Sunday 14 February 2016

Discovering The Elements Of A Spiritual Experience

By Stephanie Reed


One, if not the most important element when looking to create a spiritual or religious experience is that of focus. Religion often requires continued study of the bible and other biblical texts. Spirituality, being content and process, often requires the individual be focused on body, mind and spirit. Once the individual is focused, it can be much easier to achieve and maintain a spiritual experience.

The search for truth is a difficult journey. For, while some individuals claim to have found the truth, the light and the way, it remains something which has to be taken as blind faith. As such, there are believers, non-believers, searchers and skeptics living in most communities.

While some may find it hard to separate religiousness from spirituality, philosophers and theorists have shown it can be done. In most cases, these individuals agree that organized religion deals with issues related to a church building, congregation, minister, deacons, Sunday school teachers, choir, conductors and other leaders. Whereas, spirituality can be experienced by believers and non-believers while also being found in and outside church walls.

At one point and time, a number of psychotherapist subscribed to the idea that spirituality could be an active and successful aspect of treatment. Due to most Western traditions subscribing to, at the minimum, a generalized idea of a higher power, many have now turned away from using this spiritual approach. Whereas, there are others who have embraced a number of elements from Eastern traditions.

Gendlin, a philosopher has one of the best definitions of spirituality to date. In this definition, Gendlin believes that spirituality is a feeling or an essence that grazes the body with a soft brush like feeling. As such, this physical aspect then merges with an emotional response to create an overall release of negativity from body, mind and spirit.

Spirituality can be viewed as the overall belief system of the individual with or without religious ideology. While some believe spirituality can be felt, others believe it is more a way of life. Emotional or physical, the overall well being which comes from this type experience can often be beneficial to good health and well being throughout life.

An emotional response can be brought about due to happiness and joy, sadness or sorrow. Some of the deepest of these experiences have often been felt due to the loss of a loved one, the loss of a pet or having to move away from friends at an early age. Others, when children are born, graduate, get married or move away. Whether a new couple, a new home, a new baby or a lost loved one, all can be considered spiritual or religious experiences.

While there have been attempts by mental health professionals to use spirituality and religion in treatment, most have now moved away from the idea. For some, recalling religious childhood memories has been known to create more psychological issues. While in others, it just seems less than ethical to question an individual about religious or spiritual identity unless directly associated with an on-going mental or physical issue.




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