The Language of Spirituality

This is a partial reprint of an article entitled, "Learning the Languge of Spirituality" that was published in the Journal of Religion and Psychial Research, Vol 28, #1, January, 2005.

Since I am running two spirituality groups per week, among my usual six, I am finding with my PhD work, that I have some "spiritual" clients, who have completed a few years of extensive therapy on their core family-of-origin issues and have returned ready for a stage where they use spirituality to keep peace in the middle of some chaos that is still in their lives due to the age of anxiety in which we live.  We have discussed the work of some of these scientists and others who have worked on this film in these groups.  

Most members, as reported in the book, The Next American Spirituality by George Gallup, Jr. & T Jones (2000) are not "religious" now and do not attend church regularly.  The actual statistics from this book stated that 96% of the population said they believed in God while nearly 60% saw religion itself declining in influence.   

In particular, one spirituality group is finding that a dialogue between them is setting something in motion and is making the un-manifest, manifest.  After forty weeks, members have found profound differences in the quality of their lives and how they are seeing the world.  A flow or spirit has and is working between them.   

Part of this is because we are discussing and investigating quantum physics of which one theory is that of Rupert Sheldrake known as "morphic fields" which he defines as "regions of influence in space time."  It's a kind of memory bank of information that all species tune into.  It is what Jung called the "Collective Unconscious."  It can also be called the Life Force, Energy or Love that surrounds all living things that is shared among plants, animals and humans.   

For instance, about two-thirds of widows who loose a spouse have the experience of having them appear afterwards which they experience as a reunion.  51% of dogs and 25% of cats in the United States, show anticipatory behavior approximately ten minutes before their owners arrive home.  Plants, hooked up to instruments, show positive signs of response when their caretakers decide to return home from a trip.   

The term "Giving Up the Ghost" was discussed and learned for the first time for some.  This term is mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 25:8, Mark 15:37-39, John 19:30 and Luke 23:46.  It is quoted from a 1929 book, A Curious Life by George Wehner, "Then, like a shadow, the spirit-form of my beloved mother glided rapidly upward through a corner of the ceiling."  So, this is how a ghost becomes a ghost.  Some people give up the ghost easily and others don't.  I can't tell you how many clients stories, friend stories, acquaintance stories, etc. etc. I have heard about ghosts.  So many in fact that I now xerox the web site of the South Jersey Ghost Research Association http://www.sjgr.org, who have been in business since 1955, and give it out to people.  This association has been featured  on Channel 13, in newspapers and magazine articles.  This association has many talented volunteers who will come to your home with expensive equipment and give you a valid report about understanding ghosts that you may have in your home. 

 Just knowing this information about ghosts or spirits and the other aspects of the language of spirituality seems to help the members believe that there is a greater force around them that they can tune into.  So for them, practicing meditation or prayer is something that they are now doing on a regular basis and it is having results because their belief system is now stronger knowing the above facts which I present using Power-Point Presentations. 

One member now prays the rosary daily for herself and her family members and all have more positive life styles as a result.  One member is attending college, something that was supposedly an impossibility last year.  Another member is starting another career, also an impossibility last year.  One member has found a book publisher.  One profoundly, negative client, is now positive and uses her pleasant sense of humor, without sarcasm, in a group where she has a genuine sense of belonging.  These rational goals are not really discussed in the group.  The spiritual concepts are, along with other spiritual stories and language.  The goals just happen in their daily lives.  This is the fascinating part. 

Also, the stories that they have told during the weeks together have validated their faith in what they before considered "weird" and this too has increased their faith, not necessarily in religion, but in spiritual things.  Much that appears paranormal, at present, looks normal when we expand our ideas of normality.  This expansion increases our sense of connectedness and spirituality for ourselves.