Stop Hijacking the word SPIRITUALITY!
The term spirituality has always been used in secular ways, and I’m here to claim it back!
The term spirituality has always been one that is vague, broad, and occasionally brings to mind visuals of freaks, like some skinny, fruity-smelling vegan with wild hair who meditates all day and has a nose ring.
But I believe the term has been hijacked, and I’m here to claim it back! That’s right, step aside you crazy yippy-hippies, and let the real spiritualists cut through. Yes, I know that the concept of spirituality means many things to many people, and one’s personal spirituality can be very different from that of someone else. I get it.
Regardless, I’m tired of people touting The Secret and holding motivational touchy-feely events and telling you to be your best self in the name of spirituality. There is nothing wrong with all of that, but it should be done under the name of self-help or psychology. Spirituality is a word that should be reserved for those who are interested in exploring a planned design or higher power outside the realm of formal religion or man-made dogma.
Why do I care? Because it’s confusing when I am trying to find articles or material on spirituality, that’s why! (insert whiny voice here) As someone who does a lot of research on the topic to publish a blog on the same, it can often be a frustrating waste of time to thumb through irrelevant material.
I know I don’t own a patent on the word and it’s a free country and all, but let’s flip it around. The word secular is defined as attitudes, events, or things that have no religious or spiritual basis. So how would people like it if the word secular was wrongly used in situations where a God was discussed in general, but not necessarily by a specific name, i.e. Jesus, Allah, or Ram? That would be incorrect, wouldn’t it? Secularism is supposed to refrain from any kind of religious reference, even if it’s done generically. How would people like it if they participate in an event thinking it’s secular, and then hear spiritual or religious terms thrown about all day long? You bet your spiffy speedos they would not.
In the same way, I believe the word spiritual should be NON-secular, and refer to someone who believes that there may be a planned design or higher power, but may not want to specifically follow the rituals of a particular religion. That’s all. It should not be stolen and used for the idea of improving one’s own appearance or self in this life if that’s all that one is pursuing. Meditation for the sake of alleviating stress so one can be more productive in their current life is quite different than meditating for the sake of true, eternal enlightenment.
Now one can argue that charity starts at home and becoming a less disturbed, more calm individual leads to heightened spiritual states and knowledge. That is true, but so does keeping a sound body and mind through exercise and taking vitamins. That’s called nutrition and fitness, not spirituality. A line needs to be drawn. When one is not pursuing an activity that involves links to the great beyond or increased compassion and love for all sentient beings, it should clearly be labeled as self-help when it is simply about one’s current self in one’s current incarnation. A blog written by someone interested in hiking, nature walks, mindfulness, and stress techniques is more of a self-help blog, not a spiritual one.
I know many would disagree and I know there are a lot of greys and overlapping areas that make it acceptable for one kind of spiritual to bleed into the other. To me, veganism does involve true spirituality because it is the recognition that there is a suffering, loving soul in animals, not just humans. It’s about greater awareness of others, not just one’s self, which to me is true spiritual enlightenment. So it’s hard to define exactly what the boundaries of this word should be, and of course, everyone’s perceptions vary.
Therefore I know that my suggestion to define the term spirituality more concisely is simply my subjective and peevish wish and not going to actually happen and I’ve just wasted 20 minutes of my life writing this, as you have reading it. But one can still put the idea out there in the universe, and hope that against all odds it may just sprout wings. One never knows.
