Ssome people are wary of the word “spiritual” and suspect an evangelical membership or a snake oil sales pitch. I can understand that. I am guilty of doing the same. I don’t like the way the experience of awe has been commodified. I have no truck with retailers purporting to sell me salvation in the form of culturally appropriated, mass-produced dream catchers.
For most of my life I have been a fan of modernity, believing in science as the only valid epistemology. When I was 17, I turned my back on the Catholic faith of my childhood and rebelled in the biggest way I knew how, joining the astrophysics team at summer science camp. I used to pit science and spirituality against each other, thinking I had to declare allegiance to one.
The word “spirituality” can be traced back to the Latin spirals, to breathe It took me years to allow the spiritual part of myself to do this. It was hard to come out as “spiritual”. People sometimes shudder when I tell them I’m an interfaith minister, and walk away from me at dinner even after I explain that I don’t believe in God. They don’t hang around long enough for me to tell them that science is on my side.
Over the past 40 years, scientists have also taken an interest in spirituality, trying to define it and discover its utility. The 32-item self-report questionnaire, the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory – Revised (ESI-R)operationalizes spirituality into five dimensions, including cognitive, experiential, and existential aspects of this domain of human functioning.
As someone who embraces spirituality outside of religion, I am not alone. A fifth of Americans describe themselves as spiritual but not religious, half of those in Britain who do not identify as religious is still open to mystery or a higher power and in Australia, 38% of Gen Z identify as spiritual.
Australians are particularly humble when it comes to spiritual expression. The sociologist Gary Bouma Australian spirituality is described as less publicly explicit than in other Western nations, with Australians having a more “relaxed” spirituality. He quoted historian Manning Clark, who described the Australian approach to spirituality as “a shy hope in the heart”.
Spirituality also has an ecological dimension, with many people describing their deepest experiences of awe and transcendence when in nature.
Australians are lucky to take advantage from the wisdom of First Nations spiritualities, which frequently place the well-being of the Earth on an equal or higher footing than human progress. A spiritual connection with and veneration of the environment can help people to “remember” people as part of a wider ecology.
for me, spirituality is not about believing in a set of facts or praying to a deity. Spirituality can contribute to my well-being, but is not just (pun intended) about how I feel. Instead of a fear of eternal damnation, cultivating a deep sense of connection can motivate me to be of service to others, the group, and the wider world in which I live.
Being spiritual is over feeling spiritually connected to others, and the planet and the long arc of history, and acting as if I were spiritually connected to others, and the planet and the long arc of history. Awe, transcendence, wonder, mystery – these are the affective states of spirituality, which ignite the shy hope in my heart that I can co-create a better world.
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Jackie Bailey is the author of The Eulogy, winner of the 2023 NSW Premier’s Literary Multicultural Award. When she’s not writing, Jackie works as a mortician, helping families find death and dying. This article draws on research for her forthcoming non-fiction book on spirituality for the non-religious
