We Are Spiritual by God’s Design
It’s easy to accept that we are physical beings—pinch yourself and you will know. The Bible says we are spiritual beings and this, too, is part of God’s design (see below 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). When we look in a mirror what we see is our physical self, we don’t know how our spiritual self looks. It is intangible. Yet, if what the Bible says is true, the physical body is a sacred repository for our spiritual selves. 
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)
Yet, how can we know we are spiritual? Even the dictionary struggles to pin this down. The definitions for the word start with: “of or relating to,” “closely akin,” “characterized by.” Nowhere does it say what “spiritual” is. If Webster can’t figure it out what chance is there for the rest of us?
Animals live by instinct; they pursue the things that sustain life and comfort. Once humankind secures sustenance and comfort rarely we stay content—for life to make sense it must reflect in things that matter and have meaning, however simple or complex they are. I think when we accept our longing for meaningful living we come closer to embracing our spiritual being.
A family who loses a child to a drunk driver becomes galvanized to find meaning in the loss—to make sense out of the senseless. Often they rally and unite supporters to their cause to irradiate drunk driving. The actions performed raise awareness and drive policy change. They are visible but the cause itself has no form–an idea only–except that this intangible, invisible thing gives life back to a broken family. In accepting our need for meaning is when we truly embrace our spiritual selves–by God’s design we are spiritual beings.
A Search for the Sacred
More complicated, however, is the word “spiritual” as it means different things to different people; similar to a mixed bowl of candy circulating at a kid’s party, each child savours a candy with a slightly different flavour.
In Mark Gilbert’s article What Does It Mean To Be Spiritual?* he maintains that “social scientists have defined spirituality as the ‘search for the sacred’, where the ‘the sacred’ is broadly defined as that which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration.”
Mark Gilbert categorizes common Western viewpoints on spirituality–a set of spiritual buckets as you were.
He describes traditional social-conservatives who rarely distinguish between their faith and their spirituality–they consider themselves both religious and spiritual. The search for their spiritual selves evolves through their faith.
Others place their faith in rational science and materiality. For this group their beliefs do not channel through religious infrastructure, meaning comes through science and provable fact of the material world. They do not define themselves as spiritual or religious because science doesn’t yet confirm either.
Humanists are the third bucket Mark Gilbert describes. The search for the sacred is about living as equals and respecting the globe; caring for Mother Earth and her creations. Invariably these people dismiss or outright reject things “religious” as distasteful. The dogma associated with traditional world religions leaves notions of repression and brainwashing. To distinguish between “religious” and “spiritual” they perceive they are “spiritual but not religious” and will map their own spiritual journey than follow a prescribed formula.
Sacred Within
The search for our spiritual selves is to find meaning. In 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 it suggests the sacred is closer than we think. We need not travel far and wide or be of a mindset to find it–it is within. What bucket you fall into–traditional, scientific, humanist–doesn’t matter as one size fits all. How comforting. How liberating.
The grieving family who lost a child turns in for meaning and what they find is “that which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration.” Action expresses and transforms outward this inner sacredness.
We are spiritual by God’s design.
To be continued (refer next post).
*http://consciousbridge.com/wordpress/articles/spirituality-2/what-does-it-mean-to-be-spiritual/
How do you perceive your spiritual self? Do you fit into one bucket described or is there another?
I am definitely a traditional social-conservative and find great contentment and peace in being one.