IMPORTANT UPDATE: The following article is inaccurate both about spirituality and philosophy. The description of spirituality below is at best of my personalized version of spirituality. I no more subscribe to any type/version of spirituality. Philosophy, pursued in a right way, is the only way to attain wisdom. For my refined views on spirituality, read this and this.
It should be clear from Understanding Spirituality in a Few Words, that spirituality that I talk about has nothing to do with God, religion or mysticism. It's purely truth-seeking. It's not against science, rationality and any line of thinking which leads to the truth.
For this reason, some people say that I need not call it spirituality, but instead just call it philosophy. Yes, of course, philosophy and spirituality are both equated with truth-seeking. I agree that it is philosophy. All spiritual truth-seeking can be called philosophy, but in my view not all philosophy is spirituality. So I decided to do this article to spell out the difference between philosophy and spirituality. Again, both the words, philosophy and spiritually, are taken to mean different things by different people. So, not necessarily what I am going to say may square with your views.
Note that philosophy and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. Spirituality includes philosophy; but the latter may not include the former. In the heading below, take philosophy as "philosophy minus spirituality", and spirituality as "philosophy with spirituality".
Understand that, as I said before, it's not like either one is into philosophy or into spirituality. All truth-seekers are philosophers, and quite often they are spiritually inclined too. But either they may not be calling it being spiritual or they simply don't realize it. If they are not calling it "being spiritual", it's alright. The label isn't important anyway. But I think without solid realization of the goal of one's truth-seeking it's easy for a philosopher to lose the focus from the life's only meaningful pursuit, happiness. Hence, seeing the thin line of difference is necessary. Philosophy without spiritual orientation is useless.
In conclusion, I want to say that –
I don't judge a person's greatness by his knowledge, or status, or education, or eloquence, or personality, or fan-following... The only measure of greatness is the quality of one's ideas; how useful they really are. For me, Buddha is infinitely greater than Newtons and Einsteins. Because, suffering of humankind is not because of not knowing what the universe is made of or how gravity works. It is because people haven't figured out their own mind. So, which knowledge is important?
See the difference between philosophy and spirituality?
It should be clear from Understanding Spirituality in a Few Words, that spirituality that I talk about has nothing to do with God, religion or mysticism. It's purely truth-seeking. It's not against science, rationality and any line of thinking which leads to the truth.
For this reason, some people say that I need not call it spirituality, but instead just call it philosophy. Yes, of course, philosophy and spirituality are both equated with truth-seeking. I agree that it is philosophy. All spiritual truth-seeking can be called philosophy, but in my view not all philosophy is spirituality. So I decided to do this article to spell out the difference between philosophy and spirituality. Again, both the words, philosophy and spiritually, are taken to mean different things by different people. So, not necessarily what I am going to say may square with your views.
Note that philosophy and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. Spirituality includes philosophy; but the latter may not include the former. In the heading below, take philosophy as "philosophy minus spirituality", and spirituality as "philosophy with spirituality".
Philosophy Vs Spirituality
- Philosophy is born out of wonder and curiosity. Spirituality is born out of suffering.
- The key question in philosophy is "What I am?" The key question in spirituality is "Why am I suffering?" (Of course, in search of the answer, the seeker will automatically encounter, and find the answer to, the first question too.)
- Philosophy is concerned with the knowledge of everything. Spirituality is seeking the essential.
- There's possibly no end to the philosophical pursuits of humankind, as it's impossible to know everything. Spiritual pursuit is over when one knows just enough.
- Philosophy is more concerned about knowledge gathering; after a point it sort of forgets about you, the seeker, being human. Spirituality is humane; it's concerned with that knowledge, out of all, which you as human being require in order to lead a happy, fulfilled life.
- Philosophy is more intellect driven; it dissects and understands. Spirituality is intelligence driven; it knows and values integration.
- Philosophy is like a luxury; you decide how much you want to indulge in it. Spirituality is a necessity; without it you are bound to suffer for life.
- Philosophy is science in general. Spirituality is essentially the science of happiness.
- A passionate philosopher is always unsatisfied with the knowledge he has; philosophy is his life's quest. A spiritually developed thinker is satisfied with the knowledge of the essentials; he then may pursue philosophy further merely as entertainment to add more fun to life.
- Philosophy gives the world knowledgeable people. Spirituality provides true wisdom.
Understand that, as I said before, it's not like either one is into philosophy or into spirituality. All truth-seekers are philosophers, and quite often they are spiritually inclined too. But either they may not be calling it being spiritual or they simply don't realize it. If they are not calling it "being spiritual", it's alright. The label isn't important anyway. But I think without solid realization of the goal of one's truth-seeking it's easy for a philosopher to lose the focus from the life's only meaningful pursuit, happiness. Hence, seeing the thin line of difference is necessary. Philosophy without spiritual orientation is useless.
In conclusion, I want to say that –
I don't judge a person's greatness by his knowledge, or status, or education, or eloquence, or personality, or fan-following... The only measure of greatness is the quality of one's ideas; how useful they really are. For me, Buddha is infinitely greater than Newtons and Einsteins. Because, suffering of humankind is not because of not knowing what the universe is made of or how gravity works. It is because people haven't figured out their own mind. So, which knowledge is important?
See the difference between philosophy and spirituality?
You have made it very clear about the diff between philosophy and spirituality and i will have to agree with all that you said...
ReplyDeletethe way i see it spirituality is just business like religion, u sell books, u take classes, make some money and are back to square one.. neither spirituality imparts any knowledge neither does it solves any of the problems.. its something that the people ashamed of being called religious do..
i have serious doubts about spirituality.. thou i totally agree with your classification..