Peace, one and all…
Although it appears to be a perennial, even innate, human need spirituality is a notoriously difficult concept to define. I have found that there are as many definitions of spirituality as there are people to offer them. This makes talking about spirituality a difficult, and often imprecise, activity.
There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, there are issues of language: how do we know we are even talking about the same idea? How can we be sure that we have the same notions attached to this most pliable of terms? What about terms and concepts drawn from other languages and traditions? How are we to talk across these seemingly wide gulfs? For someone like myself, such questions are doubly important.
Secondly, what about religion? Are the two concepts the same thing? If not, what are the differences between them; what are the similarities?
Thirdly, one of the most fraught issues is that of ‘authenticity’. What makes a spirituality ‘authentic’? Can a spirituality ever be inauthentic, or even invalid? If so, who is to judge and upon what bases are they to render such judgements?
These are weighty matters and there is a growing need to dicsuss them together, as we begin our journey into the momentous 21st century. As Shaykh Kabir put it, there is a real need to develop a shared ‘spiritual vocabulary’.
I don’t have all (or even many) of the answers. There is much I am unaware of and much I simply don’t know. That is why my thoughts are simply that: mere thoughts. At any rate, for what they’re worth, here are some recent reflections.
The reason that there are so many definitions of spirituality highlights an important point: spirituality is inherently personal. Spirituality is, in a sense, a record of how an individual sees the world and its meaning. It is our own deeply personal sense of how life’s passing moments fit together, and what this connection signifies. Given the deeply personal nature of spirituality, it is perhaps small that there are so many understandings, so many voices. In this sense, all spiritualities are equally authentic – in that, on some level, they are all anchored to individual thoughts, to individual orientations.
Does this mean that every world view is equally valid? This is a difficult question, though I suspect the answer is no. Otherwise, we would be saying that ‘spiritualities’ that encouraged kidnap and murder would be ‘authentic’ (and merely one choice amongst many) and this is an absurdity.
But, if spirituality equates to a person’s history or trajectory, then who am I to judge that path? As a Muslim, this is why I feel it is important to simply let some things go: only God can offer final and complete judgement, because only God has the knowledge and awareness necessary for the task.
If spirituality is so deeply personal, where does that leave religion? In a recent event, a speaker offered an understanding of spirituality as personal history. He then went on to say that religion is a connection to a wider, shared history – a group trajectory if you will. I liked this idea myself. Indeed, others have also advanced similar notions.
That is, a religion offers a history, a community, a vocabulary of shared experience. It offers a way of living and a method of practical application. In other words, tradition and continuity (forward motion) are essential facets. This would mean therefore, that spirituality becomes our personal conversation (with our selves and with God), whilst religion becomes a communal conversation (with others and thus with God).
But what, then, of authenticity? Is there such a thing? If I have spent most of this post problematising this notion there are I believe some essentials, things that any authentic spirituality (and religion) must have (this is not a complete list):
- Honesty: if spirituality is about personal judgement, it must lead us beyond self-serving notions, it must demand that we be honest with ourselves (and with others too)
- Compassion: it must lead us to a deeper caring for others, and that caring attitude must lead us towards action
- Tolerance: an authentic spirituality must move us beyond our narrow differences – or rather, it must help us to see the good, that struggling towards truth and wholeness, in the words and actions of others. It must help us understand the inherent worth and value of the perspectives of others
- Connection: we must be led towards deeper connections with others, with ourselves and with Ultimate Reality and Meaning (which I would call Allah).
- A Sense of Wonder: an authentic spirituality must help us appreciate the mystery, majesty and wonder of the world around us. ‘Philosophy starts from a sense of wonder’, as Socrates is reported to have said. Moreover, it must lead us to defend that mysteriousness, that beauty, from anything that seeks to remove it. Perhaps one of the most distressing features of contemporary life if the way in which all things are quantified, commodified and cheapened.
These are my current thoughts and musings. I regard them as neither final nor complete. If spirituality and religion are so deeply about conversation (sohbet) then here are some of the thoughts of my own soul. Insha Allah, we can begin a discussion.
And my last prayer is in praise of God, Sustainer of All Being.
Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman
Barney said:
Abdur Rahman, thank you for a thought-provoking post about spirituality and religion. It seems to me that you have clarified the importance of the connection between spirituality as a personal search for authentic meaning and connection (with God, with others, with ourselves) and religion as a community of meaning with a shared history and trajectory.
I guess one could say that spirituality without religion runs the risk of leading us astray – each of us needs a check on our ego and our potential to suppose, utterly falsely, that God has a particular, even an exclusive, affection for our mind and spirit (rather than for someone else’s mind and spirit). Religion without spirituality runs the risk of becoming the dry and imitative performance of ritual without the remembrance of what the ritual is about.
Is there an analogy to be drawn here between the need for both spirituality and religion and the need to use both our heart and our mind?
Julaybib Ayoub said:
I think there is a desperate need to sort the wheat from the chaff here. The term “religion” (which is actually quite a contemporary concept) has already come under scrutiny as a cultural and historical concept – see Talal Asad and also Muhammad Qasim Zaman on how the concept of ‘religion’ became a tool in the British colonial armoury.
McCutcheon, among others, is crying out for terms like spirituality to get the same treatment. Spirituality permits all sorts of practices to be lumped together that really don’t have much in common except for attracting those religious studies scholars who have been Eliaded in to treating everything holy as ahistorical and essential.
Tess said:
This is an excellent post and just what I needed to read when I am struggling with institutional religion, which I believe often mandates against personal spirituality.
I really like the way you put it that spirituality is our personal conversation and religious expression is our communal conversation. There’s a lot to ponder here, and a good way forward.
Abdur Rahman said:
Peace Barney,
You’re right. Both spirituality and religion are necessary for forward motion. Yes, there may well be an analogy between heart and mind here. I’ll need to think this over!
Abdur Rahman
Abdur Rahman said:
Peace Tess,
Thank you. God bless you always. I like the metaphor of conversation for a number of reasons, not least of which is the idea that it means we can, on some level, listen to each others’ conversations.
Abdur Rahman
Abdur Rahman said:
Salaams Julaybib,
You’re right! Much of what I write stands in need of the wheat from the chaff treatment!
I understand the historically contextualised nature of these terms. I’ve read a number of M Q Zaman’s works – does this idea come from his work on contemporary ulema?
You may well like the work of a colleague of mine here in the dept, Dr. James Hegarty, who works mostly in Hindu and Sikh traditions. He teaches a course ‘The making of Hindu and Sikh traditions in the modern world’ where he makes a very similar point – that these labels are, in many ways, later constructs.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that religion is about communal identity, whether that identity be real or imagined. I do appreciate what you say about the historical nature of the term and I agree. Perhaps, in my rather fuzzy way, I’m trying to make a point about the way religion is used here and now.
I’ve not read McCutcheon’s work. What’s the title? Insha Allah, I’ll check it out.
Spirituality is a strange term, a kind of catch-all buzzword. It can mean almost anything, which is really to say that in some ways it really means nothing. I was really trying to understand why this might be on a personal level: that is, it seems to represent personal orientations towards meaning.
Thank you for your comments. I like to be stretched and made to explore things anew.
God bless you always
Abdur Rahman
Irving said:
Ah dear Bhai, you have perfectly enunciated some of the qualities of the Prophet (pbuh). A Shaykh once told me that religion is the base from which the rocket of the spirit takes off. I think that is true here also
Ya Haqq!
Katib said:
Assalamu’aliakum Abdur Rahamn
This is very interesting attempt to discuss these important issues. Spirituality is often misunderstood and given limited man made definition according to each one’s experience and circumstances. Many people talk about spirituality from different cultural, religious and intellectual backgrounds. In my humble opinion, I believe it is very important to remember that we must universalize Spirituality and not conceptualize it. Spirituality is authenticated from without but not from within. It is initiated from within but authenticated from without. If spirituality remains in its intellectual sphere then it will remain as such within the individual intellect or mind and perhaps it would give him or her selfish spiritual experience within, and it dose not go beyond the boundaries of the physical being of the self. But if spirituality is sought through the universal principles of humanity then its truthfulness would echo back to the seeker; it is acknowledged by those who are touched by your spirituality and this echo or acknowledgment represents its authentication. In other words, according to Quran, true spirituality is in the form of “i’hsan” or to be “mu’hsin” or constant engagement in doing good deeds to others; to be conscious of the Absolute at all times. The holy prophet was asked “what is religion?” then he replied”the religion is good conducts”. It is only through the process of being “mu’hsin- always good doer” the principles of spirituality are exercised and put on the test to be authenticated, by those who experience the spirituality of the good doer-mu’hsin.
True spirituality reflects the truthfulness of religion. And the truthfulness of spirituality is authenticated by the sincere acknowledgment by your fellow man without any personal gain from both parties. The relationship between religion and spirituality is like the relationship between tree and its fruits. When the tree produces healthy and beneficial fruits then it is an indication of the good health and strength of that tree.
There is an essential correlation between mind and heart to embark upon the spiritual journey of man. The mind is to initiate the spiritual journey and to acknowledge the necessity of pursuing such journey, where as the heart is the vehicle through which the spiritual journey is realized.
Waminnassalm
Katib
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Abdur Rahman said:
Wa alaikum salaam Katib,
Thank you for your interesting thoughts. I am intrigued by your idea that spirituality can only be authenticated from without. Although, in some ways, this seems to run counter to my own reflections, perhaps you’re saying that only God can truly authenticate someone’s spirituality? If that’s what you’re saying, then I would agree wholeheartedly.
I like your point about the universality of these ideas. The more I reflect on this question, the more I realise that purified humanity is what we’re trying to reach towards.
Allah bless you always
Abdur Rahman
ali said:
Salaams
Hope you are well inshallah keep up the posativity ,the articles are full of inspiration .Do you have a direct line to kabir helminski for correspondance
peace salaams
ps please excuse my spelling
yours Ali
Abdur Rahman said:
Salaams Ali
Thank you for your kind comment. Allah bless you.
Do I have a direcct line? No. Insha Allah, I will pass on your e-mail address to the organisers of the London Sufi Group (the UK Threshold Society group).
Abdur Rahman
Katib said:
Assalamu’alaikum Abdur Rahaman
Yes the ultimate authenticator of spirituality is God but the process of authentication, of spirituality, is realized only through the interactions between truth seeker and the creations of God. True spirituality can not be manifested unless through establishing a connection with the manifestations of the glory God that is His creations. God’s authentication of our spirituality is made possible through our exercise of our human obligations and upholding all human values of goodness, toward each others.
Spirituality which is confined only in the places of worship or within the confinement of the individual, mental meditations and whirling around all day long for personal spiritual experience, will not be authenticated, by God unless this spirituality is set in action through reaching out to God’s creations, and only through God’s creations the process of authentication, by God, is realized. And that is what I meant by “It is initiated from within but authenticated from without”
And you are absolutely right “that purified humanity is what we’re trying to reach towards.” And this purified humanity is the “pure fi’tra-divine innate nature” that God refer to in His holy Quran, which is essentially united through out humanity, and through which a true spiritual connection, among humanity, is established, then and only then spirituality is authenticated by God-through that true connection among humanity.
I did not think that my thoughts are in counter with yours; rather they were only parallel to yours. I hope with this I have clarified any ambiguity.
God bless you always.
Waminnassalam
Katib
Abdur Rahman said:
Wa alaikum salaam akhi’l-karim Katib,
Yes. This is exactly what I mean too!
I am also of the opinion that any authentic spirituality must reach out to others, to help others move forward themselves. This is the path of the prophets (alayhim al-salam); otherwise, if spirituality was merely individual, then what need would there have been for them to have come amongst us?
All that is right and true comes from Allah, Sustainer of All Being. Only the mistakes (in fact or interpretation) are mine.
Ya Haqq!
Abdur Rahman
Shiraz said:
It’s certainly one of those words that is rife with all kinds of connotations, much like “mysticism” or “mythology” or even “religion.”
I think spirituality is, at base, existential curiosity coupled with focused imagination and a gentle heart (don’t quote me on that
). And, to speak of it Islamically, it’s about reaching that level of ihsan, past iman, past islam, as Katib mentioned above. Living beauteously, as did the exemplar Prophets throughout human history. They were able to do that because, perhaps, they could see the divine flame more clearly, whereas we do our best to blow at kindling. Still, the idea of blowing at the kindling means you believe that a fire can grow, that warmth and energy can be nurtured.