Spirituality is the engagement with experiences or sensations that transcend the normal boundaries of our senses. These experiences might be characterized by a sense of wonder or fear at the expansiveness of the world, or a profound feeling of interconnectedness (either to other people or to the natural world). In many cases, our sense of self extends beyond the limits of our bodies, or even disapears entirely. I’ll call these sorts of events spiritual experiences. In our attempt to reckon with or explain these sorts of experiences or sensations, we might start to believe that something influences or controls events in an inexplicable way. I think the notion of a higher power arises from having profound experiences and subsequently contemplating them. Consequently, I don’t think that spirituality and any notion of divinity are inextricably linked. As a result, when I talk to others about spirituality, I ask folks about expansive or inexplicable experiences or sensations they’ve had. Talking about a higher power feels like an answer in search of a question.

I think we reach for a higher power when discussing spirituality because we are deeply steeped in religion. Chrisitianity, Judaism, and Islam use God to help explain profound experiences. Have you ever looked up at the night sky on a clear night, far away from city lights? You might get a sense of yourself as a tiny spec of dust in the vastness of the seemingly immeasurable cosmos. Some religious folk would have you believe that feeling of expansiveness is God. God is a technology we’ve discovered to contend with our spirituality. Note that I’m not saying that God does or does not exist; all I’m saying is that we have collectively refined an understanding of what God is over time, and there was a time before a Jewish, Christian or Islamic God. Perhaps we’ve made a genuine discovery about the true nature of the Universe. For me personally, I don’t really care too much about that discovery; I’m not really interested in explaining spiritual experiences, but rather cultivating an openness to having them in the first place. I think having spiritual experiences is important for the development of a well-rounded, happy, and ethical self.

One thing that characterizes spiritual experiences is the sense that the boundaries of the self become blurry or disolve entirely. Imagine the last time you stared out onto some beautiful scenery and let yourself get lost in what you were seeing. Perhaps you were standing in the forest, or atop a mountain. Perhaps, for a moment, the past and future melted away leaving you awash in sensation. For a flash, the sense of yourself as an “I” sitting on a rock or a tree stump disappeared, leaving only the moment and nothing else. I think these moments are important because they show us that we are not the center of the universe. By decentering ourselves, we’re better able to emphathize with others. I also think these moments allow us to cultivate an intuitive understanding for the intricate and delicate ways in which things are interdependent and interconnected. In other words, I think these moments open us to empathisizing with the natural world. Sometimes these spiritual experiences happen in concert with others, with invisible tendrils of empathy, compassion and curiosity connecting our hearts to one another. When we’re able to recognize that these moments are happening and fully engage with them, we can take from them a lasting desire to invest in the growth of those around us.

I don’t think that every moment could or even should be a spiritual experience, but I also know that I’ve let many sublime and profound moments pass me by because I was too enveloped by my own ego or too focused on anxiety about the future. The point here is not to live in some state of constant spiritual ecstasy, but rather to increase the likelihood that we can extend the bounds of the self in a given moment.