Please explain for me what is meant by “spiritual.” I have been surprised and disappointed to hear more frequent use of words such as that in the last fifteen years, and have not been able to get anyone to explain to me what is meant. (This includes a Jewish rabbi who was a speaker at an Interfaith gathering. Most pause a little, then reply to my question that they don’t really know. One friend replied that she knows and promised to explain sometime, but never has!)
One of the reasons I have joined UU organizations (three in varied parts of the U.S. starting more than forty years ago) was because we said what we mean and many of us agree with Peter Mayer’s song, “Everything is holy now.” Thus it makes no sense to us to talk about “varied experiences of the holy,” only “varied experience of life.”
If your plan is for the UUA to exclude us, perhaps I should resign my membership and work harder to support the Freedom of Religion Foundation. www.ffrf.org .
R.Walker
Asked by Ruth Walker - Cedar Falls, Iowa
I am happy to give my understanding of the word spirituality which is simply: ways we have to foster and nurture the human spirit. In recent years spirituality has been expanded to include fostering and nurturing the spirit of the earth, which I believe is a welcome addition.
There are specific ways we can do this, and they are known as skillful means. It can be the simple practice of attentiveness, or keeping a journal of one’s gratitude and yearning. It can be spending time with a photo of your family, focusing on each one and giving space and time to cherish them. I find the practice of memorizing poetry very nurturing. Over time these practices, which are not magical in any way, can help quiet the chatter which is so incessant in our culture, and strengthen us to work in the world.
While we can, with Peter Mayer, affirm that everything is holy; it is easy to lead our lives in reaction rather than appreciation and miss much that is holy around and within us. Spirituality takes us beyond talking about what we know and helps us move more deeply into our experience of Life.
Thanks for the website of the Freedom of Religion Foundation. If you had said Freedom from Religion I would have been concerned. Please know I have no plan to exclude you and your friends from the UUA. Nor do I wish you to resign your membership in your congregation: there is much for us to do together.
I am happy to give my understanding of the word spirituality which is simply: ways we have to foster and nurture the human spirit. In recent years spirituality has been expanded to include fostering and nurturing the spirit of the earth, which I believe is a welcome addition.
There are specific ways we can do this, and they are known as skillful means. It can be the simple practice of attentiveness, or keeping a journal of one’s gratitude and yearning. It can be spending time with a photo of your family, focusing on each one and giving space and time to cherish them. I find the practice of memorizing poetry very nurturing. Over time these practices, which are not magical in any way, can help quiet the chatter which is so incessant in our culture, and strengthen us to work in the world.
While we can, with Peter Mayer, affirm that everything is holy; it is easy to lead our lives in reaction rather than appreciation and miss much that is holy around and within us. Spirituality takes us beyond talking about what we know and helps us move more deeply into our experience of Life.
Thanks for the website of the Freedom of Religion Foundation. If you had said Freedom from Religion I would have been concerned. Please know I have no plan to exclude you and your friends from the UUA. Nor do I wish you to resign your membership in your congregation: there is much for us to do together.
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