Spirituality is a connection to something much bigger than ourselves and involves one’s search for the meaning of life. It is something that can have a profound effect on all of us. When a person is searching for the meaning of life, most are surprised to find that the answer to that question lies deep down within ourselves. By allowing yourself to connect to higher consciousness we set a personal path for ourselves in finding our own truths.
One theorist I would like to talk about that would be very beneficial for someone to follow including myself during their search for spirituality is that of The Black Elk Medicine Wheel. “The American Indian medicine wheel is a symbol of Mother Earth spirituality by which the lessons of nature are used to better understand
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54). Each part of the wheel is divided into specific aspects of spiritual growth along with the lessons we are meant to learn by each of them. The four represented in the wheel are as follows, the path of quiet/ your mental health, the path of sun-learning to respect yourselves, others, and the environment. The path of peace-through wonder and youth, and the path of introspection-where you will do soul searching in order to find balance in your life for spiritual and physical wellness. The Black Elk Medicine Wheel is meant to teach people how to self-reflect from within so they can understand their purpose in life and learn how to become grounded and centered with their spirit. By doing this you are making progress towards self-enlightenment and improving your spiritual growth.
The metaphors of spiritual growth help us to guide and transform ourselves. Practicing these ten metaphors of spirituality will help you to transform your body, mind, and spirit. Awakening is when we awake from our slumber and we become a little more conscious of what is around us. DE hypnosis is when we allow other people’s thoughts and actions limit what we can do due to suggestions
The extra theistic landscape includes stories from the participants that include beliefs that transcend the mundane, but are not related to the belief in God. The third path of spirituality described by Ammerman is ethical spirituality. This is essentially the common ground between the theistic and extra theistic landscapes; ethical spirituality “is that real spirituality is about living a virtuous life, one characterized by helping others, transcending one’s own selfish interests to seek what is right” (45). Ammerman has found that most of the participants consider themselves spiritual and religious, the minority consider themselves spiritual but not religious, these participants included those from the unaffiliated and the non-attenders. This is the fourth and final path Ammerman outlines in chapter 2 of her book. As Ammerman continues, she describes activities of the theistic and extra theistic such as, praying, reading scripture, meditating, and using music as a way to show
This assignment has taught me a lot about the Native Medicine Wheel, I did not know how many different means it could have but to everyone it is different.
Let us not confuse or conflate the spiritual with the physical: they are inseparable, but they are not interchangeable. Do not allow wishful thinking to lead to delusions. To grasp the idea of prosperity and self-worth
All things in nature; humans, plants, and animals were believed to be a spiritual being. Totemism, the belief that humans all humans have a spiritual connection with spirit beings (often in the form of an animal) was central to the Native American tribe’s spirituality. Health and wellbeing are closely linked to spirituality, requiring a spiritual and harmonious relationship with the environment.
Melhem et al (2016) define spirituality as an “abstract, subjective, and complex term, whose definition varies between individuals, philosophies, and cultures” and has “many subjective meanings” (p.43). I have learned from many friends who view themselves as spiritual, but don’t follow any particular religion, that spiritualty has allowed them to find meaning and balance in their life. Many feel that all individuals have the capacity to be spiritual, but I haven’t felt the need to tune into this concept thus far in my life. I would tell you where I find meaning and balance in my life, but I don’t even fully know that answer myself. Spirituality is such a new concept for me, and I find it hard to wrap my head around the ways in which I may be able to view or understand it. Therefore, it is something I hope to explore as I mature and continue to understand who I am as a person in this
Black Elk Speaks describes a young Native American’s, Black Elk, life growing up. In the text Black Elk is a selfless person, whose main goal in life is to protect his people. He takes this goal upon himself after he experiences a great vision. In this vision, on pages 20 and 21, Black Elk is given a great power. He uses this power not only to destroy the villages enemy, “the blue man,” but he also is able to heal all of those that are sick or dead in the village by flying by them. Black Elk understands this vision as a sign that he must protect and care for his people. He answers this higher calling without a second thought and places his people’s lives above his own, despite only being a child.
Religion has 7 core attributes that allow someone to call it a religion, these include Narrative, Doctrine, Emotional, Material, Ethical, Ritual and Social. These seven attributes help individuals identify what can be classified as a “religion”, however spirituality has no “easy way” to identifying it. Spirituality can be found within the individual looking for their “meaning” but not physically expressed.
...hings we cannot change but have to accept, all build our experiences. This umwelt of our existence structures our experiences and is what we use to create metaphors. "The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.S (Lakoff and Johnson, P. 5) To find meaning in our experiences we construct metaphors. These allow us to explain the past and to predict the future. Religion is a system of metaphors which helps us to create meaning out of life. To believe in a certain religion requires us to adopt it's metaphors.
We are able to learn from the nature around us. The willows, fields, frank winds, and the electric sky are the things that represent something much bigger in our lives. ‘Are my prayer/ they are my medicine/ and they become my song/
Spirituality refers to the perspective of that which is valued in life, and that which must to be upheld and defended under any and all circumstances, regardless of the social environment and surrounding conditions.
A very interesting piece I took very seriously was the one by Ermine, Willie. Aboriginal Esptimology, First Nations Education in Canada. As it began to introduce me into a whole new world of the insight and knowledge of aboriginals, it just amazed me. It helped me understand the thoughts and how in depth and real the believes and rituals are. “Philosophers among Aboriginal people have explored and analyzed the process of self-actualization. The being in relation to the cosmos possessed intriguing and mysterious qualities that provided insights into existence. In their quest to find meaning in the outer space. Aboriginal people turned into the inner space. This inner space is that universe of being within each person that is synonymous with the soul, the spirit, the self.” Wow. To me that quotation was intense I had to read it over a few times to understand the in depth meaning and message it was giving me. I found it so meaningful and in lighting how the thoughts would come to a person like that. When I read that I was greatly interested in the inner self and honestly looked many examples up on Google for a longer period of time than I thought. But as I read on in Willie’s writings I noticed this quote. “No one could dictate the path that must be followed. There was reconition that every individual had the capacity to make headway into knowledge that comes from the inner space in the individual gives rise to a subjective world-view out onto the external world. The in-depth and analysis of this reading I cant even explain how this took me, I am sorry if I’m carrying this one reading on to far but I have one more quote I took that I would like to share.
My spiritual wellness is what I believe in life. I believe in my religion which is Christianity and its beliefs. I keep myself motivated through faith by the morals and beliefs throughout the day. Spiritual wellness is your purpose in life and that is an important part that has to do with your
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” According to Buddha, everyone needs some form of spirituality to define his or her life and existence. Webster Dictionary defines spiritualism as “a system of beliefs or religious practices based on supposed communication with the spirits of the dead, often times through mediums.” Though this is one general definition of spiritualism, this concept is one that does not hold a conclusive meaning. Each and every single person has the ability and right to create and practice their own idea of spiritualism. From ancient times to present day, the term and practice of spirituality has transformed, particularly from region to region. Despite the discrepancies in practices and overall understanding of this idea, spirituality has had an effect and impact upon all of humanity since the creation of time. This religion that is believed to have been established in the early eighteen hundreds, after two little girls claimed to have the ability to talk to spirits, sparked interest in this spiritual movement, allowing it to spread rather rapidly over many geographical locations. Aside from being recognized as a religion, spiritualism is also believed to be a form of philosophy and a science in which spiritualists believe that there is life after death and try to demonstrate this through the ability of attempting to communicate with those that have passed on. Spiritualism was socially different from other religions in existence at the time because it presented followers with a more tolerant belief system that assimilated the principles and facts from a selection the world's religions. Spiritualism also made it acceptable for women to play a disti...
Spirituality can have many different definitions, depending on who is asked. It can be something as simple as looking for a higher meaning to life, or something so complex that one can base their beliefs, religion and overall life around it. There are several different ways to express one's spirituality; rituals, songs, dances, stories, and writings are all common methods of expression.
Ganga and Kutty stated (2013) spirituality refers to a path of life that enables people to seek reason of their existence and helps people explore challenges. Ganga and Kutty (2013) conducted a study on adults to see if spirituality had positive effects on their life, meaning did their life have purpose or value. Each participant partook in a study that asked questions about their life and purpose. The study consisted of a daily spiritual experience scale, it was a point scale that consist of 16 items to be rated on a 6-point scale. The results concluded that spirituality has positive effects on their life when seeking their purpose. Each participant felt that he/she had a purpose and that their life was valuable and meaningful (Ganga and Kutty, 2013). According to Ganga and Kutty (2013), spirituality is a way for people to discover the meaning of their life. Spirituality is a personal adventure to understand answers to the questions they seek to find about their spirituality and purpose in life. It says spirituality is a set of beliefs and practices that concludes with life changing paths that make a person’s life meaningful. Spirituality has been viewed as an important factor when realizing the purpose of life. Ganga and Kutty (2013) expressed spirituality enhances our emotions, thoughts, beliefs, relieves stress and it finds meaning and purpose of one’s life. I believe