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On Spirituality: Natural and Non‐natural
Author(s) -
Ellis Thomas B.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
religion compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.113
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1749-8171
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00114.x
Subject(s) - spirituality , immortality , existentialism , natural (archaeology) , psychology , maturity (psychological) , epistemology , death anxiety , causality (physics) , social psychology , psychotherapist , anxiety , philosophy , developmental psychology , theology , history , medicine , physics , alternative medicine , archaeology , pathology , quantum mechanics , psychiatry
Discussions pertaining to method and theory in the study of religion often address the problems and concerns regarding definitions. Precise definitions reflect the maturity of a discipline. The ubiquity of ‘spirituality’ in scholarly literature is matched only by its persistent imprecision. What is spirituality? This article presents a precise definition. Employing terror management theory, sociometer theory, attachment theory, and death anxiety studies, I argue that spirituality is existential self‐esteem misrecognized. There are two types of spirituality. Natural spirituality reflects a symbolic immortality project; non‐natural spirituality reflects a literal immortality project. Where the former is possible, the latter is impossible.