In the past, any definition of spirituality would have been very tightly correlated with certain religious beliefs that focus on the godliness or spirit within people. In other words, spiritual people would have been seen as devout, pious and as someone concentrated more on sacred or metaphysical matters rather than earthly ones. These days, however, a more extensive definition of spirituality is accepted, which includes broader traditions that lead to personal growth. Examples of this could be the sort of inner journey that many people take from meditative practices and non-religious activities like transcendentalism and perennial philosophy. Some people consider themselves to be spiritual but not religious, as they perhaps do not feel a sense of belonging to a religion or agree with what it stands for.
Meditation refers to a variety of mental exercises which have their origin in ancient times and became increasingly popular in the western world over the last decades. While meditating, we practice different kinds of focus to achieve a more mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.
Meditative practices were developed as part of the path towards enlightenment, self-realisation and the end of suffering. There are various types of meditation, such as focused attention, or mindfulness meditation, which is the most widely studied form of meditation in modern science. Metta or loving-kindness meditation is another example of focused attention. Other forms of meditation are the chanting of mantras or transcendental meditation.
Poetry is a form of literature. It is often distinguished from prose which tends to operate in a standard grammatical manner that replicates speech. The text you are reading now is prose. Poems, on the other hand, favour stylistics over straightforward meaning. Therefore, poems will often – although by no means always – use meter, or word rhythm, as well as rhyming, to make more of an overall impact. Like prose, poetry can make use of similes, metaphors and alliteration. It will often use such linguistic methods as well as phonaesthetics, or the beauty of a word – or combination of them – as they are sounded. Though poetry can be read, and some of it is designed to be seen on the page, much of it is written to be read aloud or performed.
Recommended Posts