ABSTRACT
The contemporary concept of spirituality is one that exceeds its origins. It encompasses a wide range of positions and claims. As such, it has become an expanded concept. In its most interesting incarnations it addresses in various ways the fundamental human need to find meaning in reality, to connect emotions and reason, to find value in being and to discern connections through experiences. It addresses issues of ‘Why am I here?’ and ‘What should I do to flourish as a self?’, amongst many others. These have become urgent questions because humans have proved themselves an intelligent species that has been content to live in a systematically stupid way. That stupidity has extended from the reproduction of economic poverty in an age of techno-scientific abundance to the construction of ways of living that are personally and collectively corrosive as well as environmentally destructive. Rejecting this impoverished thinking is leading many to turn to a wide range of sources that claim that reality is in some sense ‘enchanted’. These sources range from traditional institutional religions and ancient philosophies to more secular metaphysical concepts of how we are unified through natural systems. All emphasize that how we live is a practical problem that in turn is indicative of, and should be guided by, relations to ultimate reality.
