An adequate definition of spirituality calls for examination of three related words: _spirituality_, _spiritual_ and _spirit_, and an associated term, "soul". Although definitions abound in the scriptures of various Faiths and among other groups, a western secular reference is used here. The following are from Webster's New International Dictionary, 2nd Edition (1957):
Spirituality is defined as follows:
1. Quality or state of being spiritual; spiritual nature or function; spiritual-mindedness.
Spiritual is defined as follows:
1. Of, pertaining to, or consisting of, spirit; not material; incorporeal, as, a spiritual
substance or being.
2. Of or pertaining to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind; mental;
intellectual; also, highly refined in thought or feeling.
3. Of or pertaining to the moral feelings or states of the soul, as distinguished from the
external actions; reaching and affecting the spirit.
4. Of or pertaining to the soul or its affections as influenced by the divine Spirit; controlled
and inspired by the Spirit; proceeding from the Holy Spirit pure; holy; divine; heavenlyminded;
— opposed to carnal.
Spirit is defined as follows:
1. The breath of life; life, or the life principle, conceived as a kind of breath or vapour
animating the body, or, in man, mediating between body and soul…
2. The life principle viewed as the 'breath' or gift of deity; hence, the agent of vital and
conscious functions in man; the soul.
Soul is defined as follows:
1. An entity conceived as the essence, substance, animating principle, or actuating cause of
life, or of the individual life, esp. of life manifested in psychical activities; the vehicle of
individual existence, separate in nature from the body and usually held to separable in
existence. … Soul, spirit are often convertible terms…
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