| If there are fake jewels, fake teachers, fake | | | | dimension of our life which is beyond our mundane |
| soldiers, there can also be fake spirituality. That is | | | | world. Here we acknowledge that there is a reality |
| why it is most important that we get to the meaning | | | | other than that which is seen by our eyes and |
| of genuine spirituality in life. | | | | perceived by other senses and deduced to by our |
| In a workshop of social scientists where they tried | | | | reason. |
| to define spirituality, they were surprised to find out | | | | Fourthly, genuine spirituality has to do with the |
| that they could not come down to an agreed | | | | ultimate meaning of our life, not just with our present |
| definition of this term. This is because spirituality has | | | | needs and desires. There is something more to it |
| become a very rich concept with its entrance into | | | | than just eating, drinking, and enjoying the present |
| the social sciences. It has become like the elephant | | | | turn of events. Life has a grander purpose than just |
| to the perception of 7 blind men: one thought it was | | | | the enjoyment of pleasure. |
| a tree branch, another thought it was a hand fan, | | | | Fifthly, genuine spirituality integrates our life. It makes |
| etc. | | | | us whole. In other words, spirituality is a unifying |
| But despite their disagreement on its definition, the | | | | factor in our life. It unifies the many elements of our |
| social scientists agree that they recognize what it is | | | | life: the physical, the material, the mental, the psychic, |
| when they come face to face with it. In other | | | | the financial, the ups and downs of our life. |
| words, the meaning of spirituality can be grasped | | | | These are the elements of a genuine spirituality and |
| intuitively, if not logically. | | | | this is from the viewpoint, not of priests, pastors, |
| The elements in their attempt to get at the meaning | | | | religious people and theologians, but from the |
| of spirituality are: art, relationship, sacred, ultimate | | | | viewpoint of social scientists. |
| meaning, integrated life, beyond our selves. | | | | Now social scientists can spot spirituality when it |
| First, genuine spirituality is an art. It is not a science. It | | | | appears and they can distinguish the genuine one |
| is something that we practice, not something that | | | | from the fake. It is a very welcome advance of the |
| we read about and forget, like the characters in a | | | | social sciences. Social scientists now acknowledge |
| book. It is something that cuts into our personality. It | | | | that spirituality can be studied empirically, just like any |
| is something that we are supposed to foster every | | | | other social phenomena. Because of this spirituality |
| day, otherwise we lose it, like the skill of painting. | | | | has a new meaning for all of us. Where before it was |
| Secondly, genuine spirituality has to do with a | | | | the area of theologians and mystics, now it is an area |
| relationship with others, beyond ourselves. It is not | | | | of sociologists and ordinary people like us. It has |
| delving into ourselves and losing track of the time | | | | more than a theological meaning, spirituality now has |
| and place we are in. It is not thinking of the I, me | | | | a sociological meaning, hopefully its genuine meaning, |
| and mine. Spirituality is a relating with others. | | | | because it is empirically verifiable. |
| Thirdly, this relating is open to the sacred, that | | | | |