Spirituality
This general category includes a selection of more specific topics.
Spirituality Encyclopedia Articles
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nature worship
Nature worship, system of religion based on the veneration of natural phenomena—for example, celestial objects such as the sun and moon and terrestrial objects such as water and fire. In the history of...
worship
Worship, broadly defined, the response, often associated with religious behaviour and a general feature of almost all religions, to the appearance of that which is accepted as holy—that is, to a sacred...
mysticism
Mysticism, the practice of religious ecstasies (religious experiences during alternate states of consciousness), together with whatever ideologies, ethics, rites, myths, legends, and magic may be related...
prayer
Prayer, an act of communication by humans with the sacred or holy—God, the gods, the transcendent realm, or supernatural powers. Found in all religions in all times, prayer may be a corporate or personal...
Buddha
Buddha the founder of Buddhism, one of the major religions and philosophical systems of southern and eastern Asia and of the world. Buddha is one of the many epithets of a teacher who lived in northern...
Jerusalem
Jerusalem, ancient city of the Middle East that since 1967 has been wholly under the rule of the State of Israel. Long an object of veneration and conflict, the holy city of Jerusalem has been governed,...
rite of passage
Rite of passage, ceremonial event, existing in all historically known societies, that marks the passage from one social or religious status to another. This article describes these rites among various...
religious experience
Religious experience, specific experience such as wonder at the infinity of the cosmos, the sense of awe and mystery in the presence of the sacred or holy, feeling of dependence on a divine power or an...
sacrifice
Sacrifice, a religious rite in which an object is offered to a divinity in order to establish, maintain, or restore a right relationship of a human being to the sacred order. It is a complex phenomenon...
Liji
Liji, one of the Five Classics (Wujing) of Chinese Confucian literature, the original text of which is said to have been compiled by the ancient sage Confucius (551–479 bc). During the 1st century bc the...
hell
Hell, in many religious traditions, the abode, usually beneath the earth, of the unredeemed dead or the spirits of the damned. In its archaic sense, the term hell refers to the underworld, a deep pit or...
miracle
Miracle, extraordinary and astonishing happening that is attributed to the presence and action of an ultimate or divine power. A miracle is generally defined, according to the etymology of the word—it...
Socrates
Socrates ancient Greek philosopher whose way of life, character, and thought exerted a profound influence on Classical antiquity and Western philosophy. Socrates was a widely recognized and controversial...
St. Augustine
St. Augustine ; feast day August 28) bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430, one of the Latin Fathers of the Church and perhaps the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul. Augustine’s adaptation of...
purification rite
Purification rite, any of the ceremonial acts or customs employed in an attempt to reestablish lost purity or to create a higher degree of purity in relation to the sacred (the transcendental realm) or...
covenant
Covenant, a binding promise of far-reaching importance in the relations between individuals, groups, and nations. It has social, legal, religious, and other aspects. This discussion is concerned primarily...
salvation
Salvation, in religion, the deliverance of humankind from such fundamentally negative or disabling conditions as suffering, evil, finitude, and death. In some religious beliefs it also entails the restoration...