{"id":208,"date":"2012-11-26T00:03:58","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T05:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/?p=208"},"modified":"2012-11-12T00:08:57","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T05:08:57","slug":"why-spirituality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/","title":{"rendered":"Why – Spirituality?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Many people are intuitively attracted to the idea of spirituality \u2013 and probably just as many are repelled by it. Why is that? Some of the connotations of spirituality can be quite negative for rational-minded people, which can explain the latter situation. Communing with the dead, seeing past lives, and accessing other non-local realities is not appealing to those who pride themselves on their focus on the here and the now. To the strictly rational mind, anything that is not about the about our this-world <\/em>existence smacks of poor reality testing, and appears escapist, if not foolish.<\/p>\n

Among those who are attracted to spirituality, some \u2013 perhaps \u2013 are seeking diversion from the boring or troubling elements of their everyday existence. Non-local alternatives sound exciting and fun. The idea of an alternative reality that is somehow \u201cbetter\u201d than the here and now can be quite enticing. But surely, if spirituality offered nothing more than escape, it would not have such enduring appeal.<\/p>\n

No, a different connotation of spirituality allows us a fuller appreciation of its benefits and strengths. Though writing from a religious \u2013 though not a traditionally<\/em> religious \u2013 background, Marcus Borg put it this way: \u201cSpirituality is for the hatching of the heart.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Having just made the point that the human heart \u201cis like an egg with a shell around it,\u201d Borg explains that in order for what is within the heart to live, the shell must break open. Otherwise, \u201cwhat is within dies and becomes foul-smelling and sulfuric.\u201d[2]<\/a> Borg goes into some depth about ways in which the shell around the heart can be opened. Collective practices, such as sacred rituals, hearing sacred music, and making sacred journeys are involved. Many of these are common rites of traditional organized religion.<\/p>\n

But individual practices also serve to hatch open the heart \u2013 prayer is one if them. Having just read the rest of Borg\u2019s book, I can assure you he is not speaking of the mostly meaningless rote prayer we all were taught to say in church. He is not even referring to private petitionary prayer directed at an anthropomorphic God. Borg\u2019s God is not \u201cout there,\u201d but right here and right now. His God is more relational, more like the Ultimate Reality accepted in spiritual circles, and of which we all are a part.\u00a0 And Borg\u2019s prayer is more of an ongoing conversation designed to nurture a relationship with that entity he calls God.<\/p>\n

For Borg \u201cnon-verbal\u201d prayer amounts to an experience very much like meditation. It involves a stilling of the mind, and creates a space for God (or the Ultimate Reality) to speak to us. Furthermore, it uses mantras. Coming from a Christian background, Borg claims the rosary is actually a mantra. Deeds of compassion foster spiritual opening by moving the heart at a level of the self below the mind. Dream work, nature and wilderness experiences, retreats, spiritual reading and many other such activities nurture an opening of the self to the sacred.<\/p>\n

Unlike \u201cfluffy\u201d spiritual practices that appeal to the superficial, escapist personality, Borg\u2019s spirituality excludes the immediate comforts of petitionary prayer, and the \u201cout there\u201d Father God, just as it excludes the over-easy claims of fortune-tellers and certain types of psychics. Borg\u2019s spirituality is a more vibrant, and more vigorous version than either what he calls \u201cmonarchichal\u201d model of traditional Christianity, or an overly easy \u201cwoo-woo\u201d spirituality. Borg\u2019s version of spirituality requires finding something that moves the heart at a level below (and beyond) the mind. It trains a person in discipline and vulnerability. Most of all, it requires trust<\/em> in whatever it is that spirituality is all about in the first place.<\/p>\n

So we return to the question of \u201cwhy spirituality?\u201d Why would anyone want to open herself to the sacred, instead of limiting herself to the visible \u201ceveryday\u201d reality?<\/p>\n

Well, to return to Borg\u2019s analogy, if the heart is likened to an egg with a shell that must be opened for life to happen, then we want to nurture anything that allows that shell to crack open.<\/p>\n

Many forms of traditional organized religion serve only to harden the shell, closing both our minds and hearts to new concepts, and leading us to exclude certain types of people from our compassion and concern. And escapist, woo-woo spiritual rituals may warp the shell, distorting its shape, and weakening the protection it provides, without opening it at all.<\/p>\n

But disciplined spiritual practices, combined with openness to experiences that broaden and expand our worldview, do more than just break open the shell. They also lead to a true compassion. The \u201cshell\u201d that must break open for the life inside the egg to thrive is the same shell that keeps us from including everyone and everything in the universe in our circle of concern. That shell must break open and let our sense of compassion and love extend out to the entire universe.<\/p>\n

If spiritual practices don\u2019t foster a universal<\/em> compassion \u2013 an all-inclusive<\/em> compassion \u2013 they cannot lead to spiritual maturity.\u00a0 Realizing the benefits of a heart hatched out of its shell, and the compassion that ensues from it are what lead us to the most authentic and fulfilling life.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/a> Borg, Marcus. The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Contemporary Faith. New York: Harper One, 1997.\u00a0 129.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2]<\/a> Borg. 114.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If spiritual practices don\u2019t foster a universal compassion \u2013 an all-inclusive compassion – they cannot lead to spiritual maturity. Realizing the benefits of a heart hatched out of its shell, and the compassion that ensues from it are what lead us to the most authentic and fulfilling life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1150,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[40,24,11,37,22,19],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritualmaturity","tag-compassion","tag-spiritual-development","tag-spiritual-maturity","tag-spirituality","tag-unity","tag-universal-love"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy - Spirituality?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If spiritual practices don\u2019t foster a universal compassion \u2013 an all-inclusive compassion - they cannot lead to spiritual maturity. Realizing the benefits of a heart hatched out of its shell, and the compassion that ensues from it are what lead us to the most authentic and fulfilling life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why - Spirituality?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If spiritual practices don\u2019t foster a universal compassion \u2013 an all-inclusive compassion - they cannot lead to spiritual maturity. Realizing the benefits of a heart hatched out of its shell, and the compassion that ensues from it are what lead us to the most authentic and fulfilling life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Beyond Belief\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-26T05:03:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-12T05:08:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Margaret Placentra Johnston\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Margaret Placentra Johnston\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/\",\"name\":\"Why - Spirituality?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-26T05:03:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-12T05:08:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#\/schema\/person\/3bff60a40168dbbc4995ec2571febe98\"},\"description\":\"If spiritual practices don\u2019t foster a universal compassion \u2013 an all-inclusive compassion - they cannot lead to spiritual maturity. Realizing the benefits of a heart hatched out of its shell, and the compassion that ensues from it are what lead us to the most authentic and fulfilling life.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why – Spirituality?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Beyond Belief\",\"description\":\"Spiritual Development for the Rational Seeker\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#\/schema\/person\/3bff60a40168dbbc4995ec2571febe98\",\"name\":\"Margaret Placentra Johnston\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fd8a07d289eff2df22399e653581306?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fd8a07d289eff2df22399e653581306?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Margaret Placentra Johnston\"},\"description\":\"Author of Faith Beyond Belief: Stories of Good People Who Left Their Church Behind, Margaret Placentra Johnston writes in hope of challenging both religious believers and nonbelievers to consider a broader perspective. A practicing Optometrist, Margaret also loves helping people see better in the physical world. She lives in Virginia with her husband and has two grown sons.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/FaithBeyondBelief-book.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/author\/faithbeyondbelief\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why - Spirituality?","description":"If spiritual practices don\u2019t foster a universal compassion \u2013 an all-inclusive compassion - they cannot lead to spiritual maturity. Realizing the benefits of a heart hatched out of its shell, and the compassion that ensues from it are what lead us to the most authentic and fulfilling life.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why - Spirituality?","og_description":"If spiritual practices don\u2019t foster a universal compassion \u2013 an all-inclusive compassion - they cannot lead to spiritual maturity. Realizing the benefits of a heart hatched out of its shell, and the compassion that ensues from it are what lead us to the most authentic and fulfilling life.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/","og_site_name":"Faith Beyond Belief","article_published_time":"2012-11-26T05:03:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-11-12T05:08:57+00:00","author":"Margaret Placentra Johnston","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Margaret Placentra Johnston","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/","name":"Why - Spirituality?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-11-26T05:03:58+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-12T05:08:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#\/schema\/person\/3bff60a40168dbbc4995ec2571febe98"},"description":"If spiritual practices don\u2019t foster a universal compassion \u2013 an all-inclusive compassion - they cannot lead to spiritual maturity. Realizing the benefits of a heart hatched out of its shell, and the compassion that ensues from it are what lead us to the most authentic and fulfilling life.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/2012\/11\/why-spirituality\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why – Spirituality?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/","name":"Faith Beyond Belief","description":"Spiritual Development for the Rational Seeker","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#\/schema\/person\/3bff60a40168dbbc4995ec2571febe98","name":"Margaret Placentra Johnston","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fd8a07d289eff2df22399e653581306?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fd8a07d289eff2df22399e653581306?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Margaret Placentra Johnston"},"description":"Author of Faith Beyond Belief: Stories of Good People Who Left Their Church Behind, Margaret Placentra Johnston writes in hope of challenging both religious believers and nonbelievers to consider a broader perspective. A practicing Optometrist, Margaret also loves helping people see better in the physical world. She lives in Virginia with her husband and has two grown sons.","sameAs":["http:\/\/FaithBeyondBelief-book.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/author\/faithbeyondbelief\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithbeyondbelief\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}