I am finding ‘spirituality’, that is, a more deeply satisfying sense of meaning—- not by thinking my consciousness is eternal, but by applying to my daily life scientific info pertaining to how best to meet my need for food, water, housing…
‘Spirituality’ is here used without reference to theology, for example, ‘spirit of the laws’. I sometimes use terms such as ‘totality of being’ or ‘that which seems to tie it all together’ as a substitutes for ‘spirituality.’
Spirituality seems to denote that which pertains to a person having a sense of how her life is part of a much larger process, involving a paradox: her fulfillment intensifies as she sees her relative importance as an individual life diminish, not thru self-deprecation but thru increased love for others.
What do you think of ecocentrism as a form of non-theological spirituality? Wendell Berry, and perhaps Thomas Berry as well, along with many other thinkers, have said our ecological crisis is ultimately a spiritual one. Though some might, I don’t interpret that as a claim in support of organized religion, or even theology in general, but a reference to human perspectives about our relationships with all other living beings. (Animal liberation may here apply.)
Perhaps humankind will come out at the other side of our eco-crises with new forms of spirituality—ones, unlike much of existing theology, with which we harmonize our rational faculties with our intuition and our appreciation of mystery and wonder.
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