Spiritual Practices Versus Practical Spirituality
Is being spiritual really about daily practice?
First, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. This idea of being spiritual. Ooooh, so mysterious. We throw this word around a lot, and everyone acts like they mean the same thing when they say it.
All kinds of connotations arise. Ideas of purity, perhaps, restraint, asceticism, or adhering to some higher moral standard. Maybe it calls to mind a detachment from the messy indignities of being human — things like hunger, desire, emotion. It could represent all or none of these things, so before we dive deeper, let’s truly grasp what I mean when I use the word “spiritual”.
Meriam-Webster defines “spiritual” as:
“of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit : INCORPOREAL”
“of or relating to supernatural beings or phenomena”
— Source
The spirit or soul, the thing that some believe (and if you’re here you must have some passing familiarity with this) exists within all of us — the vital substance beneath this physical plane. Something incorporeal — having no material body or form.
Now, we’re starting to understand. Something observed beyond these five senses and this material world is spiritual.
