1. Spirituality is a personal concern and each must decide what works for them.

2. Major religions provide this appropriately for some people.

3. Using the intellect to determine spirituality is a bit like eating soup with a fork (eg, sense can not be made, it must be sensed! Thus the name). I see our minds as separated into three parts – there are many terms for this (ego, id, superego; conscious, subconscious, superconscious) but I prefer logical, emotional, and spiritual. If you want to deal with emotional or spiritual issues, you have to work with your emotions and spirituality. Now getting your logical side (or intellect) to step aside or at least play along can be tricky – because that part (especially for those of us who have accepted that logical thought can answer all questions and have spent most of our lives pursuing answers that fall into line with that) can be a bit grabby, shall we say – controlling even!

This isn’t to say that there is no value in logically determining how best to access and experience spirituality for yourself. All three parts of the mind need to be satisfied if we are to be truly happy – if they’re out of sync, they will just be bickering.

4. I worked as a hypnotherapist for several years with one of my initial goals of entering the field to see the diversity of how people’s minds work and thereby learn how to have a spiritual experience directly, eg without the ceremony and “mumbo-jumbo” that traditional religions tend to add. True or false, my determination from this pursuit was that it’s not possible. It’s akin to whether light is a wave or a particle, ie it’s not either until you attempt to measure it, and then the means of measuring it determines which way it behaves. Much as invisible ink that can only be seen when viewed through a filter, it seems that we can only experience spirituality through the act of something that connects us to it.

You mentioned several of these: “meditation, visiting a place of contemplation, … or simply walking in a forest.” By the same token, attending church, religious ceremonies with heavy drums and dancing and sacrifices, or the act of composing a sand mandala all achieve the same effect. I’ve even experienced a sort of zen state at dance clubs where the music is so loud you can feel it in your chest but everyone is moving together with some form of unseen, unplanned connection.

Weird.

5. While I have conceded that spirituality is a solo pursuit, I also have to argue (is this another example of the duality of life? eg light: wave/particle?) that spirituality is also a very connected experience. The spiritual exercises that you mentioned are all solo experiences, but I think the feeling of happiness that they engender is one of greater connectedness. Similarly, most spiritual (aka religious) ceremonies are not solitary – they are group-oriented. I have known people who attend church ceremonies, not for the ceremony itself, but rather solely to experience the spiritual energy that is created.

I think any activity involving people interacting can BE a spiritual experience, but that has to do with your ability to be in the right frame of mind during the experience. Certainly there are people you know that are more “centered” than others. This would be my explanation for that.

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Hope these thoughts are helpful and I’m sure we’ll continue the conversation…