Issues With Spirituality: Common Struggles and Insights

(More articles I wrote on spirituality:

https://www.philosocom.com/post/the-third-eye

https://www.philosocom.com/post/the-arcane-and-causal-fallacy

Enjoy!)

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Issues With Spirituality: Common Struggles and Insights

Spiritual is the adjective form of the word spirit, which comes from the Latin word for "breath," and means the thing that animates life. Spiritual can be used to talk about anything that goes beyond mere physical existence, from ghost spirits to religious feelings. -- Vocabulary.com

There is still no agreement when it comes even to the basic Issues With Spirituality. Here is why:

1. Confusing By Default

Spirituality is a very problematic concept in philosophy, as there isn't necessarily a direct, universal definition as to what it means. For example, you can be a theist or an atheist, and still share some agreement about any spiritual views that are not religious. For example, you can say that something has a spirit, without necessarily being religious... Be it a period in history, be it an object, be it an activity that evokes much emotion in you.

However, not everyone, theist or atheist, will agree with you when it comes to your more-spiritual views. Since spirituality is not only really personal but subjective as well, its usage in philosophy is too unclear to be understood, even by the most dedicated of philosophy readers.

Spirituality is a very personal experience, and everyone's spiritual path may be unique. -- Verywell Mind

Is spirituality about religion? About incarnation? About meditation? You can use that term in a sentence, and it will nonetheless create confusion. The more abstract a concept is, the more esoteric it will be considered, just like with philosophy itself.

2. Lack of Methodological Clarity

Spirituality does not indicate its own set of components. How can one know what exactly you mean by it, when other people use this word as well, but under different meanings?

Because of how difficult is to rationally deduce nor verify spirituality, it can easily be regarded with the strawman's fallacy. In other words, you can simply dismiss it as utter gibberish.

Regardless, what we can say about spirituality, is that it claims this universe has something "hidden," AKA, higher than oneself. Something that is more mystical, more arcane.

It can be described as a force that exists beyond the physical. Some call it a God, others the Way, or even the Tao. Some may describe it as a universal, infinite energy, and so on.

What do we want in philosophy? In the end, we want to understand. To do that, we need to grasp the content of which we consume. Without concise understanding, therefore, there will be no attainment of wisdom. We can interpret the material for ourselves, but ultimately, if we don't understand the text or video as good as we can, what, then is the point in consuming it?

This is why clarity is so important in philosophy and in content consumption in general.

3. Metaphysical Jargon and Subjectivity

Some credit should be given to spirituality, however, for it is the ancestor of all institutionalized religions. After all, religions can be seen as spiritual organizations.

What does religion do? It takes spiritual ideas and evolves them into culture, social norms, and ideologies. After all, the concept of divinity is a spiritual one, even if it is just one of many ideas.

In the end, spirituality is a pantheon of metaphysical ideas, or ideas that venture beyond mere physicality.

To be a spiritual person, you do not have to agree with any of the established understanding of spirituality. As such, many spiritualists exist beyond the matrix of human society. Yet, recognizing some of them could indeed suffice.

Spirituality is so subjective, anyone could have a "spiritual prototype" of their own, as each spiritualist would deviate more uniquely from general society. Thus, the only solution to this problem would be using specific terms within this "pantheon."

4. Spirituality as Complex as Philosophy

When philosophy is regarded, it is not as "fluid" as spirituality is. A philosopher's job isn't just to believe, but to inspect, contemplate, and reach a logical conclusion. Unlike the spiritualist, the philosopher is more analytical than otherwise. This is why many philosophers are considered armchair philosophers, even outside the academy. In philosophy, if you choose to believe in something. You often have to justify it through supportive information and logic.

As a weird example, the spiritualist might eat a cake and immerse themselves fully in it. However, the philosopher would consider the implications of eating the cake, making them more prudent, and even subject to the affects of analysis paralysis, where one's own analysis sabotages their decision-making plans.

This is why spirituality and philosophy don't always go hand-in-hand, and at times they are ridiculously unmatched. The spiritualist might have a less-clear methodology of action, and will not always stop and question their beliefs. Instead, they would more immerse themselves within the fabric of reality around them.

Philosophy is far more about inspecting, examining, lambasting and so on. It for more sensitive people, philosophy and philosophers may be deemed as arrogant and diminishing of one's experiences. The lambasting of a philosopher may appear as an attack on one's deeply-held belief. However, often, philosophers can be detached as butchers are. Being mentally detached allows them to examine reality with less bias, thus steering them more towards a greater general understanding; an understanding that is far less specific than that of most people.

Spirituality is more specific and personal; philosophy is more general. However, they are both abstract methodologies that may be seen as detached from the very reality they aim to describe.

They are as theists as they're atheists; environmentalists as heavy polluters; clear-headed as "high". There is no insight to the definition, the moral alignment, and the archetype itself. How then, can it be used clearly during philosophizing?

Spirituality's basic problems of understanding come from the fact that none of us can clearly say what is there beyond the physical realm, if such a bigger realm even exists. Furthermore, both philosophy and spirituality require us to have a multi-layered understanding of reality. The issues of objectivity and subjectivity is something both philosophy and spirituality share.

5. Unconventional, Therefore Less Approached

As for myself, I have 2 layers of thought (cognition) and 2 layers of emotions. Since spirituality is unconventional, I well understand spirituality is also multi-layered and, as a result, cannot be described in layman's terms at all.

Philosophy, spirituality, and eccentric geniuses like myself can never be described simply. The more something is more simply understood, the more it can be accepted by others. We cannot expect most people to understand such complex matters, when they lack the healthy habit of doubting themselves.

It is one of the reasons the authority fallacy, or the appeal to authority, makes sense as a logical fallacy: Being in authority, by itself, doesn't make you a reliable source of clarity. It is also why gurus, AKA spiritual leaders, may often be criticized as scammers, whether or not they are ones.

6. The Superiority of the Simple

We may theorize and discuss, but in the end we can all agree that physical reality is far more understood than the "metaphysical realm" is. The physical realm is easier to navigate, for starters, and the physical realm is what allows us to survive in the first place. One doesn't need to be a philosopher in order to know how to venture outside and buy a sandwich. One doesn't need to be a philosopher to make friends. Not a philosopher necessarily, nor a spiritualist. Sometimes, there is a lot of practical depth in being a simple human being.

Anyone can claim they are masters of a hidden art, such as Reiki, or a prophet of a one true god, and even if we are to question their beliefs and roles, they may argue that "we know what you don't."

How would the average person would deem someone in a subject only they, theoretically, are masters in?

The answer is simple: the average person may reject them as insane, and deem their practice as impractical, therefore illogical. Furthermore, without necessarily expanding their understanding, the average person may submit to what one may believe to be the facts.

Sometimes that critique is valid when something is indeed a hoax. There is no knowledge on behalf of the audience, but the guru's charisma can sure convince one that they're right.

7. The Role of Intuition

Finally, we need to address the most basic issue a lot of people fail in: Intuition. Intuition is when you understand something without a way other than intuition. As such, intuitive understanding can be deemed as a wayless truth, as the truth is already found within one's mind, with no further complexity. You might ask yourselves: How is it possible? The answer is that intuition is subjective. Therefore, much of spirituality has to do with intuition.

Sages in general are intuitive as a result. Their understanding may be considered otherworldly, alien and unnatural. In India, these folk are known as godmen, or the incarnations of divine beings. Since their understanding is mysterious, they might be seen as more than humans. They might even be seen as aliens. They might be seen as demons, as angels, as sorcerers and even as weirdly undead.

However, it is very plausible to deduce that they are humans like you and me. However, their intuitive mind is greater than that of the average person. Furthermore, their unique experiences in their respective lives makes them extraordinary humans, but humans nonetheless. Intuition, as well as spirituality, stems from the unconscious. Therefore, we can conclude that much of our understanding is already unconscious.

Final Notes

These are all the problems I have thus far found in this term. I used to use it too in my early writings, but only as a reference to self-actualization. To avoid confusion and unnecessary misunderstanding, I rarely use the term "spirituality" it in most of my writings.

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