Spirituality Essay

Spirituality can have many different definitions, depending on who is asked. It can be something as simple as looking for a higher meaning to life, or something so complex that one can base their beliefs, religion and overall life around it. There are several different ways to express one's spirituality; rituals, songs, dances, stories, and writings are all common methods of expression.

Spirituality can be found in almost anything. Finding spirituality in something can make someone feel enlightened and bring strong emotion and deep feeling. In some cases, people would be willing to sacrifice nearly anything to help maintain the integrity of what they find to be spiritual. The earth is found in many cultures to be regarded as highly spiritual. There are countless numbers of people willing to sacrifice money, material goods, jobs and several other things that most people take for granted, only to help keep what they find spiritual in its natural, beautiful, and wholesome state: nature.

Several authors have based some of their writings on their spirituality. Some of these writings are as intricate as the Bible or as basic as an article in a local newspaper, but the meaning and passion behind them should never be doubted. In Leslie Marmon Silko's "Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination", she expresses how her people have a very different meaning of "landscape". To Silko's people, the popular definition of landscape as being "a portion of territory the eye can comprehend in a single view" makes it seem as though the viewer is on the outside looking in. To them, the term landscape is much more than that. One cannot leave their surroundings, the earth and nature are always around us and we are always interconnected. The ancient Pueblos see everything as offspring of "Mother Earth"; they find spirit in all things. The smallest pebble on the side of the road, a half eaten antelope carcass, and every tree on the planet, all things, living or dead, contain spirit. Pueblo people believe that everything comes from the same maker; everything originates from the depths of the Earth. Their spirituality is heavily influenced by nature.

David Suzuki may very well be the most popular scientist in all of Canada. In his book The Sacred Balance, Suzuki discusses his view that people and the earth are all made of the same things and therefore we both need the same elements to survive: earth, air, fire and water. For humans to lead rich lives, Suzuki also adds love and spirit to the list.

In the introduction to The Sacred Balance, Suzuki interviews a Haida Gwaii artist named Guujaaw about the battle over clear cut logging in his native Queen Charlotte Islands. Although the logging industry in the islands generated several much needed jobs, many of the Haida were opposed to it. Guujaaw stated that after the trees were all gone, his people would be just like everybody else, and they would not be Haida anymore. The fact that somebody would feel so connected with the trees, to include them in their identity proves that spirituality can be found in nature. For Gujarat's people "the trees, the birds, the fish, the water, the wind are all parts of the Haida identity." Their land, and everything on it, means so much to the Haida people that they would be willing to sacrifice jobs and economy to keep the integrity of their culture, history, and the land that is all a part of their identity.

Joy Williams is an author known for her writings that present an impression of a darker side of America. In her piece entitled "One Acre: On Devaluing Real Estate to Keep Land Priceless" in Listening To Earth, Williams' shares her story about the struggle she encountered when trying to sell a piece of land near a lagoon in Florida. Williams had purchased 5 neighboring lots in the late 1960's and early 1970's. After witnessing litter on her lots day in and day out, neighbors destroying land, cutting trees and bushes to make room for their houses and dead wild life on the road, she decided to enclose her lots with a large cement block wall. She could not understand people's attitudes towards the land, how somebody