Spiritual thinking involves learning to see, feel and experience the presence of the divine in one's life and circumstance. It accepts the reality that life transcends the restriction of sense, time and space. Spiritual living and thinking is living totally every moment, guided by the principle of love toward God and all humankind. Our spirituality is that which connects and integrates our experiences, our physical, social, mental and emotional worlds. It is the core of our existence, the root of our tree of life. The uniqueness of our situation is determined by the interaction of our spiritual core and the other components of our life. Spirituality impacts and is impacted by every other aspect of life. Even though the events of life are common to all, it is the condition of our spiritual center and its interaction with these events that gives life its uniqueness. Our spiritual essence defines who we are in our inmost being; the ordering of our spiritual life brings sense and meaning to every other part.
Herein lies the difference between spirituality and psychology and other social disciplines; Psychology involves a quest for meaning, Spirituality is meaning. Psychology teaches what to do. Spirituality teaches how to be. Psychology provides strategies for living; Spirituality is life itself. Therefore the greatest goal of life is spiritual growth and maturity.
Spirituality teaches us to recognize that there is a physical domain and spiritual domain. There is an outer world and an inner world. There is a world of sense that we all see and feel. Men of science study this world and accumulate knowledge of it. But there is another world, one that is unseen by the senses, but its invisibility does not render it any less real. Paul in the New Testament declares, "even though on the outside we are wasting away, on the inside we are being renewed every day, therefore we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, for the things that are seen are temporal, but things that unseen are eternal." Jesus the master teacher observed at Luke 17:20-21 The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."
This is the realm of the spirit where the divine meets the human in a supernatural transaction that is often unexplainable but no less real. Again the master Jesus gives us further insight here when he taught, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:8.
Spiritual thinking also involves seeing with a vision that is beyond the physical. Recall the words of Paul quoted above, "we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen." The supernatural transaction mentioned above brings the gift of spiritual eyesight which allows one to see the unseen. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned.
Understanding the reality of the spiritual realm and its relationship to the working of the divine spirit prepares us to experience an inner life that is not dependent on the external circumstances. The outside may be wasting away but the inner spiritual core can experience daily renewal, transformation and growth.
Conroy Reynolds, MS MA is a mental health chaplain and ordained pastor. He is also the author of "Finding God in the Dark." More information is available at:
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