Why are we spiritual beings?

Human Spirituality

“Spiritual concerns influence the way in which people construe their world, pursue strivings, and regulate their behavior in day-to-day living.  This pragmatic approach to spirituality offers a perspective on spirituality that can counter the mistaken belief that spiritual states of mind are somehow on another ‘plane of existence’—a state of being that is phenomenologically valid, but has little relevance for problem solving and goal attainment in concrete life situations.”                                  Robert Emmons

         We know a great deal about the three-pound human brain these days.  We’ve mapped it, scanned it, determined the function of each layer, each area, and even know which segments ‘light-up’ during a variety of activities.  We know the structure of neurons, which neuropeptides are produced there and what messages they carry. 

There is also a lot we don’t know.  For instance, why we are conscious, and why we have evolved into the type of beings who think about everything—even our own thinking.  We don’t know why humans have developed the capacity to plan and execute those plans, why we have such a range of emotional responses to everything in our external and internal worlds.  We don’t know why we experience wonder, why we seek to have spiritual expression, and why we have the capacity for transcendent experiences. 

         As far as we know, we are the only beings on this planet who ‘seek to know’ more and more.  Our curiosity about exactly who and what we are drives us to explore ever deeper and wider into our own humanity.  There are those who believe that spirituality is an innate function of homo sapiens since there is evidence that we have been spiritual for at least two million years.  Others think that we evolved spiritual inclinations in order to move from hunter-gatherers to established colonies that were not nomadic.  Spiritual beliefs made us ‘civilized’ enough to live in community.

         What we know is that nothing, not oppression, torture or privation, can separate us from our deeply held spiritual beliefs—even when those beliefs are not theological in nature.  For millions or years, our spirituality has informed our human lives—come hell or high water.  I kind of like that about us.  We are tenacious and wonder-filled. 

                          May your day be full of spirit,

                          Jane