Spirituality plays a very sub sequential role in my personal life. First of all, spirituality helps me govern what is right and what is wrong in my life. Many of the decisions that I make everyday, I believe are a direct result of my spirituality. For as long as I can remember I have been raised to believe that I should live my life the way God would want me to live it. Therefore, whenever I have a decision to make, I have to consider, what is right? And what is wrong? Second of all, it also helps me to feel more secure about what will happen to my spirit once my life here on earth is over. I believe that there is a better place for our spirits once we leave this earth.
Many of my spiritual beliefs have changed over time. When I was younger I believed that in order to go to haven a person had to loyally attend and be actively involved in church. But, as I grew older I was taught that church is just the building in which we praise the lord. I was taught that the lord could be praised without the building. As a child I also had this image and belief that God was white. This white image that I had of God came from pictures that I saw as a child. These images and beliefs changed, as I got older because I was exposed to new information and a new way of thinking and I was able to investigate these things on my own.
In my opinion, there isn’t much of a difference between being a spiritual person and a religious person. If...
The idea of spirituality is realistically a difficult word to define, everyone perceives spirituality in their own way, and uses it in different ways. When reading the Christian bible, John the Baptist discusses the idea of spirituality and defines it as, “Spirituality is all about becoming more like God, who is spirit and having our character conformed to his image.”(John 4:24) (Romans12: 1-2). When the Natives were forced to convert to Christianity, this is what they were told to believe, that spirituality means that you must conform you’re character to be more like God. This truly shows you how much the Europ...
A difficulty that has occurred commonly is that a definition of spirituality cannot be agreed on. In a broad explanation of both religion as well as spirituality, religion constitutes the organization of faith, implementing prayer, ministry and theology. Spirituality could be viewed as a more individualized experience with a higher being, creator or idea (Walker et al., 2004, p. 70). These expressions allow a vision of client diversity that is found in all counseling classifications. While defining religion and spirituality properly seems trivial, when training counselors to properly apply the use of such variables in their therapies, a concrete explanation is imperative.
Spirituality hasn’t played an important role in my life thus far, as my initial understanding of the concept has always been related to religion. Growing up, my mother’s sides of the family were firm believers in god, and Christianity. Neither my mother, nor my father ever included religion into their lives, or mine. In fact, religion created a barrier within our family dynamics for as long as I can remember. My aunt was married to a priest and during our family dinners he would pull me aside to read bible versus. My parents were not happy once they realized that my uncle was doing this with me behind their backs. This marked the beginning of divergence between my mother and aunt’s side of the family. It wasn’t until my grandparents passed
My spiritual wellness is what I believe in life. I believe in my religion which is Christianity and its beliefs. I keep myself motivated through faith by the morals and beliefs throughout the day. Spiritual wellness is your purpose in life and that is an important part that has to do with your
Based on a mixture of ideas coming from the stated authors, I comprehend spirituality as believing in something and living for a purpose in life. Regardless of a religion, people can still be spiritual. Spirituality is the influence behind a person’s actions; whatever a person desires to do, will lead to actions and in turn, spirituality (Rolheiser 7). According to Rolheiser, “Spirituality is mo...
While spirituality is often defined today as the synonym for religion, there are many dissonant voices in Christianity who would disagree with this meaning. Peterson is one of them, arguing that spirituality is not religion or exclusive, but that spirituality is deeply integrated in the
Spiritual life makes us feel prosperous although we may lack of any material possesions and opportunites.
Worthington et. al. (2011) says historically, religiousness involved individual and institutional elements; however, now spirituality is thought of as an individual phenomenon and linked with meaningfulness, New Age beliefs, and personal transcendence. Additionally, spirituality is described in personal terms like one’s relationship with God, and as a result, spirituality is more highly regarded than religion. The authors define spirituality as a feeling of closeness and having a relationship or dedication to God or a higher power; this can be a religious experience or a nonreligious one. They state that what one considers sacred is usually related to the awareness of social influences. According to the authors, four types of spirituality have been identified based on closeness to God. First, is religious spirituality. Religious spirituality’s connectedness to God is based on one’s specific denomination and the closeness is specific to the deity identified. Second is humanistic spirituality. Humanistic spirituality involves closeness to humans. This type of spirituality fosters a loving connection with a specific group of people and a sense of selflessness and concern
Spirituality is a broad concept, often met with skepticism, but for those who believe in spirituality, it is something real and can have positive effects. Spirituality is difficult to operationalize because it is defined and understood in multiple ways. Participants in studies have described spirituality from experiencing a connection with God or a higher power, to believing something exists that is beyond oneself, to being a search for inner peace and supporting core values to become an ideal human (Hodge & McGrew, 2006). For this paper, spirituality will be defined as an inclusive, multidimensional phenomenon (Starks, Vakalahi & McPhatter, 2014). As well, for this paper belief in spirituality, belief in something bigger than oneself, whether
This question deals with the necessity of God himself. It asks us to imagine that there is no knowledge about any superhuman being, such as God. It makes me think about weather or not we would be inclined to want something like God. I am forced to think of how important God is in my own life, and how important God is in the rest of the world.
Spirituality refers to the perspective of that which is valued in life, and that which must to be upheld and defended under any and all circumstances, regardless of the social environment and surrounding conditions.
I am fortunate to have realized my faith in god in early years of my life and experiences in life have only strengthened my faith; I was born and raised in a small town in India and my elementary to undergraduate education has been from a Christian, catholic school, Convent of Jesus & Mary, a congregation established by Mother Claudine Thevnet who wanted to undertake the education of girls in India. It was in school, I first experienced the introduction to Christianity and my family being Hindu resonated a lot of common values being taught at school. Since there was no conflict in my values learnt at school and those at home, these were only deepened and have become an important part of my personality. As a result of my upbringing and my education, memories of my faith are amongst my earliest. I believe in the presence of god and I believe that god has bigger plans for me. My education and my family has integrated values in me for respecting, accepting, understanding other members of the society. Hinduism taught me how to be respectful and tolerant to others, it taught me that I need to understand that I am a human and I am here to serve and help others in need. There have been times when faced with difficult challenges in life and I have followed the path laid by god, ignorance went away and I found solutions and answers to the problems and challenges that I faced.
In order to develop my personal philosophy of the relationship between religion and spirituality I had to do some research. I found that there are many definitions, often in direct contradiction of each other. In studying concepts of spirituality, one observation that I found intriguing was offered by Rabbi Adat Shalom (2011) who states, “…spirituality, which takes it’s character from individuality.” In 1997, Dr. John K Testerman, an Associate Professor for the Department of Family Medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine presented his thoughts on the subject, stating:
Spirituality can have many different definitions, depending on who is asked. It can be something as simple as looking for a higher meaning to life, or something so complex that one can base their beliefs, religion and overall life around it. There are several different ways to express one's spirituality; rituals, songs, dances, stories, and writings are all common methods of expression.
According to Hutchison (2015), “religion is symbolic patterns that consists of values, beliefs, behaviors and experiences” (p. 184). I personal conceptualize spirituality as a vital role in my life that helps me during a time of sickness, forgiveness, and needed guidance. Spirituality helps guide me throughout life during the difficult times I have encountered. Spirituality impacts my life in positive ways that influence and regulate my behavior and health. Health is very important to me; I believe the spirit can heal a person from their sickness. It seems that the spirit heals me every time I pray to be healed from sickness. The spirit gives me strength at a time of weakness. When I feel at my lowest point in life I call on the spirit to pick