What does "spiritual" mean to me? PART 1

Our language is full of words that we sort of, but not really know the meaning of or what they mean to us personally. That in itself is quite interesting.

“Spiritual” is a word that means many different things to many different people. To me, at the core, it means to have a belief in, relation to, knowing of and connection with something transcendent. To me, this transcendent is ultimately God. And forgive me if I step on some toes here, but I believe that any spirituality that does not include an intelligent, personal God that cares for us misses the, by far, most important component. But while I believe that this is an essential component in spirituality, it is not an absolute part of the definition of spirituality.

Contrary to many other people, I don’t make a clear distinction between “spirituality” and “religion”. The way I see it, both are relating to the same transcendent reality. Religion seems more oriented towards rituals, morals and tradition, while spirituality seems more oriented towards practice and experience. But personally, I think one needs both and that they overlap a great deal. There is something to be said in the defense of some tradition morals, as long as they don’t become stale. Namely that that which has been transmitted over generations for a long time generally has been transmitted because it has served some sort of function, even if it isn’t always clear what that function actually is. But if this is all that one’s religious/spiritual life becomes, I think that it loses its vitality. 

Back to spiritual. For me it also has to do with how I conduct myself in my day to day life. What I choose to fill my days with and what I choose not to fill my days with. Even if I’m far from perfect and do lots of things that I know that I shouldn’t do when my emotions get the best of me, the spiritual side is something that I always relate to in one way or another. It’s always in the back of my mind.