{"id":939,"date":"2009-05-27T10:06:19","date_gmt":"2009-05-27T17:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/27\/what-the-heck-is-spirituality\/"},"modified":"2018-04-03T08:33:08","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T15:33:08","slug":"what-the-heck-is-spirituality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/27\/what-the-heck-is-spirituality\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Heck is Spirituality?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Am I the only person who thinks spirituality is an overused word? I love the English language, so I hate to see when a word is applied so frequently it becomes vague and meaningless. Second, I dislike the connotation that spirituality is universally good.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spirituality\">Spirituality<\/a>, according to Wikipedia, the most infallible of sources, is:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Spirituality is matters of the spirit, a concept tied to a spirit world, a multidimensional reality and one or more deities. &#8230; Spirituality implies the mind-body dichotomy, which indicates a separation between the body and soul.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>However, the word spirituality is used frequently to mean: life purpose, meaning, a personal philosophy, ethics, deeper relationships and connection with nature. Often it is used without illustrating something specific, as a feel-good word.<\/p>\n<h2>Life Purpose and Laundry<\/h2>\n\n<p>One reason I dislike the concept of spirituality is that it creates an artificial division between so-called higher and lower pursuits in life. I don\u2019t separate my life purpose from doing the laundry. Either everything works together or it doesn\u2019t, so I object to creating an artificial category in your life where things are deemed more worthwhile than necessities of life.<\/p>\n<p>For me, making money, folding laundry and consuming food are just as important to deriving meaning in my life as anything else. Without them, I would starve to death, broke and covered in dirty laundry. How is that supposed to contribute to the meaning I draw from life?<\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t separate ends from means. That means you can\u2019t be a spiritual person one day of the week and a greedy liar on the other six. If you don\u2019t like how you make money, you can\u2019t compensate for that by meditating in your off hours.<\/p>\n<p>Either everything works together or it doesn\u2019t. If it does work together, why use the category of spirituality at all, since every component is of a perfect machine? If it doesn\u2019t work together, then creating a separate category only hides this fact.<\/p>\n<h2>Ghosts, Fairies and Other Beliefs<\/h2>\n<p>Spirituality implies a mind-body dichotomy, often implying forces and entities that exist outside the realm of scientific speculation. I\u2019m not here to comment on those beliefs. Frankly, if you believe in them, my article isn\u2019t going to change your mind, so I won\u2019t try.<\/p>\n<p>I simply dislike that belief in improbable entities is somehow more noble than disbelief. The word spirituality has positive connotation, which implies that strict materialists who believe Descartes was soundly defeated on the issue over 300 years ago, have a negative connotation. I completely disagree.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/21\/why-atheism\/\">I\u2019ve tried arguing<\/a>: atheism is not a life philosophy devoid of meaning or intrinsic rewards. It\u2019s simply a different philosophy. The word spirituality has become tied in with concepts of life meaning, appreciation of nature and staying present in the moment. However, all of those things are still available even if you don\u2019t believe in angels and a collective consciousness.<\/p>\n<h2>Being Completely Unspiritual<\/h2>\n<p>If you do consider yourself a spiritual person, then do what works for you. I\u2019m not really out to convert anyone, both because I think it\u2019s a waste of time, and because I\u2019m not arrogant enough to believe my life philosophy is for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you\u2019re like me, surrounded by people telling you to be more \u201cspiritual\u201d and it doesn\u2019t feel right, just say no. Don\u2019t apologize for a lack of faith. There are many approaches to life so don\u2019t be bullied by a word with so many meanings it has become meaningless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Am I the only person who thinks spirituality is an overused word? I love the English language, so I hate to see when a word is applied so frequently it becomes vague and meaningless. Second, I dislike the connotation that spirituality is universally good. Spirituality, according to Wikipedia, the most infallible of sources, is: Spirituality [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[656,681],"tags":[376,377,22,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-life-philosophy","7":"category-nc-mindset","8":"tag-atheism","9":"tag-life-meaning","10":"tag-philosophy","11":"tag-spirituality","12":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What the Heck is Spirituality? - Scott H Young<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/27\/what-the-heck-is-spirituality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What the Heck is Spirituality? - Scott H Young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Am I the only person who thinks spirituality is an overused word? 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