In the early days, spirituality was limited to religious traditions. Nowadays, however, it is used not only in all religious and non-religious traditions, but in some doctrines, it receives its main essence from opposition to religion. Discussions on spirituality in the West have sporadically existed from the ancient times in the intellectual and artistic works. And in all its forms, a process of communication with the invisible world and the sublime being can be observed that gradually changes the human inclination and brings him closer to the immaterial world. Adopting a descriptive-analytic method, the article at hand aims at specifying the process of ascribing meanings to the concept of spirituality in the West and answering the question about the differences between modern Western spirituality and the religious spirituality. In order to answer this question, the article refers to the conceptualizations of the term "spirituality" by Muslim scholars and Western researchers, and through recounting its meaning ascription process in the West, the study philosophically specifies the concept of spirituality, explains its aspects and modes, and comes to the conclusion that spirituality, with all its constituents and assumptions, is not detached from the worldly life. Moreover, it is found that there are two main differences between modern Western spirituality and religious spirituality: one in their methods, and the other in their origins. Finally, it is shown that most forms of modern spirituality are essentially intuitive concepts.
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Irandoost, M. H. (2018). The Nature of Spirituality and the Process of Ascribing Meaning to it in the West. Philosophy of Religion, 15(2), 527-548. doi: 10.22059/jpht.2018.226973.1005442
MLA
Mohammad Hossein Irandoost. "The Nature of Spirituality and the Process of Ascribing Meaning to it in the West". Philosophy of Religion, 15, 2, 2018, 527-548. doi: 10.22059/jpht.2018.226973.1005442
HARVARD
Irandoost, M. H. (2018). 'The Nature of Spirituality and the Process of Ascribing Meaning to it in the West', Philosophy of Religion, 15(2), pp. 527-548. doi: 10.22059/jpht.2018.226973.1005442
VANCOUVER
Irandoost, M. H. The Nature of Spirituality and the Process of Ascribing Meaning to it in the West. Philosophy of Religion, 2018; 15(2): 527-548. doi: 10.22059/jpht.2018.226973.1005442
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