Lesson 11: I am Spiritual
Let me end this series by noting again that people mean all sorts of things when they try to define spirituality. That goes for academic writing as well as personal identification. When they say, “I am spiritual” they mean anything from being emotional to the passionate practice of a religion.
Considering that this is such an elastic word, perhaps the best thing I can do is simply explain what I mean when I say, “I am spiritual.”
It’s my way of declaring I am sincerely trying to live by the gospel Jesus taught and lived. Because I believe he personifies God for us, I consider this lifestyle to represent living by God’s will.
Being spiritual means trying to love God with my whole heart, mind, and soul, and to love my neighbor as myself. I take Jesus’ saying the two commandments are the same to mean we should love God, others, and self the same way. He is not asking us to love ourselves less but to love others just as much. One of my favorite people in the world teaches yoga with a slogan, “Take care of yourself. Take care of others.” I think that captures Jesus’ meaning.
Being spiritual is not following certain laws or believing certain doctrines. It’s becoming the kind of person who responds to all situations with love, not a subject obeying a ruler, but a follower imitating a mentor or a son continuing the work of a father.
I intentionally used the words “try“ and “becoming” because my spirituality is an ongoing effort. I have to continually rethink what is loving in each unique situation. I must forgive myself as much as I forgive others. I’m regularly evaluating how well I am living by the Holy Spirit ingrained in the creation and revealed in Jesus’ life.
Being spiritual is costly nowadays because those in power claim that living by these values is destroying our civilization. Progress is supposedly built on rewarding those who base their lives on winning at any cost, making self-serving deals, and using violence against the weak. In fact, some of those in power have written that the kind of spirituality I am describing is “toxic”. You are to love yourself more than others, and that extends to advocating racial superiority and America first.
This fits right in with Paul’s description of the unspiritual life as “becoming conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.” He also mentions ”sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.”
In contrast, Paul describes spirituality as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” That’s as good as any definition and it is certainly what is needed today.
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