I AM writing my columns under the motto The living Spirit. We believe that the Spirit of God is alive in our daily life. Whatever your religion is, as long as you believe in one God who created the world and all living beings, Gods Spirit is present in our daily realities.

Spirituality in public life is important because it makes us aware of the presence of Gods Spirit. According to some research studies the spiritual has been marginalized or even lost in debates between religion and aggressive secularism. There is no dichotomy between being spiritual and being religious. We need the spiritual to play a greater role in the public realm because it highlights the importance of connecting personal and social and political transformation.

Within organizations of all kinds, the spiritual deepens our vision or intrinsic motivation and gives structure and texture to human development and maturation. In our economy there is, for instance, the magic of economic growth. Spirituality helps us to see through the magic and see that economic growth is needed for the welfare of all people, the poor and the rich.

Other areas of concern are nursing, education and social and environmental activism. There are four basic human realities: 1) love with the promise of belonging, 2) death with the awareness of being, 3) our self on the path of becoming and transcendence and 4) our soul with the sense of beyondness.

I have here several quotations from spiritual people which are worth reflecting on:

An OND sister, Susan Bolano said: My spirituality strengthens the best and the beautiful in me so I could offer the best and the beautiful in me to other people.

My Carmelite confrere, Kees Waayman said: The core of the study of spirituality is: the God-Human process of transformation.

Stephan Bevans, a theologian said: Spirituality is like a reservoir from which a person or a community can draw to motivate action, to bolster commitment and avoid discouragement when times get rough.

Julio X. Labayen, the Carmelite Bishop of Infanta, Quezon once said: Spirituality calls our attention to the reality of the human spirit. The human spirit is that part in us, the capacity in us, to make us go beyond ourselves.

Dave Albano, an old friend of mine during the martial law years said: All poetry is spirituality.

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Spirituality in public life