Spirituality

Noun

1. the quality or fact of being spiritual.

2. incorporeal or immaterial nature.

3. predominantly spiritual character as shown in thought, life, etc.; spiritual tendency or tone.

4. Often, spiritualities. Property or revenue of the church or of an ecclesiastic in his or her official capacity.

(Random House Unabridged Dictionary)

What is spirituality?

Seems pretty cut and dry from the dictionary definition.

But it's one of those questions that tends to have people reaching for the words to accurately describe it.

For some, spirituality is deeply connected with religion. For others, spirituality remains separate from organized religion, yet provides a sense of meaning and purpose to their lives.

For this issue of About, reporter Charita Goshay asked five spiritual leaders from our community to define spirituality in their own words. Their responses (starting on Page 26) provide thought-provoking subject matter.

It's a subject I've given a lot of thought to since we began putting together this issue of About. Each of the authors gave a different take on spirituality. But I identified with what each of them wrote — and find them incredibly inspiring.

My favorite quote in the section belongs to the Rev. Michael Frazier, senior pastor at Canton Baptist Temple. He says, “Being in a church every week doesn’t make you a spiritual person any more than being in a garage makes you a car.”

I believe spirituality is a personal journey — one that transcends the religious boundaries we sometimes put on ourselves. Regardless of the respective religions we practice, we seem to have more in common than we often think we do.

I encourage you to spend some time with the section and let me know what you think. Write a letter to the editor (e-mail darla.brown@cantonrep.com or send it to 500 Market Ave. S. Canton, OH 44702). How do you define spirituality?