Air Water Ground: Note re Part 4 of AWG, "Regarding the Development & Fitness Value of Spirtuality"

07/08/2015

I am wrestling with my use of the term “spirituality”, as I use it in my personal writing, such as

In Air Water Ground (see link to document in the side bar), and in particular; and the post Human Socially Obligate Boundary Conditions and Related Cultural Universalshttp://airwaterground.blogspot.com/2015/07/human-socially-obligate-boundary.html And Regarding the Development and Fitness Value of Spirituality,http://airwaterground.blogspot.com/2015/03/regarding-thedevelopment-and-fitness.html

The definitions of spirituality are wide, varied and unsettled. They range from the the plethora of “new age” views to the newer secular variants, such as in the writings of Ursula Goodenough or Sam Harris .

The term religion is I think, much simpler to define. My take on that is that it:

Is a term denoting a group of individuals

That group self identifies around a spiritual schema

Exhibits expression of the Pseudospeciation Socially Obligate Boundary Condition (PSOBC)

Exhibits expression of the Vertical Dominance Hierarchy Socially Obligate Boundary Condition (VSOBC)

I am wondering if I should substitute for spirituality a term such as superstition or supernatural. This would thereby exclude / clarify that the secular spirituality concepts such as those expressed by Ursula Goodenough /Sam Harris are not included.

My reason for using spirituality as I do is simply, its etymological roots. Which for my purposes, seems well, appropriate.

“The term spirit means "animating or vital principle in man and animals". It is derived from the Old French espirit which comes from the Latin word spiritus (soul, courage, vigor, breath) and is related to spirare (to breathe). In the Vulgate the Latin word spiritus is used to translate the Greek pneuma and Hebrew ruah. …The term "spirituality" is derived from Middle French spiritualité, from Late Latin "spiritualitatem" (nominative spiritualitas), which is also derived from Latin spiritualis.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality , citations omitted.

Supernatural, given the very existence of the concept, may be a better term for my use? “The supernatural (Medieval Latin: supernātūrālis: supra "above" + naturalis "nature", first used: 1520–30 AD) is that which is not subject to the laws of physics or, more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature.”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural citation omitted

Or perhaps superstition? It is perhaps too narrow of a term for my application? “Superstition is the belief in supernatural causality—that one event causes another without any natural process linking the two events—such as astrology, religion, omens, witchcraft, prophecies, etc., that contradicts natural science.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition

Spinning Away (Eno/Kale)

Up on a hill, as the day dissolves

With my pencil turning moments into line
High above in the violent sky
A silent silver plane – it draws a golden chain

One by one, all the stars appear
As the great winds of the planet spiral in
Spinning away, like the night sky at Arles
In the million insect storm, the constellations form

On a hill, under a raven sky
I have no idea exactly what I’ve drawn
Some kind of change, some kind of spinning away
With every single line moving further out in time
And now as the pale moon rides (in the stars)
Her form in my pale blue lines (in the stars)
And there, as the world rolls round (in the stars)
I draw, but the lines move round (in the stars)
There, as the great wheels blaze (in the stars)
I draw, but my drawing fades (in the stars)
And now, as the old sun dies (in the stars)
I draw, and the four winds sigh (in the stars)