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Fenni Sim

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Can spirituality only be attained where there is no poverty?

People living in third world country can even hardly survive.
All they ask for are basic needs such as water and food.
In other words, they just want survival skills.

Spirituality seems to be a far-fetehed idea to them.

Is spirituality something that can only be attained only after your basic needs are met?

Topics: spirituality
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    E G 10+

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    Jun 12 2012: Not necessarily , it depends on the people .

  • Sunny Klair

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    Jun 10 2012: When I was visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar, an extremely holy place of worship. I encountered a Sikh (turbaned) beggar near the building. Even though it was very rare to see Sikh beggars based on personal beliefs and religious beliefs, he was sitting cross legged, praying, mediating, appeared presentable and did not beg. He sat, meditated and prayed, and people were giving him money just based on his situation. He didn't go past his beliefs, yet still attained poverty and spirituality.
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    Peter Law 30+

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    Jun 8 2012: I think quite the opposite. People in general have an inbuilt spiritual consciousness, even in the most primitive & needy societies. The only place where tis seems to get lost is among the rich & the self-proclaimed intelligentsia. The rich trust in their wealth, & the brights in their mental superiority. They have no need of God; or so they believe.

    :-)
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    Obey No1kinobe 50+

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    Jun 6 2012: Depends how you define spirituality.

    Supernatural spirit is most likely a delusion shared by many poor people.

  • Eric Hazelle

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    Jun 5 2012: Maybe we need a concrete definition of "spirituality". A story: during WW2 in Germany, there was a church that had a railroad track running behind it. As it happened, the Nazis had a train carrying Jews to concentration camps scheduled to run by the church at the same time they were meeting. The howling and wailing of the Jews interfered with the religious services, so . . . the congregation was instructed to sing louder to drown out the noise. Spirituality: doing something to help those poor people. Religion: singing louder. The ultimate essence of spirituality isn't navel-gazing contemplation, rather, it's doing all we can to help those in need. Think: Mother Theresa. There was a truly spiritual person.
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    Stuart Woods 10+

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    Jun 5 2012: I think spirituality is about finding our deepest essence of meaning, when our lives challenge us the most I think is when we we form this meaning, or at least ( subconsciously) creates spirituality which emerges later.

    Whilst acknowledging Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I don't think that spirituality is dependent on basic needs being met. I once read the a quote which said 'If religion is for people who are worried they will see hell one day, then spirituality is for people who have already seen it.Given your example that's quite a thought!
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    Kate Blake 50+

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    Jun 5 2012: I live in India and although the nation and a few excessively wealthy elite seem to be rapidly loosing their spirituality it was the deep sincere spirituality of the starving masses that attracted me to this country so many years ago!
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    Salim Solaiman 50+

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    Jun 5 2012: "No" ..........is my answer to your main question.

    Check the link below , which is about sprituality of a poor illiterate person of a poor country where about half of it's population still living below poverty line

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalon
    http://pabitraspeaks.com/lalon-revisited/
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