Exploring Spirituality: What is it? 2nd October 2013   
A summary of the keynote address to launch the Autumn Series –  exploring our understanding of spirituality in human experience. The exploration  will continue through the series with a focus on some of the arts. 
 
What  is it ?
To define ‘spirituality’ is not only difficult but impossible! 
The ‘spiritual’ is a dimension of life that cannot be contained in words and  ideas .....
no more than it can be contained in a block of wood carved into an  effigy. Never the less we need words, thoughts, carvings, art, music, drama and  literature to point to the spiritual and to express our  spirituality. 
Social scientists have defined spirituality as – “the search for  the sacred”.  The sacred is  something apart from ordinary life.... Sometimes deliberately set apart in
consecration or ordination – it is something worthy of veneration, hallowed,  revered. 
I take an opposite view, derived from our understanding of the  ancient Latin word ‘spiritualitas’ – which means  ‘to be  alive’, ‘to be made alive’, ‘to be animated’, ‘to be human’ and these things are  not apart from life!  In our  traditional Christian understanding we are made alive by God. Life is breathed  into us by the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is, therefore, an integral part of  human life for everyone. God is alive and active in every part of creation,  whether that is recognised and believed or not.  
Spirituality cannot be extracted, as though it can have an  existence of its own. It is to do with the whole person and whole experience. It  is an integral part of living and being. It is in loving and forgiving, in  sensitive tolerance, respect for others, patience, contentment, harmony, joy,  care and concern, responsibility ....... and I believe that what we call  spiritual is that aspect of our humanity that enables us to have relationship  with God. 
At some level I think that every person has some sort of  relationship with/to God – not necessarily conscious, deliberate, faith-based or  religious. But God is our source and He has made us ‘body, mind and spirit’.  Spiritual experience belongs to every person.

Where  is it ?
 I supported the above with illustrations from Africa, nature,  the testimony of others e.g.  “I am not religious, but the natural world  feeds my spirit.”.... also from music, the Olympics, the Proms, a good book,  etc.  These experiences are not  merely emotional or cultural – you can see people being uplifted, joyful, more  whole, becoming a fuller being, even if temporarily. Inspiration is at times the  experience of people of all faiths and none. 
At its best spirituality is a sustaining and renewing element in  life. At its worst it is haunting, crippling  and destructive. It can be demonic, as in Satanism and the black
arts, or in the brutal oppression of some political regimes, or in the activity  of terrorists who reach such a state of sacrificial ecstasy to enable them to  blow themselves and others apart, believing that they will be transported into  paradise. Powerlessness, depression and remorse have a negative spiritual  impact. Suffering and sorrow have long been regarded as spiritual matters.   Bereavement and illness can involve deep spiritual pain and anguish.   It is often at rock-bottom times that people look for God, although the  experience of God’s absence, non-existence or lack of concern can be spiritually  despairing. 

Spiritual  but not religious
 This has become a popular claim but I frequently see that people  need to do something quite religious  to express something spiritual, especially at times of shock – lighting candles, laying flowers, gathering  in silence, organising vigils, standing before a cross – not only church going Christians but many, many people.  (Illustrated this from a number of  situations.)

Christian  Mission
 A major challenge for Christians is to identify spiritual  experience in the lives of others and in the community..... to put our finger on  it, to give it some words, as Jesus seemed to do in so many of His  parables.  “The Kingdom of God is  like .....” this and that, He said, pointing to experiences of everyday life and  putting His finger on something spiritual, which He likened to the Kingdom of  God. I expanded on this for our own day, for when we spot the glory  of God, and with suggestions of what the Kingdom may be like in life today, and   ways in which we can see the Holy Spirit lifting the human spirit. Then in the  rock bottom experiences of today I suggested ways in which we can see the  reality of the cross and the healing Grace of God .... in human experience and  yet we do not point to these things, name them, proclaim them, enjoy them or  share in them, as Christ did .... and we need to! For Christians spirituality is not only a spiritual matter – it  is a human matter, a whole life matter, because all life is a gift from God. “He  is the creator of all things, spiritual and material” Col.1 v  16. He is the one in whom “all things hold together” Col 1 v 16  .  One God, the origin and ground  of all  (not the fragmenting faith  of polytheism) – One God , present in every aspect of life, in whom all things  cohere, are held together – the nice bits and the nasty bits. “In whom we live  and move and have our being.” Our concern about spirituality can be self centred and self  indulgent. Christianity directs our attention towards God and our neighbour.  Christians seek a spirituality which is rooted in relationship with God, who is  alive in the world and present in every aspect, every action, every thought and  experience. This series will be good and stimulating but in the end let us  not become too preoccupied with our spirituality – Let us focus our hearts and  minds upon God-Listen to God speaking through poetry and  drama; See Him revealing Himself in  art; Feel Him touching our inner life in  music;  Recognise God as the source of all that is and all we  are; Let God be our centre ........ and our  soul. 

David J. Winwood.