“spirituality is about getting in touch with reality”
science is a mode of conceptualizing the nature of the world and spirituality is the means by which we live in relation to the truth. One is grasped with our minds and the other is integrated into our way of being.
in other words, science is a language of clearly examining how the observable universe works, Spirituality is the practice of integrating our being in accordance with that universe of self-less interrelation.
When considering the ways in which science describes “truth” to us, we often expect a definitive “answer” or secret revelation through which science can reveal to us the unseen truths behind the facade of appearances. In reality, the most simple dynamics that science has helped us conceptualize regarding the nature of life can be some of the most informative in helping us live according to “truth”, such as the following:
-that life is interdependent and interrelated
-that reality transcends the scope of the individual
these two statements are so self-evident when looking at the world that we take them for granted… however if we were able to move our understanding of this down from our heads and into our embodied sense of living, this -i’d argue- is the essence of sprituality.
in conventional terms, spirituality is often ascribed to modes of thinking and being that open us up to larger and more expansive notions of experience that transcend our attachment to our isolated self-senses.
This means expanding our consciousness beyond our narratives and, ultimately, beyond our temporary experience of our bodies on this earth.
I once had a physics professor who, despite not identifying as spiritual, to me embodied this definition of spirituality. His decades spent as a physicist studying both the largest and smallest scales known to man led him to engage with the world with wonder, awe and humility and a deep understanding of our interconnected nature with all living beings with a concordant awareness of our individual temporality.
To me, this is spirituality… not to get caught up within a “higher” level of stories and narratives about the way the world is, but to allow our knowledge of the expanse of the universe that we live and participate within to inform our actions, values and sense of space, time and ourselves.