Spirituality

Spirituality: Our Personal Window on Life’s Meaning

It’s all too easy these days to confuse the term “religion” with the much broader subject of “spirituality.”

That’s why it’s important for us to remember that in the very early days of humankind, traditional healers such as shamans made no distinction between a patient’s physical and spiritual well-being. They saw the two aspects as parts of the same larger entity; it was only in later, more “advanced” centuries that the physical and spiritual became the dichotomy they’re typically considered as, today.

Ironically, current research continues to lead us back toward our more unified beginnings. “It’s becoming clear that medicine and spirituality are entering a new dynamic of mutual respect and inquiry,” one expert has written.

The articles in this topic will provide both concrete sources and food for thought on the ways in which spiritual beliefs and attitudes help us cope more positively with life’s upsets and transitions.