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Spiritual / spirituality

The spiritual is often defined as that which is “nonmaterial,” but this definition runs into problems when applied to human beings, who are traditionally considered “bodyspirits,” both bodily and spiritual. In some modern philosophies and psychologies, however, the spiritual dimension of the human is denied or disregarded. And many aspects of our contemporary American culture (e.g., the hurried sense of time and need to produce, produce) make it difficult to pay attention to this dimension. Fundamentally, the spiritual dimension of human beings can be recognized in the orientation of our minds and hearts toward ever more than we have already reached (the never-satisfied human mind and the never-satisfied human heart). We are drawn inevitably toward the “Absolute” or the “Fullness of Being” [see “God”]. Consequently, there are depths to our being which we can only just begin to fathom. If every human being has this spiritual dimension and hunger, then even in a culture like ours, everyone will have-at least at times-some awareness of it, even if that awareness is not explicit and not put into words. When people talk of a “spirituality,” however, they usually mean, not the spirituality that human beings have by nature, but rather a set of attitudes and practices (spiritual exercises*) that are designed to foster a greater consciousness of this spiritual dimension and (in the case of those who can affirm belief in God) a more explicit seeking of its object- the Divine or God. Ignatian* spirituality with its Spiritual Exercises* is one such path among many within Christianity, to say nothing of the spiritualities within other religious traditions, or those more or less outside a religious tradition. (“Peoples’ spiritual lives [today] have not died; they are simply taking place outside the church,” (Jesuit General Congregation 34, “Our Mission and Culture”)].)

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