The Spiritual Agnostic: Part 2

Essential Spirituality

What is it that draws a person to spiritual life? From as far back as we can remember, we can each sense a mystery in being alive. When we are present with an infant in the first moments after birth, or when the death of a loved one brushes close to us, the mystery becomes tangible. It is there when we witness a radiant sunset or find a moment's silent stillness in the flowing seasons of our days. Connecting to the sacred is perhaps our deepest need and longing.
"...A mystery in being alive." It is this that we experience as we open the door, there it is for those who can see it--the mystery. It is as Albert Einstein held in Living Philosophies, "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious--the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science." It is the mystery of our spirituality--difficult to understand or explain, a truth perhaps beyond human understanding. But there it is, none-the-less.

Which brings us back to the issue of semantics, and a bit of a conundrum. In discussing Essential Spirituality, we are in essence discussing essential mystery. What is it? We don't know, it's a mystery, but we discuss it anyway. There is a Zen saying that goes something like this: "All instruction is but a finger pointing to the moon, and those whose gaze is fixed upon the pointer will never see beyond." Likewise, Anthony De Mello, the Indian Jesuit priest, would talk about theology as "pointing a finger at the moon, and we would come to mistake the finger for the moon." Or contemplate the disciples absorbed in a discussion of Lao-tzu's dictum: "Those who know do not say; those who say do not know." When the master entered, they asked him what the words meant. Said the master, "Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?" All of them indicated that they knew. Then he said, "Put it into words." All of them were silent.

The great Thomas Aquinas, toward the end of his life, wouldn't write and wouldn't talk; he had seen. Not being Thomas Aquinas, we will attempt to discuss the essentials of spirituality bearing in mind the mystery and the moon.

As a spiritual agnostic, it seems that at the core of spirituality is an essentially and essential philosophical question: "What is the meaning of life?" The sincere desire to answer this inquiry reveals the most basic assumptions about who we are, what our relationships are, and what are our beliefs. This question becomes intensified by our awareness of life as ephemeral. With the knowledge of our death we seek to find or make meaning of life. We have looked in the mirror of life and asked as we stare back into our eyes, "Who am I?" and "What am I?" and perhaps, "Why am I?" And we see a body, and we are aware of these thoughts, but who or what is aware of the awareness? For a moment, the door might open and we get a glimpse, but too often the essence remains a mystery.

If you could get rid of yourself just once,
the secret of secrets would open to you.
The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe,
would appear on the mirror of your perception.
-Rumi-

With all this being said, in the context of The Spiritual Agnostic, how do we, as agnostics, operationally define spirituality and of what does it consist? Historically, the focus on spiritual belief systems has been based predominately on religiosity. For example, Brother Wayne Teasdale in his book The Mystic Heart, explores what he calls interspirituality, "a genuine and comprehensive spirituality that draws on the mystical core of the world's great religion traditions." In Essential Spirituality, Roger Walsh examines seven practices that he has identified as common to the major world religions. What about spirituality outside and apart from the context of religious traditions? Will the essentials be the same, or similar? Possibly, but historically, a significant obstacle to the development of an agnostic view of spirituality has been the conflation of the notion of religion with the concept of spirituality.

All of this is slowly changing. It is now increasingly understood that, although metaphysical or theological beliefs can inform spirituality for some individuals, there is a clear distinction between spirituality and the concept of religion. Although there is not yet, and probably never will be, an agreed-on definition or construct of spirituality in the literature, a growing body of research indicate that it is broader than religion and relates to the universal quest to make sense out of existence, a characteristic of human "being".

Therefore, as we ask, "What is essential spirituality?" we can add to the rich offerings of the world's religious traditions the philosophical renderings of naturalists, cognitive-behaviorism, science and more. For example, there is reason to believe that, to some degree, spirituality is hard-wired into the human nervous system. Recent experiments using thermal imaging indicate that brain activity during "transcendent" experience is highest in the limbic system, that part of the brain which is associated with emotions and motivation, and in the connecting hypothalamus, amygdala and the hippocampus. Studies of praying Franciscan nuns and meditating Buddhist monks reveal that certain religious experiences, like meditation and prayer, are linked to increased activity and changes in the structure of the brain and nervous system.

Perhaps by examining representative definitions of, and elements in, spirituality from both a theistic and non-theistic standpoint we can discover common ground regarding the concept and construct of essential spirituality that will prove beneficial on our individual spiritual explorations. Wayne Teasdale considers spirituality as "an individual's solitary search for and discovery of the absolute or the divine. It involves direct mystical experience of God, or realization of vast awareness, as in Buddhism." He further emphasizes that it carries with it a conviction that the transcendent is real, and it requires a degree and type of spiritual practice that serves as a catalyst to inner change and growth. While primarily personal, it also contains a social dimension. "Spirituality, like religion, derives from mysticism."

Teasdale goes on to identify nine elements in a global or universal spirituality, which are part of interspirituality itself. The first element is a fully operational moral capacity (in touch with compassion, love and mercy, is kind and other-centered). The second element is solidarity with all living beings (interconnectedness of everyone and everything; one vast system, which is itself a system of systems). Next comes deep nonviolence (the attitude and practice of non-harming) followed by humility (including modesty about oneself but is essentially a virtue related to what is, rather than what seems to be. The fifth unifying element is spiritual practice (contemplative forms of prayer, meditation, sacred reading, music and chanting, yoga and certain martial arts, hiking and walking); then mature self-knowledge (moving beyond denial--denial of our faults and limitations, our buried motives or hidden agendas-- and beyond judgment of others, beyond projection on others our own need for inner work). Elements seven through nine include simplicity of life (concerning our relationship with the planet, the natural world, other species, and other human beings), selfless service and compassionate action (a positive contribution to ease the enormous suffering among the poor and oppressed, the ecological degradation of the earth, and threats to world peace and stability), and a prophetic voice (Vigorously acknowledging the unjust events and policies in the world, including economic. social, and political injustice, and providing leadership through witnessing and response).

Roger Walsh defines spirituality as referring to direct experience of the sacred and spiritual practices as "those that help us experience the sacred--that which is most central and essential to our lives--for ourselves. Walsh identifies seven spiritual practices to "authentic" religions and that he calls perennial practices. These are as follows: transforming your motivation (reduce craving or attachment and redirect motivation or goal); cultivating emotional wisdom (attaining unconditional love through reducing barriers, cultivating attitudes such as generosity or gratitude, use of devotional practices, and recognizing the true nature of Reality); living ethically (acting out and reinforcing positive emotions--"Whatever you do, you do to yourself"); concentrating and calming your mind (through meditation, continuous prayer, or bhakti we develop concentration on something besides neurosis); awakening your spiritual vision (see clearly and recognize the sacred in all things); cultivating spiritual intelligence (develop wisdom and understand life); and expressing spirit in action (embrace generosity and the joy of service).

Thomas Prugh, in Alcohol, Spirituality, and Recovery, discusses "practical spirituality" and provides ten common components, including: regular renewal of basic trust (the sense of belonging in the world); sound values to support and guide relationships, and a meaningful life philosophy; relationship with and commitment to an integrating object of evocation (a central value in one's systems of values, a "higher power"); regular energizing experiences of transcendence (the experience of the "vertical dimension", peak experiences); reconciliation and forgiveness; regular renewal of self-acceptance and self-esteem (promoting the value of constructive living in the present while planning responsibly for the future); renewal of realistic hope and a sense of future possibilities; development of the "higher self" (what religions call the "soul"); nurturing interaction with nature and other people; and participation in a community with shared spiritual values.

Thomas W. Clark, Director of the Center for Naturalism posits that "authentic" spirituality invokes an emotional response--what he calls a spiritual response--that can include feelings of significance, unity, awe, joy, acceptance, and consolation. Such feelings are intrinsically rewarding and are, therefore sought after in their own right, though they also help us in dealing with difficult situations involving death, loss, and disappointment. The spiritual response then helps us meet our affective needs for both celebration and reconciliation.

Spirituality also involves a cognitive context: a set of fundamental beliefs about oneself and the world that can both inspire the spiritual response and provide an interpretation of it. Our ideas about what ultimately exists, who we fundamentally are, and our place in the greater scheme of things form the cognitive context for spirituality. "By contemplating such beliefs we are temporarily drawn out of the mundane into the realization of life's deeper significance and this realization generates emotional effects. But equally, the spiritual response thus generated is itself interpreted in the light of our basic beliefs--namely, it is taken to reflect the ultimate truth of our situation as we conceive it."

Together with the emotional response and the cognitive context, which are "linked tightly in reciprocal evocation and validation", comes what is generally called spiritual practice. According to Clark, because intellectual appreciation of fundamental beliefs alone may not be sufficient to in inducing an especially deep experience, various noncognitive techniques can help access the spiritual response. These may include activities such as dance, singing, chanting, meditation, and participation in rituals and ceremonies all of which can help us in moving from our heads to our hearts and beyond.

Research by Martsolf and Mickley (1998) indicates that spirituality provides individuals with Meaning (significance of life; making sense of situations; deriving purpose); Values (beliefs, standards and ethics are cherished); Transcendence (experience, awareness, and appreciation of a "transcendent dimension" to life); Connecting (increased awareness of a connection with self, others, God/Spirit/Devine, and nature); and Becoming (an unfolding of life that demands reflection and experience; includes a sense of who one is and how one knows).

Research into nonreligious 11 spirituality conducted by the Centre for Social science Research, School of Nursing and Health, Central Queensland University, revealed that essential spirituality focused on the here and now, rather than a religious perspective, as the most important element in meaning-making. Additionally, though nonreligious, spirituality was steeped in transcendental values or references such as a reverence for life; respect for others; appreciation of the gift of existence; and openness to wonder about the universe. Other significant findings of the study indicated that: (1) a distinction is made between religion and a belief in God; (2) although meaning is not derived from a religious framework there is a sense of the profound--that life has meaning; (3) there is a sense of unknowing and that understanding the ultimate meaning of life is beyond the intellectual faculties of humans; (4) there is a comfort or ease in accepting and living with the fact that it is not possible to understand the meaning of life: and (5) the strength to deal with demands and challenges of serious illness comes from within the individual rather than from a dependence on an external spiritual force, be that religion, or a transcendental being. Such strength is described as: individual; a product of childhood experiences; and supported and reinforced by the caring of significant others.

Certainly, there are many more definitions and dimensions of spirituality we could reference, indeed each of us could develop our own right now, and may want to. The critical thing to keep in mind is that there is no one answer to our question, what is spirituality? Certainly various religions and sects within religions may promote their vision or version, but even here it is not so cut and dried. Add the mystical traditions, New Age vagaries, and the inclusion of agnostics, atheists, rationalists, scientists, and others, and the possibilities are legion. Spirituality is, therefore, very much in the eye (and mind and heart and perhaps, soul) of the beholder.