Faith Narrative Part 1

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Theology 151, Section I
Faith Narrative Part 1 Assignment
In this assignment, I need to tackle how my spirituality is related to everything I have
learnt in class so far. However, how am I meant to tackle what spirituality is, to me, when
spirituality is such a new concept? In fact, spirituality is not a new concept, it is something that
I have been engaged with for many years, in fact for most of my life. Therefore, let us start this
paper off with defining what spirituality is.
Spirituality, according to Peter Van Ness, is “the quest for attaining an optimal
relationship between what one truly is and everything that is.”12 What this means is that there
is relationship between a reality that is something total and beyond one’s comprehension, and
its interaction with who the person is at that point in time3. However, through this relationship,
there is the hope that one will grow in a positive light however not all growth will lead to
something that is positive. However, how does this interaction come to be? It is through the
experience, as talked about in Schneiders’ article, or action, in Haight’s article. In this case, I’ll
be using experience as it is one that is closer to my spirituality. An experience is the active
participation within my life, and spirituality does not come about due to an accident, such as
tripping up the stairs, or an episodic event, like witnessing the Blood Moon a few nights ago4.
On top of this, the formation of my spirituality is one that is a holistic experience, one where
all the aspects of my life come together to form who I am and, therefore, means that I am
pursuing a life that is going towards something positive, something great than I am5.
With all of that being, the reason why I say that experiences represent me more than
actions, is because my whole life is surrounded by experiences that not many people get to be
able to interact with. First off, I was born to a British father and Filipino mother and right off
the bat, I was interacting with two cultures that are predominantly very different. As I grew up,
I started to go over what my parents had taught me and carried on the ones I valued the most.
For instance, with being Filipino comes the responsibility of being family-orientated and
1
Sandra Marie Schneiders, “Religion vs. Spirituality: A Contemporary Conundrum?” Spiritus 3, no. 2 (Fall
2003): 166.
2
Not all articles totally agree with this definition of spirituality. Compare Ibid with Roger Haight, “Religion and
Spirituality,” in Spiritual and Religious: Explorations for Seekers (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2016), 2.
3
Cf. Schneiders, “Religion vs. Spirituality: A Contemporary Conundrum?”, 166.
4
Cf. Ibid, 167.
5
Cf. Ibid.
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respecting elders. Meanwhile, with being British, I was able to have the taste of ‘freedom’ per
se and be able to live a life where being on time is polite and is not something that is made to
be a joke. However, moving on from that, I also find myself in a very peculiar position. Where
most people experience globalisation through the internet, I experienced it through travelling
and living in other countries. Whereby, I picked up what I thought to be were positive traits
and attributes of their culture and society. Where religion was at the back of my mind and the
people in front of me were far more important. Through experiencing these people, I found
myself in a place where the Church could not penetrate and this is where I will get into how
spirituality relates to my religion.
Within spirituality and religion, there is the idea of dwelling, seeking, and practicing.
A spirituality of dwelling is when people religiously go to church and never question the
doctrines or practices of the Church; a seeking spirituality is one where people made an effort
to discover themselves outside of their religion and started to do meditation and yoga however
behaviours did not change as there were no forms of community that would demand them; a
practicing spirituality is a mixture of both seeking and dwelling where the best parts of both
are combined6. This was where my spirituality started to get difficult. From my knowledge of
myself, I know that I am not a dwelling or a purely seeking spiritualist. I go to Church, but only
when I have to, but I don’t actively seek out the Church due to the fact that I do not favour the
sermons of the Priests very much. I don’t find myself to be seeking as a I have the belief that
my relationship with God is a personal one and I do not find myself not changing. Nor am I
one who is practicing as the definition of practicing looks at going to Church and reading the
bible, to name a few, while experiencing a religion outside of the Church. Therefore, the idea
of me being non-practicing comes into mind as religion is the “participation in the public
gatherings and worship of a given faith tradition”7. I worship my faith, through praying every
night and when I can, but is that enough to enlist me in one that is of practicing? Or is it one
that is spiritual but non-practicing?
In this day and age, I find myself to be in a weird position that many others find
themselves to be in as well. Where do I stand in terms of my religion when my spirituality is
incredibly important to me? When the book definitions of religion say that it is one of groups
but tells us the importance of having personal relationships with God, where does one end and
6
Cf. William Spohn, “The Need for Roots and Wings: Spirituality and Christian Ethics,” Theology Digest 47,
no. 4 (2000): 328-329.
7
Haight, “Religion and Spirituality”, 6.
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the other begin? Do they coincide? For now, the questions regarding my spirituality and
religion will remain questions while I navigate the terrain and see where it takes me. Perhaps
one day the Church will be a welcoming place where my views of the world are reflective of
it, but for now I strongly believe that my relationship with God is a personal one and that I will
continue to make my spirituality stronger. (1046)

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