It is unfortunate that a better word does not exist to describe the concepts of spirituality. From a naturalist standpoint, spirituality does not involve anything that is not based on evidence. It is not a nebulous, religion-dependent, personalized phenomenon. Spirituality describes a set of available sensations that can be experienced by anyone under the right circumstances. It captures the essence of the goals of most spiritual teachers since the beginning of recorded history. 

 

Simply described, spirituality is the experience of conscious awareness, by consciousness itself. It includes the sensation that we are all connected to each other and to every other part of the universe. Linked to this connectedness is a loss of awareness of the ‘I.’ The ‘self’ that we feel we are, that acts in the world as a unique individual is as much an illusion as any religious deity. It is a powerful illusion and one that is reinforced constantly by our own cognitive constructs and societal forces as well. 

 

This experience of connectedness and loss of self can certainly be enhanced or clarified by the use of psychedelics, but it is available without the use of chemicals. It can occur as a flash of insight or it can be sustained for periods of time—especially during an appropriate meditative practice. 

 

Learning to loosen one’s grip on this illusion of ‘self’ can have profound effects on one’s appreciation of day-to-day life and experience of emotion. The evaporation of the illusion of self and the pure experience of consciousness that takes its place is a spiritual sensation that anyone can feel under the right circumstances, unlike the religious ‘spirituality’ that is tied to specific individual deities and rituals and is therefore experienced uniquely and differently by every believer.