View Full Version : Is describing yourself as spiritual a cop out?
This was a question a good friend of mine(who I hope will be joining us soon) faced. When people who are going be confrontation ask what she is, she describes herself as spiritual. She is very spiritual and it does answer the question with getting into a debate.
Desirae
02-04-2007, 10:52 AM
I don't think so...I think it's a way to dodge drama yes, but not to cop out exactly...Let me think on this and hopefully I'll be able to betterword what I have to say.;)
I don't think it's a cop-out, but I do think that in some ways it's become one of those words that is so vague it doesn't really say much. I think that someone describing themselves as spiritual isn't really enough; they'd have to tell me what that means to them for me to really get what they are trying to say.
I think it's a perfectly fine word, and I can understand why people use it, but it's become so overused that I'm not sure how descriptive it is. But, I wouldn't say it's a cop-out, either.
Jejune
02-04-2007, 11:53 AM
I think the fact that it IS vague is what makes it useful. It's not a cop out to me. I planned on typing more, but there's a small girl weeping in my lap, so I may return in a bit.
Kristen
02-04-2007, 12:10 PM
It just seems like a really broad term to me...I don't usually ever use it to refer to myself, because my beliefs are more specific than that.
Christine
02-04-2007, 12:50 PM
It is a very broad term and one I'm not too fond of. I think it's been associated with a more "New Age" type of belief system even though I consider myself to a be a spiritual person (and am not the least bit New Age). I do think it's very broad and can be used as a cop out but isn't necessarily one.
Desirae
02-04-2007, 01:23 PM
Ok, I agree it's a broad term. If someone were to tell me they were spiritual I'd take it as they believe in something but either don't want to talk about it or it's personal to them.
Christi
02-04-2007, 04:26 PM
I don't think it is a cop out. A way to avoid drama, maybe, but I think it can be an accurate term to describe some persons.
See, I don't call myself 'religious' per se, and I know some people would refer to me that way. I have a spiritual relationship with the Lord, but I try also to be in tune with other people's spirits and what they are feeling, if that makes sense.
Desirae
02-04-2007, 07:25 PM
ITU and ITA Christi.
No I don't think so. My husband is very spiritual but doesn't belong to any certain religion. So really for him it does answer the question in the best way possible.
Lisa
MrsSuzNZ
02-04-2007, 11:27 PM
It just seems like a really broad term to me...I don't usually ever use it to refer to myself, because my beliefs are more specific than that.
I agree. :)
off-kilter
02-05-2007, 05:00 PM
I think as a way of saying that your beliefs are not necessarily the type that allow for an easily culturally defined category, then it's useful. For information-relying as to what those beliefs actually are, it's so vague as to be almost useless.
Depends on context, I suppose.
Jejune
02-05-2007, 05:02 PM
Kat, you said just what I was trying to come up with. I also think it can be useful if you don't subscribe to a big box religion. I may not believe in God, but I exist in a permanent state of awe at the world around me, and I am strongly drawn to mysticism. I'd say I'm a spiritual person, but not at all a religious person. It's no vaguer than the word religious, and can be helpful for those of us who can't be neatly dropped into any category.
I don't think it's a cop out at all, and I'm having trouble thinking of a situation where that would be an appropriate judgement for another person to pass.
I may not believe in God, but I exist in a permanent state of awe at the world around me, and I am strongly drawn to mysticism.
The priest at a church I attended a few years ago thought that most of the time when people said "spiritual," what they meant was "mystical," and he was on a crusade to get people to use "mystical" instead, because he felt it was a lot more descriptive. He was the campus Episcopal chaplain, so he had students coming to him using the word "spiritual" all the time, and he was about ready to have it barred from the lexicon. I think that, in his case, he felt the same about students using the word "spiritual" as I feel about my students using the word "nice"; it's a perfectly fine word, and in some contexts can be appropriate, but when you are looking for detail, it's not the word you want to get.
I do totally agree, though, that "religious" is just as vague if not vaguer than "spiritual." Unless someone were to tell me what religion they were religious about, I'd have no idea what that really meant.