“Spirituality did you say?”
Such as religion, it is quite difficult to find a consensual definition of spirituality. Indeed, this subject has been studied in different fields: philosophy, sociology, theology, psychology and so on.
The aim of this article is to present a definition of spirituality from a social psychology point of view. To do so, we are going to use an article (Renard, Rousseau, 2019) that tried to explain what are the different dimensions of spirituality. From what it has been said, spirituality can be defined according to eleven points that are all, more or less, connected with one anothers. However, among these points, some of them are more present in the literature than others. This is why this article will present the fives points that appear the most when we try to define spirituality.
The main components of spirituality
First of all, one of the most important characteristic of spirituality is the search for meaning. This aspect concerns the existential questions that every human being can face during his/her life: those that are related to life (e.g Why do I exist? What is the meaning of life?) but also those that are related to death (e.g Is there something in the afterlife?). People that fit in this way of life look for the truth about themselves, the world and an authenticity concerning their relations with the other persons.
The second aspect that appears the most when we try to understand what is spirituality is the notion of sacred. This notion is polymorphous. If we think from a religious point of view, it can concern for instance a divinity but it can also concern nature, art or even sport. Thus this aspect varies according to the people and their culture. The word “sacred” comes from the latin “sancio” which mean “to forbid”. In other words, everything that concerns the domain of the sacred must have the characteristic of being untouchable, such as founding texts like the Bible. Of all the aspects concerning spirituality, the sacred is the most complex to operationalize because it is strongly related to other aspects such as transcendence or awe.
Moreover, an essential element that concerns spirituality is the notion of transcendence. Transcendence is a relationship among the spiritual man and a higher force. In a religious context, this force is known as God but it can be the Nature or something else. Koenig, who is a famous author in the spirituality field, defines transcendence as something “that is outside of oneself and yet also within the self (in western traditions is called God, Allah, Yahweh, or a higher power, and in eastern traditions is called Ultimate Truth or reality, Vishnu, Krishna, or Buddha).”
Finally, since spirituality is a synonym of personal journey, the “self” is an essential element of its definition. Echoing to the first characteristic, the self refers to a necessity of honesty and sincerity towards one-self. In other words, this component refers to the need of knowing oneself (“know thyself” as it was carved at the entrance of the temple of Delphi…).
Bibliography:
Renard, E., Roussiau, N, « les différentes dimensions de la spiritualité », dans Gaymard, S. (2019). Psychologie sociale appliquée aux grandes thématiques contemporaines. France : L’Harmattan.