The individual interpretation of "spiritual" obviously covers an incredible range; but I think that fundamental goodness and guidance coupled with wonder is fairly indicative of "spiritual" people in a general sense.
AS to what a person actually means by declaring such a world-view?
I wasn't really asking about their world view, I was asking what they mean about themselves, what quality they mean that they, personally, have, when they say, "I am a spiritual person."
fundamental goodness and guidance coupled with wonder
Sounds as though it's in the right neighborhood, but still unsatisfactory, somehow. For example, people who call themselves, personally, "spiritual," are certainly not detectibly more "good" than others; and as for guidance, there are atheists, and even more agnostics, who use the word about themselves; and then there's "wonder." Which implies a sense of mystery and of... well, of 'wondering"!,and doesn't work because some of the most sure, doubt-free, zealots use that word in describing their very certitude. They think dogma is spiritual.
This is just curiosity about human nature on my part. It's interesting what words different people choose to describe themselves and their subjective life. I think some people like the ring of the word, and I suspect that to some people it's a synonym for "deep," and they apply it to themselves because they note that they have moods of elevation, respond to magnificent sunsets, experience love, and try, to some degree, to be decent people.
But then I'm a cynic.
(A very spiritual one, of course!)
P.S. LOL! -- N says that what it means, technically, when somebody says that, is that they believe in the reality of non-corporeal beings. But that really what it means is "I'm in a genera that is better than the one you're in."
He's even more cynical than I am, and much more amusing! |
