ABSTRACT
It is probably pointless to offer a precise definition of the idea of spirituality, nor, in this paper, shall I attempt it. But I shall indicate some of the strands that make up the idea. My purpose in doing so will be to explore a certain tension (which I think most people implicitly recognise) between what might be called the outlook of scientific rationalism, on the one hand-an outlook which has little time for the idea of spirituality-and, on the other, an approach which takes the idea of the spiritual dimension in life very seriously. The eventual aim of the paper will be to show that these two differing approaches can coexist. To take the spiritual dimension seriously need not involve quarrelling with any of the values and achievements of scientific rationalism (though it will tend to see science as presenting an account of human existence that is in a certain sense incomplete); and, conversely, scientific rationalism need not dismiss the spiritual domain, since the insights offered in the latter realm are not in competition with the theories and explanations of the scientist. Though the main themes of the paper are those of spirituality and of science, it will be clear from the outset that questions about spirituality inevitably intertwine with central moral questions about how life should be lived; and it will emerge towards the end that the moral credentials of the spiritual life play an important role in defending its value.
