Category: Definitions of spirituality

  • It Needs to Look Like Love

    Yesterday, I posted the following on my Facebook page: How would you advise someone whose lover a) demands strict adherence to a set of rules or else, and b) uses life’s disappointments and tragedies as ways of getting their attention, and c) claims to have stood by as a murder took place–when Read more […]

  • How did you wake up?

    I have previously made reference to the fact that the literal translation of the Luganda morning greeting is not “Good Morning,” but rather “How did you wake up?” It seems to me a strong metaphor for the moment in time—or a specific event or series of experiences—that triggered our spiritual Read more […]

  • How do you know what you know?

    About a year ago, I wrote a blog post which I called “4 Things I’m Glad I Don’t Know for Sure.”  I reflected on the wonder of faith, and the miracle of the unknown as it adds nuance and “magic” to our existence. Today I received an email from a distant friend espousing a very…

  • 4 Things I’m Glad I Don’t Know for Sure

    For years, on the last page of the ‘O’ magazine, Oprah Winfrey has written a column she calls: “What I know for sure.”  Today, I’m doing just the opposite. In a reading for my “Spirituality and Health” class, I highlighted this phrase: “Prior to conception, the soul exists as a drop of Read more […]

  • “Is Sad Bad?” A discussion of the impact of sadness on human development

    When our emotions are picked and fastened together in a bunch—into our life-bouquet—each bloom emanates its own aroma resulting in the special perfume which is us.   Most people want to have beautiful, happy bouquets, but our collections of emotions sometimes develop differently, and melancholy Read more […]

  • “The Essence of Being” (Definitions of spirituality emerging from courthouse lunches and ancient markets)

    “Quick question,” I said to a friend over lunch today at the courthouse.  (She has been serving on a jury for five days.  I was summoned for duty today.)  My question was: “What is your definition of spirituality?”  After I asked, we both impulsively laughed given that this surely was not a Read more […]