The term spirituality lacks a precise and universally agreed upon definition. A simple definition of spirituality is that it is the focus and development of the inner self.

Your inner self is a soul, which is a unique, immaterial, and eternal consciousness. Your outer self is a temporary physical body.

You chose to experience your current temporary physical incarnation because the physical world teaches and tests you. It satisfies your spiritual desire to grow closer to God by developing your ability to love unconditionally faster than you are able to do in the non-physical dimensions. The non-physical dimensions can also be referred to as the spiritual dimensions.

Your opportunity for growth is more limited in the non-physical (or out-of-body) spiritual dimensions because when you are there you are be drawn to other souls who have a similar level of soul development, or lack of it. As a result, the opportunity to make loving behavioral choices is limited. Also, a physical life teaches you self-love because the need to take care of a physical body.

Spirituality requires that a person think about the meaning of life. You are a spiritual person if you recognize that there is more to life than physical existence. You understand that you are a conscious, sentient being, and you are trying to develop your non-physical qualities or characteristics.

Spirituality is about changing the way you relate to the world. To be spiritual, you need to change your “mind” or your thinking. It is about looking inwardly.

The need for spiritual (soul) growth is buried deep in your subconscious.

There is debate and confusion about the meaning of the words “soul” and “spirit”. For the purposes of your current physical incarnation, the difference, if there is one, is irrelevant. They are both words that can be used to describe the living consciousness within a physical body. What is important is that you understand that you are a unique, eternal and non-physical consciousness, and that you are currently experiencing a temporary physical incarnation in order to learn lessons associated with unconditional love.

Spirituality is not modern or “new age” thinking. Spirituality is and always has been at the heart of all authentic religions.

If you follow a religion, and you practice the Golden Rule because of the love within you, then you are a spiritual person, and you have everything you need for your growth.

Religions can teach you the Golden Rule and unconditional love, but they are not the only way to find God and grow as a soul. There are many paths to God. Choose the path that leads you to unconditional love.

Some people refer to themselves as spiritual but not religious. However, you are not spiritual if you are not actively trying to pursue your growth as a soul. Describing yourself as spiritual without acting on it is like saying that you are athletic without exercising!

Physical laws of science govern our physical universe, which consists of the three dimensions (+ time) that our bodies inhabit. The spiritual law of unconditional love is much more encompassing because it operates throughout all dimensions of creation. We call all dimensions of creation the "multiverse". Although it is not common to think of spiritual law as scientific, it is scientific but it operates according to a science that is far beyond our ability to comprehend. For example, it is hard to understand that as conscious souls we exist outside of space and time, and that we consist of energy that vibrates with a frequency determined by our capacity to love. This frequency determines our relationship with the rest of creation.

As a soul (or spirit), it is loving behavior that defines us, not our beliefs.

Authentic spirituality does not seek to impose belief systems on others. Nobody can tell you what to think or believe. You need to think for yourself to genuinely believe something, and for that belief to change your behavior.

You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.

C. S. Lewis

Life is real! Life is Earnest! And the grave is not its goal Dust thou art, to dust returneth, Was not spoken of the soul.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

When you examine the lives of the most influential people who have ever walked among us, you discover one thread that winds through them all. They have been aligned first with their spiritual nature and only then with their physical selves.

Albert Einstein

There is within us a fundamental dis-ease, an unquenchable fire that renders us incapable, in this life, of ever coming to full peace. This desire lies at the center of our lives, in the marrow of our bones, and in the deep recesses of the soul. At the heart of all great literature, poetry, art, philosophy, psychology, and religion lies the naming and analyzing of this desire. Spirituality is, ultimately, about what we do with that desire. What we do with our longings, both in terms of handling the pain and the hope they bring us, that is our spirituality . . . Augustine says: ‘You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.’ Spirituality is about what we do with our unrest.

The Holy Longing, Ronald Rolheiser

Do not say, I follow the one true path of the Spirit, but rather, I have found the Spirit walking on my path. For the Spirit walks on all paths.

Khalil Gibran

We have always been involved in spiritual evolution. We are spiritual beings, we have always been spiritual beings and we will always be spiritual beings.

Gary Zukav

However many holy words you read, However many you speak, What good will they do you If you do not act on upon them?

Buddha

All souls come to Earth to test their spiritual ideals to see if they are real. Only by becoming subject to the physical influences of the flesh and the laws of the Earth realm can a soul know for certain if they really possess that spiritual ideal. Through this process, the soul is tested and the result is self-realization. This is the purpose of the Earth realm. Edgar Cayce In the search for truth, all paths lead to love, the Spirit of God.

Sandra Rogers

The Golden Rule is the governing principle in the spirit world: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. People who truly practice the religion of love will find themselves in a universal sphere where everyone understands that true religion is to love others as ourselves.

Nora Spurgin

You are the embodiment of the information you choose to accept and act upon. To change your circumstances you need to change your thinking and subsequent actions.

Adlin Sinclair

Ask, and it will be given to you seek, and you will find knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Matthew 7:7–8 - Jesus Christ - Sermon on the Mount

Your political views really denote your spiritual views.

Alanis Morissette

If we live true to the spirit we came to Earth with, we can progress more quickly. We do that by expressing the love of God that is within us, and we do that by loving God, ourselves, and each other. It is that simple.

Betty Eadie

The absolutely only thing that matters is love. Everything else, our achievements, degrees, the money we made, how many mink coats we had, is totally irrelevant. It will also be understood that what we do is not important. The only thing that matters is how we do what we do. And the only thing that matters is that we do what we do with love.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

God is really only concerned about what is within us, our heart and spirituality. The way to heaven is through love. We do not go to heaven by worshipping Jesus, or by believing in his name, or by believing in the cross, or by accepting Jesus as our Savior. We grow to heaven by creating heaven within us by practicing unconditional love.

Kevin Williams

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire... man cannot live without a spiritual life.

Buddha

Each one of us decides to incarnate upon this planet at a particular point in time and space. We have chosen to come here to learn a particular lesson that will advance us upon our spiritual, evolutionary pathway.

Louise L. Hay