Traditionelle Medizin und klinische Naturheilkunde

Abstrakt

Constructing and Deconstructing the Terminology of Spirituality: A Journey Back to the Greek Roots

Efthymios Tzounis

Over the past few decades, literature related to spirituality presents rising interest within researchers. Many tried to encode the term but there is not a widely agreed definition of spirituality. My interest in investigating the terminology led me to some hypothesis. Τhe antiquity of the word must be important in order to understand how the word was originally used. The purpose of this short communication is giving flesh to the notion of spirituality as it goes into the heart of Ancient Greek philosophy in order to encode the term. A large body of literature acknowledges the connectedness between spirituality and the Greek word πνεύμα (pneuma) which means spirit, mind, soul, and breathing. The semantic root of the English term spirituality is the Latin word spirare which meant to breathe, to blow and to live. Spirituality does elicit an experiential sense by force of the words’ own signification and etymology. Based on the definitions of spirit outlined in this manuscript; the spirit animates not only human beings but all beings. This analysis shows that since “air” is an extension of breath, spirituality must possibly be as vital as the air we breathe. It must be our ‘Breath of Life’. Air has also been ascribed divine attributes, so spirituality could also be the ‘Breath of God’. This ‘Breath’ could help people understand answers to ultimate questions about life, about meaning and about the relationship to the sacred, the transcendent, and the Divine.