Knowledge you can walk. Read the idea below, then step up to the general, across to peers or down to the specific.
Spiritual
Personal Spirituality
Personal spirituality is an individual's own search for meaning, purpose and a sense of the sacred, inside or outside a religion.
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The idea
Personal spirituality is the way a person looks for meaning, purpose and a sense of the sacred in their own life. Many people follow a spiritual practice. That is a regular activity done to bring spiritual experiences and growth. It can be part of a religion, but it often happens apart from organized religious institutions.
Personal spirituality can take many forms. Common practices include meditation, prayer, time in nature, journaling and creative work such as music or art. Many faiths describe this practice as walking a path toward a goal. Different traditions name that goal salvation, liberation or union with God. Jewish practice includes prayer, Torah study and keeping the Sabbath. Christian practice includes prayer, fasting and Bible study.
Because it is personal, no two people's spirituality looks exactly the same. One person may feel it while hiking in a forest, another while singing with others, and another during quiet reflection at home. What these experiences often share is a feeling of connection to something larger than oneself. Many people also use their spirituality as a guide for how to treat others and how to live. In a 2005 poll, about 24% of Americans said they were "spiritual but not religious."
Check yourself
Question 1 of 2
Which picture do many religious traditions use to describe spiritual practice?
Composition
what it's made of
- Inner life — Reflection on one's own thoughts, feelings and inner self or spirit.
- Practices — Habits such as meditation, prayer, time in nature or creative work that help a person grow spiritually.
- Personal growth — Changing over time toward the kind of person one hopes to be.
- A path and a goal — Many traditions picture practice as a path toward a goal such as salvation, liberation or union with God.
- Spiritual but not religious — A stance that does not see organized religion as the only or best way to grow spiritually.
Connection
how it relates
Under Spiritual
Change
how and why it evolves
- Past
- The phrase "spiritual but not religious" appeared in scholarly work as early as an anthropological paper in 1960. In 2000 the author Sven Erlandson described it as a movement in America in his book Spiritual but not Religious.
- Now
- In 2017 the Pew Research Center estimated that 27% of Americans were spiritual but not religious. A 2023 study that asked people directly found 22%.
- Next
- In countries where fewer people belong to religious groups, personal spirituality may become an even more common way to look for meaning.