Reflections by Rev. David Usher - District Minister

What is Spirituality?

"I am spiritual, not religious". A lot of people tell me that. What do they mean? As I heard one comic observe, what they really mean is that they are afraid of dying, but can't be bothered going to church. But while organised religion undoubtedly is on the wane, interest in spirituality is enjoying an increasing popularity today. Go into most churches and you will find pews empty. Go into most bookshops and you will find shelves full, with a host of books in the Mind/Body/Spirit section.

What is going on? I want to explore what Spirituality is. It is a big subject. This might take me more than the regulation twenty minutes. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

Think about this. Not long ago, most national societies had one dominant faith. In the Western world, that dominant faith has been Christianity, and it has dominated all aspects of life from the national - with laws and social codes and medical ethics based on Christian precepts - to the personal, with individuals basing their own moral code on Christian values, and using Christian language to articulate those values. This had the advantage of underpinning a cohesive social identity. Churches were central to the life of the nation and the local community, and they were the only medium through which spirituality was formally expressed.

There was little or no meaningful communication with cultures and faiths beyond the immediately familiar. Where there were non-Christian faiths, they were practised mainly by marginalised ethnic minority groups, and whether they were actively oppressed or passively tolerated, those non-Christian faiths did not have the same social or political influence on the national identity.

For a variety of reasons, the twentieth century has witnessed the crumbling of the Christian church's central role in public life: the immigration of people of other faiths and traditions; the advance of science and humanist thought which has challenged previously unquestioned assumptions, the explosion of communication technologies. All of these phenomena have contributed to the church's loss of centrality to national life. And whereas the Church once commanded the status of exclusive authority, people now often look elsewhere for their spirituality, or they look nowhere. Society has become secularised. The word secular does not mean without religion. It means there is no one focus for religion. There is no one dominant world-view or way of expressing that world-view. And no church, and no priesthood, is any longer the unquestioned universal authority on all things spiritual.

For some, this demise of organised religion in the western world has been a good thing. They say it has freed people from the tyranny of the church. For others, it has left a vacuum, with no obvious alternative to fill the void. People have not ceased to be spiritually hungry, but there is no longer just one place at which to satisfy their hunger. They have been left to their own devices, free to choose from the smorgasbord of spiritualities. And choose they have. Sometimes people make wise choices based on careful thought. And sometimes they make poor choices, and allow themselves to be seduced by questionable cults and sects which can often leave them emotionally damaged and financially swindled.

Many people today describe themselves as spiritual, whether or not they have any active involvement in organised religion. But is claiming to be spiritual saying anything interesting or profound, because we are all spiritual. To be human is to be spiritual. It is one of the distinguishing features of our humanity that, as far as we know, we are the only species with a spiritual dimension. We are the only species which asks ultimate questions of itself and of life, the only species which worships, and which is self-aware. It is both the triumph and the curse of our humanity.

But what is spirituality? When you stop to think about it, it is a word we use, and we think we know what we mean, but it is not so easy to pin it down. There are many ways in which you could define spirituality, but I want to offer you one way of expressing and understanding what spirituality is. Spirituality is our search for and our experience of connection. That search for and experience of connection can take different forms.

First, there is the connection with the universe. Have you ever had the experience of standing outside on a beautiful clear night and looking up at the infinite sky and thinking to yourself Wow! Just as an aside, "Wow" is one of the most important words in the spiritual vocabulary. Wow moments are moments of intense spiritual experience if you are receptive to them. So, you look up at all those stars, and you know that even the closest star is so far away you can't even begin to comprehend the vastness of what you are looking at. And you know that what seems to you vast beyond measure is in fact just a tiny little out of the way corner of only one galaxy and there are hundreds, thousands of galaxies. And it can make you feel so tiny, so incredibly insignificant. You know that since human time began people have stood and gazed at the stars as you are doing, wondering, marvelling, wanting to make sense of it, weaving it into stories and myths to connect the finite with the infinite.

You might know more now about the science of astronomy, you might know as your ancestors did not, that the earth is not the centre of all creation around which all else moves, but that this earth is the merest speck of insignificance compared with all that is. You might know all of that. Yet on this mere speck stands all that is precious to you - everything of love and beauty and creation. You turn your gaze from the heavens to this earth and you see all of nature's beauty and pageantry and complexity. You might not be a creationist in the simplistic fundamentalist sense, but perhaps you are drawn to wonder about how all of this came about. How did this miracle of creation happen?

And the most magical miracle of all, how did life begin? Why did it begin? How, why do you have life? When you ask such questions, you are delving into the life of your spirit. Because you know that, however small the universe might make you feel, you are part of it, you belong. You are connected to it. You are made of the same physical stuff as all that is, you are, literally, stardust. You are connected with the earth on which you stand, you are connected with the air which you breathe in and out every moment of your life, you are connected with water, without which you could not survive. You are physically connected with everything you see around you, from the most distant star to the tiniest insect. But more importantly, you are connected by invisible bonds, the bonds of the spirit. Spirituality is seeking and experiencing that intimate connection with the universe of all that is.

Sir Alistair Hardy was a famous British biologist who became fascinated by such experiences, and he started collecting other people's WOW stories. He studied those stories, he looked for common elements, and he helped people not to feel embarrassed in admitting to having had such experiences. I quote you just one such story from one of Sir Alistair's books, The Original Vision.

I remember instances in my childhood when I felt a unity with the world around me verging on mystical experience. I did not at first associate such feelings with religion. They were usually the result of a deep realisation of beauty in nature or music. They were not so much a sense of self-consciousness as of absorption in something far greater than myself of which I was at the same time a part and glad and grateful to be so; an overwhelming sense of trust and gratitude to the world for letting me be part of it. This was later amplified and deepened in periods of genuine spiritual experience when I and the world seemed to dissolve into a new and vastly more significant reality which had hitherto only been vaguely sensed but suddenly seemed to be revealed completely, so that one had the sense that it had always been there but that one had been unaware of it."

Spirituality is the search for and the experience of connection with the universe.

And here is another eternal spiritual question. What does your life mean?

Spirituality is also the quest for connection with meaning and purpose in your individual life. Like all other life, you were born, you live for a while, and then you die. That is the eternal circle of life from which none of us is exempt. But why? What is the point? Is there a point? Perhaps our human life is just a meaningless accident, a bad joke, and the best we can hope for is to get through it with a minimum of suffering and discomfort, perhaps occasionally a bit of fun, and when we die, that is the end. Or is there some grander scheme, some nobler end than an inevitable return to the dust?

One function of spirituality is to address that larger quest for connection with meaning and purpose which places our individual life within the context of a grander vision. Some of the answers which religions offer in reponse for the search for meaning might seem fanciful to the sophisticated modern mind, but even the most modern mind craves a context. Knowing that you are going to die, how are you to live so that your death does not deny your life's meaning? Spirituality is seeking connection with purpose beyond self, with that which will not die with you. Don't you find that many people, having acquired financial or worldly success, discover with dismay that such success gives them little satisfaction? Their life still feels hollow to them because they have not connected with a larger purpose beyond themselves. Spirituality is the connection of the individual self with meaning and purpose beyond self.

And that purpose must involve ethical living. Spirituality is also connection with ethical living.

Most of us have a sense of right and wrong. We want to live with integrity and authenticity. We want an ethical code. And we want it not only for our own benefit, we want our lives to touch others. Some people distort personal spirituality into an exclusive focus on themselves. They think that it is all about them. That the only thing which matters is that they get themselves to some imagined paradise and it does not matter what happens to others. I don't really deal in spiritual absolutes. It is against the Unitarian rules for me to tell you things categorically. But I am going to break the rules and tell you one spiritual absolute. If your spirituality is only about you and the state of your soul, so that you have no regard for the physical or emotional spiritual well-being of others, then your spirituality is worthless. Put it in the bin where it belongs and go stand in the corner and hang your head in shame. Authentic spirituality is about living in right relationship with others, all others, and you cannot be in right relationship with others if you don't care about them. Your spirituality must contribute to the good of others as much as it does to your own. Every great spiritual teacher has said the same, if in slightly different form. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.

Spirituality is the search for connection with meaning and purpose and connection with ethical living.

There is one other very important aspect of spirituality, and it is this. Spirituality is about practice. Some people think that spiritual experience is just something which happens. It is certainly true that moments of heightened spiritual awareness can and do happen spontaneously, and many people have testified to having such experiences,as Sir Alister Hardy catalogued. I recall a time when I was perhaps twenty one years old and working on a sheep station in the remote outback of Australia. It was just an ordinary day. I was alone, with only my trusty sheepdog for company, and I had paused from my work for a moment to enjoy a quiet cigarette. Malboro Man lives. Suddenly, without warning, I felt completely absorbed by all that was around me. It was as if there was a giant cosmic hoover, sucking me in so that I felt I was a part of everything - the trees, the earth, the other animals, the sky. And not only was I a part of everything around me at that time, I was a part of everything that had ever been or ever would be. Without having to think it through logically, I knew, simply knew, that it all made sense. My part in it all made sense. I felt absolutely at peace, absolutely reassured by my oneness with everything. I don't know how long that moment lasted. At such moments of spiritual intensity, time loses its meaning. Such is the true meaning of eternal life - not living forever, ridiculous notion, but life beyond time; life as if time did not matter, life measured by quality and intensity, not quantity.

Such moments of spiritual ecstasy are real, and can and do come unbidden. However, spirituality is also a practice. It is a discipline. We might all have a spiritual dimension, but that dimension requires work if it is to be healthy and flourish. We have a physical dimension, but our physicality needs a good diet and regular exercise to be healthy. If we want our bodies to be able to do things, we have to keep it in good shape. We have an intellectual dimension, but our brains also need regular exercise. It is the same with our spirits.

Likewise Our spirits must be used. They must be kept active and in good shape. They must be kept in good repair through regular use. It is interesting to note that the very word, "spirituality" has at its centre the smaller word, "ritual". Spirituality is about ritual, the repetition of practice and observance that which will keep us healthy.

Even when you might not at first want to tend to your spirit, the act of doing so anyway is the ritual. Writers say that the most important element in being a successful writer is to write. That is, sit down at your desk and write. Have a routine and stick to it. Those who await inspiration before they write anything very soon end up not writing anything. Athletes know they must train, even when they might not want to, if they are to achieve their goals of athletic success. Top athletes don't say, Oh, I just train when I feel like it. They train because they know they must. Musicians, regardless of how great their native talent, have to practise. Indeed, the greater their talent, the harder they practise. And the better they get, the harder still do they practise. There is the theory of 10,000 hours. Whatever the field - music or sport or academics or even spirituality - those who are truly great are those who have done at least 10,000 hours of practice. Native talent is all very well, but native talent without 10,000 hours does not amount to excellence in your chosen pursuit. How many hours have you devoted to the care of your soul?

If you want to be spiritually healthy you need to practise your spirituality. You can choose what your practice will be. But having chosen it, you have to do it. Your practice might be regular church-going, even on those Sunday mornings when you really would prefer to lie in bed or go to the garden centre. It might be meditation, chanting, yoga, t'ai chi, you name it. What it is, is less important than that it is, and that you do it.

So this is the thought I want to leave you with. What is spirituality? Spirituality is about seeking and experiencing connection - with the universe, with meaning and purpose, and with ethical living, and it is the repeated and intentional practice of engaging with whatever creates, recognises and celebrates that connection.

Well, that's what I think spirituality is. What do you think?