post of mine.
"We live for the woods and the moon and the night"
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Polyhymnia
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Re: What does it mean to be spiritual / religious?

Post by Polyhymnia »

Kenazis wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 9:28 pm For long time I saw words "religious" and "spiritual" in same manner. But the word "spiritual" seems to mean anything and nothing nowadays, and I think I would use the word "religious" rather than "spiritual" for describing myself. But still rather I use none. This comes also from my studies of "traditional religions" that I respect more than modern new age stuff where everything goes, except hard work and responsibility.
Excellent point. The term spirituality, being broader, does leave a lot of room for superficiality. So one could say that personal ethics does indeed play an integral role in the definitions and that it is, indeed, where it starts, as Runatyr suggested.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
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