If we have developed our
inner spirits,
we know what to do with solitude.
When the hubbub of external events and commitments
diminishes,
we find richness within ourselves.
When we become quiet, we come alive in a
deep way.
However, to become more
fully persons of spirit
we need not withdraw from the world.
In fact, the dimension of depth we develop
while alone
can significantly shape the ways we engage
ourselves in the world.
Monks and hermits develop their spirits
by withdrawing from the world entirely—at
least temporarily.
And we must agree with them: no solitude,
no spirit.
Only when we are quiet, subtle, and deep
do we notice the soft movements of our spirits.
Some cultures have encouraged
the development of the human spirit.
Hindu and Buddhist cultures go so far in
the direction of spirituality
that they sometimes neglect the more practical
aspects of life.
And, of course, an established tradition
of spirituality can distort
what would otherwise be a highly personal
form of spirit.
Our Western culture, however,
shows no danger of being too spiritual.
We have our sects that seem to go too far
in that direction,
but most of these have their roots in the
East.
A. The Life of the Body
Our culture faces the opposite
danger: not being spiritual enough,
stifling the emergence of the deeper dimensions
of human life.
We Americans pay first attention to the life
of the body.
Think of the amount of
money, time, and attention
we spend on the processes directed toward
our physical survival.
Most of us spend literally the best hours
of our lives
earning money so we can "keep body and soul
together".
Actually we buy more creature comforts than
food for our souls.
When we examine our spending, we find that
our money goes mostly for
shelter, food, transportation, health-care,
and other physical needs.
SPIRITUALITY FOR HUMANISTS: SIX CAPACITIES OF OUR HUMAN SPIRITS by JAMES PARK 1
B. The Life of the Heart
Our physical life is easy
to distinguish from our spiritual life,
altho some 'vitalists' use the word "spirit"
to refer to the spark of life that can be
found even in animals.
The animal vitality that makes a colt frisky
or a monkey playful
is not what is meant by "spirit" in
this book.
But when we turn to the life of feeling—what
happens in our 'hearts'—
it becomes more difficult to distinguish
spirituality from emotion.
All 4 dimensions (physical,
emotional, mental, & spiritual)
overlap and shade into one another; each
profoundly affects the others.
Our physical being is the foundation for
the three higher dimensions.
And our thinking and feeling are so deeply
dependent on each other
that we sometimes cannot disentangle them.
For example, in the experience of jealousy,
how much is thinking that we are being
replaced
and how much is our emotional response,
automatic and unplanned?
But it is nevertheless helpful to develop
careful criteria
for separating these four dimensions of being:
(1) physical, (2) psychological/emotional,
(3) mental/intellectual, & (4) spiritual.
Our physical existence
was given by our genes,
which began to form our bodies beginning
soon after conception.
Then, beginning on the day we were born,
social conditioning began to shape our psychological
dimension
—the complex of emotional responses that
makes up our personalities.
Our emotional striving
expresses itself most deeply in our quest for love.
We want to love and be loved, to care and
be cared about.
Romantic love is our culture's
most elaborately-developed emotion.
We have been led to believe (the intellectual
dimension)
that our romantic feelings arise from 'human
nature',
but a closer examination of the emergence
of romance shows it to be
a learned response, unleashed on some
unsuspecting victim.
After physical survival
and its embellishments,
we spend the next largest amount of time
and money trying to feel good.
In many cases, the accumulation of creature
comforts
is intended to please others and thereby
gain more love.
Another way to define the
psychological dimension of our selves
—our learned responses, emotions we have
developed since birth—
is to adopt the model provided by deterministic
psychology:
Everything within our psychological dimension
of being
can be explained by cause and effect, stimulus
and response.
As we shall see later, freedom is a manifestation
of our spirits.
But all the feelings we can explain psychologically
come from our 'hearts'.
Our emotions arise in our 'hearts' in response
to specific situations.
SPIRITUALITY FOR HUMANISTS: SIX CAPACITIES OF OUR HUMAN SPIRITS by JAMES PARK 2
C. The Life of the Mind
Next above the life of
the heart ("above" meaning more developed),
we experience the life of the mind.
Here again, we cannot draw any absolute distinctions
but only lay out criteria to clarify how
much
of a certain experience is emotional and
how much intellectual.
The life of the mind is
characterized by words, human language.
Other portable symbols such as hand signs
may replace words,
but the essence of abstract thinking is metaphor,
the ability to transport an insight from
one situation to another.
Animal cries and gestures are not
transportable;
they always relate to the here and now.
Animals do not talk about the distant past
or the distant future:
They have no history to recount
and no plans to communicate to the next generation.
Lacking language, animals have no intellectual
life.
But they certainly do respond emotionally
to their immediate situations.
How much time and attention
do we give to our mental lives?
The answer to this question varies tremendously
from person to person.
The life of the mind consists of thinking,
talking, reading, and writing.
As we satisfy our physical needs and our
emotional desires,
we can devote more time and energy to our
intellectual interests.
D. The Life of the Spirit
But our spiritual lives
are above the three other dimensions:
Spirit is not a biological striving—such
as may be found in animals.
Spirit is not a psychological experience—responding
to the world.
Spirit is not an intellectual process—dependent
on using words.
No, our spiritual dimension
is beyond all these.
It is easier to describe what the human spirit
is not than what it is.
We understand very well the life of the human
body.
And we usually understand our emotional and
intellectual dimensions.
But the life of our spirits often remains
in obscurity.
We have no direct way to apply ourselves
to enhance our lives of spirit.
But there may be some ways in which we can
consciously choose
to orient our beings so we become more sensitive
to our spirits,
thereby encouraging this neglected dimension
to emerge more fully.
In this book, we will explore
six phenomena of spirit:
(1) self-transcendence, self-criticism, &
altruism, (2) freedom,
(3) creativity, (4) love, (5) anxiety &
(6) joy.
The more completely we live in these modes,
the more fully we become persons of spirit.
If we neglect our inwardness,
our spirits will not develop
—just as our minds do not develop unless
we exercise them by thinking.
How can we expand our spirits and live more
deeply?
SPIRITUALITY FOR HUMANISTS: SIX CAPACITIES OF OUR HUMAN SPIRITS by JAMES PARK 3
This Introduction
"Overview, Definitions,
& Distinctions"
comes from
Spirituality
for Humanists:
Six
Capacities of Our Human Spirits
by James Park.
If you click that title,
the complete Table of Contents will appear.
If you would like to own a printed
copy of
Spirituality for
Humanists,
click printed
copy.
Several others books on Existential Spirituality
are reviewed on the Existential
Spirituality Bibliography.
Return to the Existential Spirituality page
Return to the beginning of this home page
An
Existential Philosopher's Museum