Our Nature-Study/ Spirituality Flowchart refers a great deal to spirituality, but that term is vague and often confused with religiosity.
The New Oxford American Dictionary installed on my Kindle reader says that the word "spirituality" derives from the word "spiritual," which is defined as "of, relating to, or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things." That definition doesn't help me, because I'm unsure what is meant by the human spirit or soul.
Without claiming any authority on the matter and having no evidence other than the fact that after many years of thinking about it the following "feels right," here's how I've come to define spirituality:
Spirituality arises when we consciously and with effort, and while visualzing a "higher state of being" glimpsed during moments of inspiration -- refuse to yield to inappropriate urges rooted in our natural predispositions. Instead, we do what we think and feel is most harmonious with our own vision of a higher state of being. Moreover, our spirituality spontaneously evolves as does our concept of "higher state of being."
Our natural predispositions often are inappropriate and need to be reigned in or redirected because they are rooted in genetic coding evolved long before the manner of living of modern humans arose, or else they're programmed into us by our society, and simply may be wrong. Racism seems to be a natural urge many of us have problems with, and while religions throughout the ages have comforted many people, certain religious teachings have caused much trouble and messed up a lot of people.
The above definition of spirituality is useful only if it evolves as we ourselves gain more experience, insight and inspiration in our lives. As we change, our visualization of a "higher state of being" needs to change, too.
Here's an example of spirituality manifesting itself:
If we want to eat some pie, but know that pie is fattening and we're trying to lose some weight, while envisioning ourselves looking more trim and fit -- a higher state of being for our physical body -- consciously and with effort we walk away from the pie. Calories and fatness are features of our spiritual path because everything we are, whether physical, mental or emotional, is a manifestation of the One Thing/Great Sprit we're wanting to get close to. If we feel like a slim body is more "perfect" than a fat one, then our spiritual task is to try for the slim body.
At this point it's worth questioning whether harmonizing with the One Thing's general nature really is desirable? Who really knows? To me, it seems that on a "spiritual" level it's better to do so than not.
Can we really know what the general spirit of the One Thing is, and whether trying for a slim body can be considered as orienting toward a higher perfection? No, but I think we're all born with a certain insight into the matter, and that insight shouldn't be ignored. It should be located, nurtured, and tapped into as the main source of our own spirituality.
And deep inside -- though I know I may be wrong -- I really feel that a slim body is more perfect than a fat one.