The Virtue of Transcendence III
Transcendence ‘describes strengths that help you connect to the larger universe and provide meaning’. Let us look at the last strength grouped under the category of spiritual well-being: Spirituality.
5. Spirituality
“It involves the belief that there is a dimension to life that is beyond human understanding.” Indeed, there is a commonality the world over: a sincere effort to open one’s mind, heart and soul to the concept, to understand it within the context of one’s culture, and finally to embrace its magnitude and its mysticism. Divinity or Nature or the Universe are all concepts grander than us and beyond our full grasp. They mystify, enchant and call us.
A recent visit to Portugal revealed a plethora of Romanesque Cathedrals dotting the landscape. The grand, ornate churches housed incredible wealth, carvings, art, architecture and rich history. They served the singular purpose of promoting religion. But they did not claim exclusive rights to spirituality.
Instead it was to be found in everyday interactions around us.
There was the resolute hiker in Porto with two walking sticks, a hefty backpack with a scallop shell symbol, trekking along the epic 500 mile El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail. There was our bus driver who promptly jumped to assist a fallen passenger, oblivious to the blood staining his pristine white shirt as he gave him first aid. There was the restaurant owner and opera singer who burst into a full-throated ‘aria’ around a fountain in the enclave in front of his restaurant, serenading us passersby just out of the generosity of his heart. Spirituality abounds in the mundane and everyday moments.
A person high in the strength of spirituality pursues these concepts with a single-minded focus. It can be expressed as the drive to have a close relationship with something greater than us. It can be worship in a temple, church, mosque, or synagogue. It can be centering in a still, meditative trance. It can be acts of kindness, love, or sacrifice. It can be tending to one’s garden, the neighborhood park or a preservation area. It can be an unwavering stance behind a telescope while star gazing and studying the vast canvas of the universe.
It almost seems like this is the portal through which all other strengths converge to emerge fuller and make us a grander version of who we are as human beings. It is our drive for meaning and purpose that motivates us and compels us forward to keep inquiring, imbibing, integrating, and inching towards that higher realm.
Like that determined pilgrim, keep on trekking. It is miraculously uplifting.