Should you come across one of my marketing cards, you may well begin by reading the introductory passage, as follows:
“The Healing Room is a spiritual-based alternative health business helping you to find direction and wellbeing through intuitive readings and healing.”
Ooooh, yes please, that sounds just lovely! Just one teeny tiny question though, what does ‘spiritual-based’ mean, exactly?
Ah, now that is a very good question. What do I mean by it? In fact, what does the word spiritual even mean? Does it mean the same to me, as it does to you? Does a man in Timbuktu have the same definition as a woman in Helsinki? Do either of them agree with The Healing Room’s definition?
I know, I know, why don’t we consult our homegrown oracle on the meaning of all words, the Oxford English Dictionary. What does it have to say on the matter?:
spiritual, adj. and n.
Pronunciation: /ˈspɪrɪtjuːəl/
Of or relating to, affecting or concerning, the spirit or higher moral qualities, esp. as regarded in a religious aspect. (Freq. in express or implied distinction to bodily, corporal, or temporal.)
Of, belonging or relating to, concerned with, sacred or ecclesiastical things or matters, as distinguished from secular affairs; relating to the church or the clergy; ecclesiastical.
Of or relating to, consisting of, spirit, regarded in either a religious or intellectual aspect; of the nature of a spirit or incorporeal supernatural essence; immaterial.
Ummmmm, I’m sorry, ecclesi… what now? Incorporeal who?
Well I’m no further forward, you? And what about ‘God’, I notice he hasn’t had a mention. Is that what spiritual is?
Perhaps firstly, the important thing to consider is that the word ‘spiritual’ can mean different things to different people, and that one person may well have a wildly different interpretation from another. If our man in Timbuktu is uber-religious for example, then being ‘spiritual’ may well mean that he follows the scripture or set of rules as set forward by his God or religion to the letter, and that is his definition; whereas, for our lovely lady in Helsinki, it may well mean that nature is her faith, and that quiet veneration for the vast, inexplicable workings of the natural world is her definition.
I don’t think we can look exclusively to religion either, because for some, the words ‘religious’ and ‘spiritual’ are interchangeable, whilst for others, they are viewed as polar opposites.
So where does that leave us? Well, as ever, I can only tell you what the word ‘spiritual’ means to me and THR, and it goes a little like this:
spiritual, adj. and n.
Pronunciation: /ˈspɪrɪtjuːəl/
Love; there is an unconditional loving healing force that is within and around each and everyone one of us, and it is an intelligent force; it is not separate from us, we need not go anywhere outside of ourselves to find it, because it is us, it is everywhere, in everything.
Kindness; by recognising this force within us that we are, we recognise that kindness, above all things, is the ultimate demonstration of this loving force in action; kindness to ourselves, others, and all things.
Connectedness; this force cannot be broken, torn, separated or destroyed; it simply ‘is’; a force that connects all of us; we are all truly one.
It is love, kindness, oneness, connectedness, healingness; within us, outside of us, everywhere around us. That’s it, no rules, no scriptures, no laws.
So am I talking about ‘God’? Honestly, I don’t know, but if ‘God’ has the same definition as the above, then yes; and that God is everywhere, within us, around us, in everything we see, touch, feel, hear, taste, smell … and yes, even in a hermit crab.