In their quest for freedom of thought and independence from rules, it’s no surprise that so many people are turning away from Religion and Spirituality. But are they mistakenly turning away from Spirituality without realising how necessary it is to their health, wellbeing and longevity?
For many people, Religion doesn’t necessarily mean Spirituality, and Spirituality doesn’t necessarily mean Religion. You can be Spiritual without being Religious and vice-versa.
The majority of world Religions do include Spiritual practice, worship of a Divine being, and many ceremonial actitivies for symbolic meaning, superstition and good luck. But there is also a growing movement in modern times towards Religions without any belief in Spirituality, instead basing their beliefs on proven facts, logic and reason, known as non-Theistic Religions.
But could this absence of Spirituality in the lives of so many, be a big mistake? There is an increasing number of highly educated people who sure think so.
There are numerous studies proving the positive effects of Spiritual practice for improving the health and wellbeing of those suffering from various illness. Including a 2015 study on the positive health effects of Spirituality with those suffering cancer which concluded “Results of the current meta-analysis suggest that greater Religion/Spirituality is associated with better patient-reported physical health. These results underscore the importance of attending to patients’ religious and spiritual needs as part of comprehensive cancer care.”
In his book “Happiness Genes: Unlock the Postive Potential Hidden in Your DNA, James D. Baird wrote:
“In The Anatomy of Reality: The Merging of Intuition and Reason, Jonas Salk, the doctor who invented the Salk polio vaccine, wrote, “The evolution of the human mind… depends upon the evolution of intuition and reason.” If humanity is to succeed in continuing to evolve, we need to value empathy and interconnectedness as much as logic and reason.
Until we begin to perceive that our individual beliefs, emotions, and actions affect other human beings, we are in danger of reasoning ourselves to extinction. Dr. Salk believed that humanity has the potential for conscious evolution, rather than simply evolving as a process of physical survival.
According to what he called his “biophilosophy,” evolution needed to become conscious and mindful as well as biological. Before his death, he called on scientists and researchers in the humanities to work together “to make the decisions and choices that Nature has made until now… for the greatest value to human life and society as a whole.”
With Earth Spiritualism – although many of our followers also practice a Religious faith of some kind, you don’t need to be Religious. We welcome people from all faiths or none to experience our teachings. A good place to start is our secular practice for health and wellbeing, Inner Self Meditation (ISM©) for stress reduction from Mind Body Institute of Ireland, www.mindbodyinstitute.ie which is also taught by our Ministers.
References:
Inner Self Meditation (ISM©) for Health & Wellbeing
Mind Body Institute of Ireland www.mindbodyinstitute.ie
Spirituality: A Panacea for Patients Coping with Heart Failure
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5219564/
“Religion, Spirituality, and Physical Health in Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis” .
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4618080/
James D. Baird – Happiness Genes: Unlock the Postive Potential Hidden in Your DNA