Over the years I have had numerous conversations with people about what is and isn鈥檛 spiritual. Some tell me they are not spiritual. Some say they don鈥檛 know what spiritual means or that the word is too vague and wishy-washy to mean anything at all. Still others say that they have aspects of life that feel spiritual and other parts that don鈥檛. And there are also those that tell me all things spiritual or religious in nature are irrelevant.
The longer I live and the more I explore spiritual matters, the more I am convinced that we have fragmented life too much. I don鈥檛 have a routine, mundane, everyday life that is different (or separate) from my spiritual life. I have only one life鈥攆ragile, precious, imperfect, and small as it is. How I see that life and what I think about how it fits into the larger Life is where spirituality enters the picture. Spirituality is first and foremost about perception and attention.
French theologian and activist Simone Weil (1909-1943) wrote that, 鈥淎ttention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.鈥� In our rush about modern world we so infrequently give anything or anyone our full and undivided attention. Yet it is in those moments when we are fully present that the dimension of our living which points toward the ultimate and the eternal and timeless鈥攖he spiritual dimension鈥攊s revealed. Indeed, Weil went on to write, 鈥� Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.鈥� In our one life, our whole life, when we pay attention we find that there is life within life.听 It is this dimension, this experience of seeing the beauty and elements of existence that point to the universal and sacred that I define as spirituality.
Although the word is slippery and imprecise, the feeling or sense that inspired it is not. I would venture a guess that we have all experienced moments that have had a magical or amazing quality鈥攖he birth of a child, a breathtaking sunset on a mountaintop, or holding someone鈥檚 hand as they took their last breath. We have also experienced remarkable moments of insight or clarity or beauty even in less grand ways鈥攁 smile from a stranger, a flash of understanding after hours of stuck-ness, or a day when everything goes as planned. Spirituality is nothing more and nothing less than seeing and acknowledging those moments for what they are. Spirituality is seeing our lives in context鈥攖heir finitude, their smallness in the grand scheme, and their value to those who know and love us. Spirituality resides in our ability to love, in our capacity to reach out, and our efforts to live in a way that makes a difference.
Whether or not you consider yourself spiritual, I encourage (urge?) you to pay attention to your living. Perhaps (as usual) the poet says it best.听 Mary Oliver鈥檚 Praying (from her book of poems Thirst):
听
听It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
听
a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway
听
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
Rev. Shana Lyngoodis co-minister of First Unitarian Church of Victoria. She has loved and served in Victoria since 2010
You can read more articles from our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking
