As a JW, I'm sure we all realize now that our "spirituality" was gauged by your meeting attendance and how many hours you put in field service. To JW's it seems to be a mechanical thing. As a JW I could relate somewhat to the word because of what it meant in that scenario, but now that I'm out and an unbeliever I cannot relate to the word in any way. Sometimes I see posts where the person's "spirituality" is not connected to any religion and possibly without belief in a god. I cannot understand that, I have need for the concept, period.
In doing a search using the word, I came up with this:
Definitions of Spirituality on the Web:
- spiritualty: property or income owned by a church
- concern with things of the spirit
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn - Spirituality is matters of the spirit, a concept tied to a spirit world, a multidimensional reality and one or more deities. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality - Catholic spirituality means that, once one has accepted the faith (fides quae creditur) by making a personal act of faith (fides qua creditur), then one lives it out through spiritual practice. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality_(Roman_Catholic_Church) - Concern for that which is unseen and intangible, as opposed to physical or mundane; Appreciation for religious values
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spirituality - spiritual - religious: concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church; "religious texts"; "a member of a religious order"; "lords temporal and ...
- spiritual - concerned with or affecting the spirit or soul; "a spiritual approach to life"; "spiritual fulfillment"; "spiritual values"; "unearthly love"
- spiritual - lacking material body or form or substance; "spiritual beings"; "the vital transcendental soul belonging to the spiritual realm"-Lewis Mumford
- spiritual - a kind of religious song originated by Blacks in the southern United States
- spiritual - apparitional: resembling or characteristic of a phantom; "a ghostly face at the window"; "a phantasmal presence in the room"; "spectral emanations"; "spiritual tappings at a seance"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn - spiritually - in a spiritual manner; "the ninth century was the spiritually freest period"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn - Spiritual - Spirituals (or Negro spirituals) are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_(music) - Spiritualities is a term, often used in the Middle Ages, that refers to the income sources of a diocese or other ecclesiastical establishment that ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualities - spiritual - An African-American folk song, or a song in that style; Of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul; Of or pertaining to the God or a Church ...
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spiritual - Having to do with deep, often religious, feelings and beliefs, including a person’s sense of peace, purpose, connection to others and beliefs about the meaning of life.
www.mdanderson.org/patients_public/about_cancer/display.cfm
Considering the above, it seems the word is always tied into religion or believing in invisible beings. Is it something other than that to some? Using the above definitions it's no wonder I have no need for it.
Comments?