Mindful Living
This monthly column explores the nature of mindfulness and meditation practices in light of human spirituality. A recurring theme has been the need to encourage individuals and families to develop a greater awareness of the innate spirituality of the human person and to discover how meditation awakens and nourishes it. However, it is important to understand that, in doing so, we do not seek to develop our spirituality for personal gain but for the good of all.
The experiential core of any religion as opposed to its doctrinal-dogmatic clothing”
Spiritual consciousness is in slow decline in what has become an increasingly secular world. While Ireland may have come late to the secular table, it is beyond doubt that Irish society has become increasingly secular in recent decades. Typically, spirituality finds expression through religion and consequently the decline in religious practice is leading to a decline in spiritual awareness. But I believe that, while many have moved away from organised religion, most people retain an appreciation that there is more to human consciousness, to human life, than the culture of secular society allows. Some suggest that part of the reason for the decline of religion in recent decades arises from its failure to promote meaningful personal spiritual experience, emphasising instead an over-rigid focus on proscribed doctrine and dogma. Harald Walach, author of ‘Secular Spirituality’ defines spirituality as “the experiential core of any religion as opposed to its doctrinal-dogmatic clothing”.
Writing about religion and spirituality in the 21st Century, Gary Bouma describes spiritual consciousness in secular Australian society as a “shy hope in the heart”. I think that phrase captures very well what very many people today experience in their lives yet find great difficulty in giving expression to it. And, if one can’t name it, it is almost impossible to develop it. It is urgent, therefore, in modern secular society to find ways of giving expression to this vital and innate human characteristic. While great strides have been made in recent years in exploring spirituality through secular as well as religious language, to date such developments have been limited primarily to the world of academia. From a secular perspective spirituality can be regarded as that inner drive in the human person which guides one to live life authentically; for many, but not all, that inner dynamism will have a transcendent dimension.
Lisa Miller, director of clinical psychology at Columbia University, is one of many people engaged in the study of spirituality and psychology, mental health, and thriving. Her work has focused in particular on researching spiritual development in children, adolescents and families. She describes childhood spirituality as “a powerful truth that is incontrovertible yet strangely absent from our mainstream culture”. For Miller, spirituality is an inborn capacity of the human being, a central and integrating aspect of the self which is foundational to mental health and wellbeing, especially in the first 20 years of life. Her research suggests that awareness of spiritual development creates opportunities to prepare adolescents “for the important inner work required for individuation, identity development, emotional resilience, character, meaningful work, and healthy relationships”. She believes that “spirituality is the central organising principle of inner life” especially in the teenage years and that it helps young people grow into “an adulthood of meaning and purpose, thriving, and awareness”.
When my granddaughter, who is just over three and a half years old, goes out into the garden on a sunny day she looks up at the sky and says “Hi, sister sun; hi, brother wind”. She is somehow deeply attuned to her connection with all that is and her capacity for relational consciousness is an expression of her innate spirituality. Miller states that all children “have an inborn spirituality that is the greatest source of resilience they have as human beings” and that “parenting choices in the first two decades radically affect… children’s spiritual development in ways that last their entire lives”. She cautions that children’s development suffers when their spiritual development is neglected or when a child’s spiritual curiosity and exploration are denied.
There is an urgent need then to find ways of talking about spirituality in a secular context; to find ways of speaking about and engaging with this vital aspect of our humanity in ways that deepen our awareness of who we are at the deepest levels of our being. We need to find ways of speaking about spirituality that transcend explicit religious language, especially for those who are not affiliated with any religion; when young people begin to explore their own spirituality, they will be drawn to discover how spirituality has found expression in the religions of the world, especially those most associated with their own culture.
Meditation is a powerful way of awakening our spiritual sensibilities. Because it is a universal practice which is widely promoted in both secular society and almost all world religions, it has great potential as a means of engaging with people of all faiths and none about finding ways of giving expression to that “inarticulate shy hope” at the heart of their being.