If each of us is a tree, the spirit is the branches. The soul is the roots.
“Spirituality is a multidimensional construct which includes religious, existentialistic, and relational issues and has different layers such as faith as the core, related attitudes and conviction, and subsequent behaviors and practices.” A study on spiritual sensitivity of children frames it as “what is happening both outside and within him or herself, and the further ability to respond accordingly.” In our model, spirituality consists of three elements:
- A sense of being connected or related to something greater than the self;
- A sense of internal integration, or wholeness; and
- A sense of being intensely alive, as when all things seem new and vibrant.
The first two elements comprise the harmonic component of spirituality: integration within and without. The third element is its creative element, or strength.
“There is a growing presence in the literature about how spirituality is a concern to the wellbeing of human beings.” “Spirituality has been associated with well-being, quality of life, lower levels of depression and anxiety, and lower use of drugs.” “Some studies have systematically assessed the effects of spiritual practice (SP) on the brain using combined neuropsychological testing and functional imaging.”
Considering the intense interest in spirituality, the wealth of research and scholarship on existential intelligence is predictable. Existential intelligence, or “spiritual intelligence” is defined as “Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here”. Critical existential thinking has been defined as “deducing and creating meaning based upon deep understanding of existence-related questions and the ability to use differing levels of emotion to facilitate problem solving”. It “involves an individual’s ability to use collective values and intuition to understand others and the world around them. People who excel in this intelligence typically are able to see the big picture. Philosophers, theologians and life coaches are among that Gardner sees as having high existential intelligence.” According to Howard Gardner, the father of multiple intelligences theory: “Cultures devise religious, mystical, or metaphysical systems for dealing with existential issues; and in modern times or in secular settings, aesthetic, philosophical, and scientific works and systems also speak to this ensemble of human needs.”
Scholarship has been generated on existential well-being and spiritual intelligence. “ . . . regression analysis results indicate that critical existential thinking is the first predictor dimension of spiritual intelligence in terms of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.” Existential elements of psychological recovery have been proposed. “Physicians’ vulnerability facing life and death has been underestimated.” Researchers have addressed the importance of existential issues among university students, and in information sciences, clinical medicine, rehabilitation settings, nursing (see also here), methadone maintenance treatment, intensive care units, and in-hospital care generally. Existential issues have been studied in relation to martial satisfaction, job satisfaction, job engagement, pregnancy, intergroup helping, attraction to opposite-sex faces, breastfeeding, aggression, risky sexual practices, high-risk behaviors generally, cyber bullying, delusions, addiction, alcohol use disorders, Parkinson’s disease, congenital heart disease, palliative care, caregiving for the elderly, breast cancer survival, chemotherapy patients, care of cancer patients generally, diabetes in adolescents (see also here), post-traumatic stress disorder, adolescent depression, anxiety and stress, despair and depression. Photography has been proposed as a means of addressing existential concerns. A debate has arisen about moral bioenhancement. “Existential issues do not necessarily result in existential suffering”.
Spirituality is one of those words that non-theists love to hate but for a scientific naturalist no less than anyone else, it is too important and too widely considered to ignore. As with all similar words and ideas, the flaw is in the interpretation, not in the experience. By identifying its components from a naturalistic perspective, we can better understand and use it.
Real
True Narratives
Book narratives:
- Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind (Wiley, 1999).
- Harry R. Moody and David Carroll, The Five Stages of the Soul: Charting the Spiritual Passages That Shape Our Lives (Doubleday, 1997).
- Paul Mendes-Flohr, Martin Buber: A Life of Faith and Dissent (Yale University Press, 2019): “There was something both noble and quixotic about Buber as a spiritual guide and political critic. He constantly argued that political life had to be informed by spiritual purpose.”
Technical and Analytical Readings
- Lisa J. Miller, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality (Oxford University Press, 2024).
- Fraser Watts, Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality: Concepts and Applications (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
- James M. Nelson, Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality (Springer, 2009).
- Robert C. Solomon, Spirituality for the Skeptic: The Thoughtful Love of Life (Oxford University Press, 2002).
- Roger S. Gottlieb, Spirituality: What It Is and Why It Matters (Oxford University Press, 2013).
- Edward B. Davis, Everett L. Worthington, Jr., & Sarah A. Schnitker, eds., Handbook of Positive Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality (Springer, 2022).
- Harald Walach, Stefan Schmidt & Wayne B. Jonas, eds., Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality (Springer, 2011).
- Amy L. Ai, et. al., eds., Assessing Spirituality in a Diverse World (Springer, 2020).
- H. Stephen Moffic, et. al., eds., Eastern Religions, Spirituality, and Psychiatry: An Expansive Perspective on Mental Health and Illness (Springer, 2024).
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
- The Spiritual Force Behind Music – Swedenbourg and Life
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
As soon as he was reborn, Scrooge began to live in the spirit. Here is one of his first encounters on the morning of his enlightenment. Now people were no longer annoyances; they were beautiful, delightful people:
He had not gone far, when coming on towards him he beheld the portly gentleman, who had walked into his counting-house the day before, and said, "Scrooge and Marley's, I believe?" It sent a pang across his heart to think how this old gentleman would look upon him when they met; but he knew what path lay straight before him, and he took it. "My dear sir," said Scrooge, quickening his pace, and taking the old gentleman by both his hands. "How do you do? I hope you succeeded yesterday. It was very kind of you. A merry Christmas to you, sir!" "Mr. Scrooge?" "Yes," said Scrooge. "That is my name, and I fear it may not be pleasant to you. Allow me to ask your pardon. And will you have the goodness"--here Scrooge whispered in his ear. "Lord bless me!" cried the gentleman, as if his breath were taken away. "My dear Mr. Scrooge, are you serious?" "If you please," said Scrooge. "Not a farthing less. A great many back-payments are included in it, I assure you. Will you do me that favour?" "My dear sir," said the other, shaking hands with him. "I don't know what to say to such munifi--" "Don't say anything, please," retorted Scrooge. "Come and see me. Will you come and see me?" "I will!" cried the old gentleman. And it was clear he meant to do it. "Thank'ee," said Scrooge. "I am much obliged to you. I thank you fifty times. Bless you!" He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed that any walk--that anything--could give him so much happiness. In the afternoon he turned his steps towards his nephew's house. [Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843), Stave V: “The End of It”.]
On Quasimodo's spiritual contribution to the community:
The presence of this extraordinary being caused, as it were, a breath of life to circulate throughout the entire cathedral. It seemed as though there escaped from him, at least according to the growing superstitions of the crowd, a mysterious emanation which animated all the stones of Notre-Dame, and made the deep bowels of the ancient church to palpitate. It sufficed for people to know that he was there, to make them believe that they beheld the thousand statues of the galleries and the fronts in motion. And the cathedral did indeed seem a docile and obedient creature beneath his hand; it waited on his will to raise its great voice; it was possessed and filled with Quasimodo, as with a familiar spirit. One would have said that he made the immense edifice breathe. He was everywhere about it; in fact, he multiplied himself on all points of the structure. Now one perceived with affright at the very top of one of the towers, a fantastic dwarf climbing, writhing, crawling on all fours, descending outside above the abyss, leaping from projection to projection, and going to ransack the belly of some sculptured gorgon; it was Quasimodo dislodging the crows. Again, in some obscure corner of the church one came in contact with a sort of living chimera, crouching and scowling; it was Quasimodo engaged in thought. Sometimes one caught sight, upon a bell tower, of an enormous head and a bundle of disordered limbs swinging furiously at the end of a rope; it was Quasimodo ringing vespers or the Angelus. Often at night a hideous form was seen wandering along the frail balustrade of carved lacework, which crowns the towers and borders the circumference of the apse; again it was the hunchback of Notre-Dame. Then, said the women of the neighborhood, the whole church took on something fantastic, supernatural, horrible; eyes and mouths were opened, here and there; one heard the dogs, the monsters, and the gargoyles of stone, which keep watch night and day, with outstretched neck and open jaws, around the monstrous cathedral, barking. And, if it was a Christmas Eve, while the great bell, which seemed to emit the death rattle, summoned the faithful to the midnight mass, such an air was spread over the sombre façade that one would have declared that the grand portal was devouring the throng, and that the rose window was watching it. And all this came from Quasimodo. Egypt would have taken him for the god of this temple; the Middle Ages believed him to be its demon: he was in fact its soul. [Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris, or, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831), Volume I, Book Fourth, Chapter III, “Immanis Pecoris Custos, Immanior Ipse”.]
Poetry
Poems:
- Pablo Neruda, “Your Laughter”
- Wallace Stevens, “Looking Across the Fields and Watching the Birds Fly”
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
In life and in art, classical pianist Maria João Pires has reached out beyond herself. “Since the 1970s, she has devoted herself to reflecting the influence of art in life, community and education, trying to discover new ways of establishing this way of thinking in society. She has searched for new ways which, respecting the development of individuals and cultures, encourage the sharing of ideas.” In her own words: “We have a responsibility to lead our life in the best possible way, to help others and to share this planet with compassion. Music and art are the deepest expressions of our soul and the direct transmission of our universe. I think everyone is born an artist and art should be shared with all people on this planet.” She “brings exquisite refinement, profound emotional depth, and intellectual insight to her playing. Her ability to go beyond the analytical and seek out the spiritual dimension of the music often reveals hidden meanings and unexpected nuances.” “It is hardly surprising that Maria João Pires is frequently called 'a pianist without a trace of narcissism, among the most eloquent master musicians of our time.'” Here is a link to her playlists.
Alice Coltrane was a champion of spirituality in jazz. Her albums include:
- “Cosmic Music”, with her husband John Coltrane
- “A Monastic Trio” (1968) (57’)
- “Journey in Satchinananda” (1970) (37’)
- “The Carnegie Hall Concert” (1971) (79’)
- “World Galaxy” (1972) (41’)
- “Reflection on Creation and Space” (1973) (81’)
- “Kirtan: Turiya Sings” (1981) (62’)
Solo music on the Native American flute:
- R. Carlos Nakai;
- Robert "Tree" Cody;
- Joseph Fire Crow;
- Kevin Locke;
- Mary Youngblood; and
- Meditation music
Carl Nielsen, Symphony No. 3, Op. 27, FS 60, CNW 27, “Sinfonia espansiva” (1913) (approx. 35-40’): the music suggests fully participating in the thrilling roller-coaster ride of life. “The Third Symphony is based on a Mahlerian counterpoint between life's joy and its attendant sorrow; one cannot exist without the other.” “According to Robert Simpson, Nielsen’s ‘espansiva’ terminology referred to ‘the outward growth of the mind’s scope and the expansion of life that comes from it.’ Nielsen was attempting to demonstrate the notion that great art, although forged from the private fires that burn inside an artist, seeks to grow beyond its origin and contribute to humanity’s collective experience.” “. . . the impression is of a work that draws big breaths, sings and strides in long paragraphs.” Top recorded performances are conducted by Jensen in 1959, Bernstein in 1965, Blomstedt in 1975, Berglund in 1989, Neeme Järvi in 1991; Gilbert in 2012 ***, Oramo in 2014, Colin Davis in 2014, Storgårds in 2015, and Dausgaard in 2017.
Other compositions:
- Raga Devgiri Bilawal (Devgiri Bilaval) is a Hindustani classical raag for early morning. Performances by Kiahori Amonkar, Subhra Guha and N. Rajam.
Albums:
- Liquid Mind VI, “Spirit” (2003) (58’)
- Atlanta Master Chorale, “Where Music Touches Spirit” (2016) (68’)
- William Goldstein, “Spiritual Electronica” (2009) (45’)
- The Ensemble Al-Salaam, “The Sojourner” (1974) (46’): “Sublime spiritual jazz .. .” “A highlight of the spiritual jazz movement, the record sees a band at the height of their powers, perfectly in sync as they express their spirituality through one ethereal groove after another.”
- World Experience Orchestra, “The Beginning of a New Birth” & “As Time Flows On” (1975) (84’): “The essence of Underground, Spiritual Jazz . . .”
- Infinite Spirit Music, “Live Without Fear” (1979) (53’): “The album was a bold expression of spiritual jazz, indigenous rhythms, and thoughtful Afrocentrism; every vibration feels touched by the spirit of Sun Ra.”
- Anna Romanovská, Hana Blažíková, Petr Tichý & Michal Hruby, “Jsem Navzdy Jednim Z Nas” (I Am One of Us Forever) (2021) (53’): “There is a trio of original musicians on the Czech avant-garde scene, who are full of free improvisation with extraordinary expressive diversity, refined insight into the subtlest nuances of sound and a significant dose of spiritual immersion . . .”
- Giuliano Carmignola, “Bach: 6 Suites a Violoncello Solo Senza Basso”, BWV 1007-1012, played on violin (2022) (239’): “. . . Bach himself also had ‘simple faith’. Would any of his great masterpieces have been conceivable without the founding stone of spiritual awe, whether denominationally sanctioned or not? Speaking personally, I doubt it. Carmignola’s playing conjures a combination of prayerful meditation and earthy dancing, basic Bachian credentials that these masterpieces thrive on, no matter who’s playing them or on what instrument.”
- Constantinople & Ablaye Cissoko, “Jardins migrateurs” (2015) (55’): “The project's conceptual 'itinerant garden' cultivates a spiritual communion wherein Persian strains (the Tabassians were born in Tehran) engage West African and Western classical elements on mutual aural terrain. Viola and percussion underpin the kora, setar and voice, fostering a deferential exchange that conjures sonic beauty through graceful simplicity.”
- Isaiah J. Thompson, “The Power of the Spirit” (2023) (74’) is an album of “straight-ahead, blood-pumping soul-jazz, 21st-century style.” “This is an impressive album for lovers of soul-jazz played in a contemporary style.”
- Dasom Baek, “Mirror City” (2023) (33’): “. . . Baek holds a mirror up to herself and to the millions living amid the bustle of modernity, longing for a return to a more spiritual existence.”
Music: songs and other short pieces
- The Beatles - "Across the Universe" (lyrics)
- Stevie Wonder, "Higher Ground" (lyrics)
- The Police, “Message in a Bottle” (lyrics)
Visual Arts
- Gustav Klimt, Apple Tree, I (1912)
Film and Stage
- Point Blank: the protagonist in this gritty film “transforms a stripped-down revenge plot into a surreal meditation on the gangster's spiritual demise”
- Her: a science-fiction “love” story that illustrates the essential importance of non-physical communication – the communication of spirits – in a relationship