Why use the word process?
Because life itself is an ongoing journey, a process, in which each
moment has its calling toward wisdom, compassion, and creativity,
Because the universe is a vast network of inter-becomings in which all
things are present within one another even as different and unique.
Photo: Susannah Stubbs
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www/becomingscollective.org
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What does spirituality mean?
things to keep in mind
- Spirituality is a process, a journey, a way of living day-to-day, moment-by-moment, in this world. It does not take us away from the world, it brings us closer to the world in a spirit of wisdom, compassion, and creativity.
- Spirituality is open and relational: that is, open to other people, other animals, the earth itself and sensitive to the fact that we ourselves emerge in response to, not independently from, the wider network of interbecoming.
- Spirituality includes the emotional and practical side of life, It is emotional intelligence and embodied wisdom in daily life, imbued with qualities of heart and mind that bring about wisdom, compassion, and creativity. It is concrete, context-dependent, and specific.
- Spirituality is for people of all ages: preschoolers, children, teenagers, young adults, generations x, y, and z, senior citizens, and people at the end of their lives.
- Spirituality is shaped by social circumstances, past personal decisions, historical context, bodily influences, cultural influences, and a healing spirit at work in the world, relative to these circumstances
- Not only individuals, but groups of people can have a spiritual side.
- The spiritual alphabet offered below names some of the qualities of heart and mind. The alphabet provides content to our understanding of spirituality, apart from which it is merely an abstraction.
- The "letters" of the spiritual alphabet -- attention, imagination, listening, faith, yearning, silence, kindness, justice -- can be practiced with or without help from religious traditions. Theists can partake of spirituality, and so can non-theists, agnostics, and atheists.
- God or no God, spirituality has a gentle side. It is practiced, not by willfully rendering the world into our own image, but by willingly cooperating with the healing spirit at work in life and the universe, however named or understood.
So Where Do Process Philosophy and Theology Fit Into All of This?
Photo: Susannah Stubbs
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Photo: Susannah Stubbs
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Our aim is to encourage an outlook on life and way of living in the world that is creative, compassionate, playful and wise. We call it the Process Way. As the phrase suggests, some of us are influenced by process philosophies and theologies. We understand ourselves as in partnership with numerous process organizations: The Claremont Institute for Process Thought (Claremont, California), the Center for Process Studies (Salem, Oregon), the Institute for the Postmodern Development of China (Claremont and Beijing), and many more. Process philosophers believe that we live and move and have our being in a universe of mutual feeling and intereconnected energies. In the words of one of our mentors, Thomas Berry, the universe is a community of subjects, not a collection of objects -- and a creative community at that.. Click below for an introduction to process philosophy and theology.
The Spiritual Alphabet
37 ways to be connected to the world
in positive, life-enhancing ways.
Some of us at the Center for Process Spirituality like the word "spirituality" and some aren't too sure about it. It can seem vague and flighty to some, overly abstract and ungrounded to others. Still, we can't find a better word to name what is important to us: how we and others might grow in emotional intelligence and embodied wisdom, for the sake of individual happiness and community well-being, in service to a more just, sustainable, and joyful world. This is what we mean by "spirituality."
Accordingly, we at the Center for Process Spirituality use the word "spirituality" to name a constructive and caring way of living in this creative community of subjects. Here is a list of some of the qualities of heart and mind that are essential to the embodied wisdom and emotional intelligence we appreciate. We borrow it from an organization called Spirituality and Practice and call it, with them, the spiritual alphabet:
attention - beauty - being present - compassion - connections - devotion - enthusiasm - faith
forgiveness - grace - gratitude - hope - hospitality - imagination - joy - justice - kindness - listening
love - meaning - nurturing - openness - peace - play - questing - reverence - shadow - silence
teachers - transformation - unity - vision - wonder - x, the mystery - yearning - you - zeal
It is noteworthy that many of these qualities are now being studied in universities under the rubric of positive psychology, with help from sociology and neuroscience. See the work of the Greater Good Science Center at the Universty of California, Berkeley; and that of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. We celebrate approaches to these qualities which are evidence-based. We think there is something like "spirituality" in science, too.
We know that qualities such as these do not exist all by themselves. They are alive only as embodied in the hearts and minds of real people in real circumstances in a real world. A world both beautiful and threatened, tragic and precious. Spirituality is a process, a journey, a way of living day-to-day, moment-by-moment, in this world.
For more on our understanding of spirituality, read here: Process Spirituality: A Very Short Introducion
Accordingly, we at the Center for Process Spirituality use the word "spirituality" to name a constructive and caring way of living in this creative community of subjects. Here is a list of some of the qualities of heart and mind that are essential to the embodied wisdom and emotional intelligence we appreciate. We borrow it from an organization called Spirituality and Practice and call it, with them, the spiritual alphabet:
attention - beauty - being present - compassion - connections - devotion - enthusiasm - faith
forgiveness - grace - gratitude - hope - hospitality - imagination - joy - justice - kindness - listening
love - meaning - nurturing - openness - peace - play - questing - reverence - shadow - silence
teachers - transformation - unity - vision - wonder - x, the mystery - yearning - you - zeal
It is noteworthy that many of these qualities are now being studied in universities under the rubric of positive psychology, with help from sociology and neuroscience. See the work of the Greater Good Science Center at the Universty of California, Berkeley; and that of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. We celebrate approaches to these qualities which are evidence-based. We think there is something like "spirituality" in science, too.
We know that qualities such as these do not exist all by themselves. They are alive only as embodied in the hearts and minds of real people in real circumstances in a real world. A world both beautiful and threatened, tragic and precious. Spirituality is a process, a journey, a way of living day-to-day, moment-by-moment, in this world.
For more on our understanding of spirituality, read here: Process Spirituality: A Very Short Introducion
How do you practice Process Spirituality?
Each of us does it in his or her own way, relative to circumstances. We do it
By partaking of the qualities of heart and mind in the spiritual alphabet,
as best we can, in community with others who seek to do the same.
By using our talents to help bring about more just, sustainable,
and joyful world as best we can.