Overheard in office chatter…someone was describing a friend, saying “She’s a very spiritual person.” What does this mean to you?
Religious.
Attends church regularly.
Prays.
Studies their faith, practices their faith, lives their faith -
I think Leaffan’s right. I’d consider it a misuse of the word, but yeah.
I think the person is interested in spiritual beliefs/practices outside of mainstream Christianity. In my experience, a very religious person is a Christian and a very spiritual person is maybe an ecclectic or Wiccan or really into Tarot cards or whatever.
But you can’t assume. It could mean practically anything.
When I hear spiritual, I think of a “Wiccan” or some hippy, Earth mother type of religion. Not the usual Baptist or Catholic types.
I consider myself a spiritual person, but I’m an atheist.
Thinking about why I consider myself spiritual, I’m coming up with a big blank.
I think of a spiritual person as one who “feels” a lot. Feels vibes from others, feels the rhythm of the Universe, feels the life force coursing thru their veins. One who is guided more by sensations than facts. One heavily into metaphysics and Eastern mysticism. They are probably religious, but not necessarily Western mainstream.
Woo-wooey, with reservations about organized or mainstream religion.
Yeah, but that feels so ought-nine-ish.
When I hear “spiritual,” I think “flaky and pretentious.”
I was going to say the same thing. I don’t believe in the supernatural, but I would call myself spiritual. I guess I’ve always been interested in life’s meaning from the perspective of multiple philosophies and religions. I have been religious before, and it seems there’s always a part of me trying to explore different methods of constructing meaning. Even though the woo-woo stuff is now out, that core of me that always questions why we are here has never gone away.
To say the same thing from the opposite direction, I’m a pretty religious person, but not particularly spiritual, which to me implies an emotional connection with… not the Divine, exactly, but with the nonphysical? I’m having trouble verbalizing this.
NO offense intended to anyone here, but when I hear “spiritual” I think “stupid.”
I’m wrong sometimes, obviously, but generally I think woo, Oprah-watching, goofball.
Spiritual: someone who genuinely cares alot about their place in the universe and the meaning of their existence. Places emphasis on the intuitive, rather than the rational, in analyzing this.
At least, that’s the positive meaning.
That is a very good definition of the positive meaning.
The negative meaning can be summed up as Less Rules, More Woo.
Of all the people on this board who might agree with me, you surprise me the least.
It’s really hard to explain, but someone who cares about being present but doesn’t need a god to help them with that is someone I’d describe as a spiritual atheist.
When I hear ‘spiritual’, I generally place it in contrast to ‘religious’. A religious person is interested in their relationship to the Divine, but looks to a human organization, such as a church, to give it meaning. A spiritual person is interested in their relationship to the Divine, but looks within. Thus a person can be spiritual, religious, or both.
Yup.