Archive for January 2010
What is Spirituality? Being Awake
This is the last blog posting for the month of January 2010. In my last posting I presented Anthony de Mello’s ideas about spirituality. He wrote: ”Spirituality is being awake. Getting rid of illusions. Spirituality is never being at the mercy of any event, thing, or person. Spirituality means having found the diamond mine inside [...]
A USEFUL CONCEPT OF SPIRITUALITY
My search for a concept of spirituality that truly spoke to me took me to the work of Anthony de Mello, SJ. De Mello was a Jesuit priest from India and a member of the Jesuit Province of Bombay. He directed the Sadhana Institute of Pastoral Counseling in Poona, India and the Pastoral and Formation [...]
RELIGION DEFINED
Before I give you my working understanding of spirituality I want to make a distinction between spirituality and religion. While they are interrelated and overlap in important ways, it is useful to appreciate that fact that each means something different. There have been many surveys that ask people if they are spiritual and religious. Many say [...]
WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY? PART TWO
If you read my recent blog posting and took my suggestion to write down your concept of spirituality, what did you write and how do you think of it? Did your idea of spirituality bear any resemblance to the following ideas? Michael Downey (1997) in his book, Understanding Christian Spirituality, Mahwah, NJ; Paulist Press, characterizes [...]
What is Spirituality? Part One
What is spirituality? Since “ContemplAgeing” involves the connection between aging and spirituality, especially the opportunities for spiritual growth that accompany our aging, it is important to spell out what I mean by the word “spirituality.” In my next several postings I will lay out what the word spirituality means to me. This will help you [...]