Exploring the dimensions of spirituality

The spiritual wellness dimension is highly diverse. Spiritual wellness can include a specific spiritual path that serves as a guide to how we journey through life. For others, being in nature, writing, painting, or playing a musical instrument can provide a spiritual anchor. Whatever the path, spiritual wellness can provide purpose, reflection, personal growth, values, resiliency, hope, respect, and gratitude in our lives.

Illinois State University’s campus is growing more diverse each year. This diversity can lead to rich experiences if we are open to taking the time to be curious, to learn, and to understand. Exploring spiritual diversity provides an opportunity for us to gain awareness and insights, discover commonalities, respect differences, learn about different celebratory customs, cultivate interesting conversations, and even grow our own spiritual well-being. Understanding culture and spirituality can also enhance travel experiences nationally or internationally.

Sometimes it is helpful to have a baseline of knowledge regarding different spiritual practices. This can help us feel more informed when we engage with a person who has a different spiritual practice. Below is an overview of the most common forms of spiritual practices around the globe. Keep in mind these are simply basics, as there can be differences within each spiritual practice, just as there are different language nuances and accents within a culture.

Buddhism hails from an account of a man’s spiritual path to achieve enlightenment resulting in the teachings and lifestyle cultivated from his journey. Buddhism at its core is the spiritual development of an individual and the achievement of profound insight into life itself. From the Buddhist perspective, the road to enlightenment is through developing morality and wisdom and practicing meditation. Buddhism sees existence as infinite resulting in the reincarnation of many lives. Another belief is there is no permanency to anything and to have such expectations is a central cause of suffering for humans.

Christianity is rooted in the belief that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and is the Son of God who was sent to save humans from their sins and gave his life on the cross to do so. Often, teachings of Jesus included tolerance, compassion, mercy, and nonjudgment of others. Christians believe there is one God, but that God is composed of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christians worship in a church and use the Holy Bible as their sacred scripture to learn from and follow.

Hinduism does not have a sole creator, a single scripture, or a set of teachings. With this, Hinduism can be referenced as a way of life. The central Hindu texts are known as the Vedas, which translates to “knowledge” in the Sanskrit language. Many Hindus do believe in a Supreme God who is made up of several deities that originate from him. Like Buddhism, Hinduism also believes in reincarnation with the soul continuing on into each subsequent life. The new incarnation is determined by how the prior life was lived.

Islam followers are referred to as Muslims, who, like Chrisitians, believe in one God, Allah. Muslims believe God sent several prophets to help humans understand the way in which they should live, including Jesus, Moses, and Abraham. Muhammad is believed by the Muslims to be the final prophet. The Muslim holy scriptures are the Qur’an and the Sunnah with the Sunnah being the applied teachings of Muhammad. There are five foundational teachings, called the Pillars of Islam, which include an affirmation of faith, praying five times throughout the day, contributing money to charity, fasting, and a journey to Mecca at least once. Muslims traditionally worship in a mosque.

Judaism is known to be the earliest of the three Abrahamic faiths, including Christianity and Islam. Moses is referenced as initiating Judaism; however, Jewish people identify their roots to Abraham. Jews also believe in one God, who they share a covenant with in adhering to God’s laws, whereby they seek to integrate holiness into every facet of their daily lives. The Torah is their central text. Jews attend a synagogue, and their spiritual leaders are referred to as rabbis.

Our campus is a community of spiritual pluralism, and as previously mentioned, a place where there is opportunity to learn about one another, but it also an opportunity to work side by side serving others. To selflessly give of ourselves in service of others is a central tenet many spiritual practices share. Different faiths working and serving together is known as interfaith work.

Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core was a guest on our campus in October discussing interfaith work with various administrative, staff, and faith-based student organizations. Patel focuses on building an interfaith bridge of cooperation, utilizing the concept of serving others as a framework to build the bridge. With this, we have the opportunity as a campus and community to strengthen the bridge.

Whether you are administration, staff, faculty, or a student, consider what steps you can take on campus, or in your community to enhance your spiritual wellness and build a bridge of interfaith cooperation where serving others together can enrich your life and those you serve. As Patel says, we are “better together.”

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Challenge yourself to make YOU a priority! Seven is a free program from Health Promotion and Wellness for students, faculty, and staff that focuses on the importance of the seven dimensions of wellness: emotional, environmental, intellectual, physical, social, spiritual, and vocational. Seven runs from September through April, and you can join at any time. Participants log wellness activities to earn points toward monthly prize drawings and compete toward end of the year overall point totals. Participants also receive the Seven e-newsletter and information on campus wellness events.

For additional details and to sign up, visit Wellness.IllinoisState.edu/Seven.