Why University and Spirituality?
A “good life” has physical, social and emotional dimensions, as well as spiritual. In daily use and around the university, ‘spirituality’ can be hard to pin down. We at the chaplaincy believe our time studying is a good time to figure this out, and we believe that it’s key to understanding how we can live well.
To do so, we need to talk about three things: belonging, trusting, and learning.
Life is gift. None of us simply will or choose to exist; the meaning of our life is not simply a self-made construct. We’re born into wonderful, often challenging relationships, and our life flourishes in belonging: in being from a people, and from someplace. Just by being me, my life is inherently valuable. My life is gifted to the world, to be a part of my family, in this community, with these people.
Spirituality asks: what is the meaning of this gift, and who is the Giver? Questions of belonging and life-meaning pretty much go with the territory of Uni. Many of us leave home, and are turning from youth towards life as adults, with all the responsibility and opportunity this presents. We find ourselves wondering who is with us on this journey. We might also wonder how we best use and share the gift that is our life.
We know how important these questions can be. We’re convinced it’s good to ask them, and we believe there are good answers.
Belonging
We are always working out what the good life is or could be. For better or worse, to be human is to put our trust in something or someone, and we live out of this trust.
We live by directing our lives towards achieving a great goal. It could be achieving climate justice or accumulating personal wealth. It could be indie films or whānau connection. It could be as vague as being a success or as precise as neurosurgery in South Sudan.
Spirituality underlines the fact that human life is shaped by purpose. So the fact that life is spiritual invites me to ask, who or what do I trust? What does this trust mean for my version of the good life?
If we remember that life is a gift, we might ask again, ‘Who is the giver of my life? And what might it look like to trust them?’
Trusting
Sometimes the way people talk about spirituality and religion, it seems like either you’ve ‘got it’ or you don’t. You’ll hear someone say ‘I’m just not a very spiritual person’, a bit like someone might say ‘I can’t sing’. For many, spirituality is seen as an inner quality, a kind of vibe or feeling. The assumption is: either you’re naturally attuned to spiritual things, or you live in the real world.
Actually, Spiritual understanding is something we learn, and something that we grow into deeper understanding with time and attention. Because life is purposeful and shaped by the trust I have in God (or in something other than God), spirituality is a matter of learning. It’s not some special quality that particularly emotional people have. It’s not a vibe that only some people can tune into. In fact, it’s not a feeling! As we start to take spirituality seriously, we will learn how my life is a gift and I learn to trust God with life.
Learning means we don’t need to be pretend to be an expert. we can ask questions, experiment and try things, and fail some of the time. It’s all part of the adventure of pondering these questions of belonging and trusting.
