Spiritualities

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The multiple characteristics and dimensions associated with the essence of the soul or spirit
2. The assorted forms of faith and personal experiences that link individuals to a higher power or divine presence
3. The diverse attributes that relate to the inner nature or essence of a person’s spirit ; the range of religious beliefs and practices that connect people to spiritual truths or deities

Etymology: "Spiritualities" is simply the plural of "spirituality," so it inherits the whole history of that noun, which is a relatively late arrival built from very old material. Its ancestor is Latin "spīritus," meaning "breath," from the verb "spīrāre," "to breathe." The Latin word traveled into the language of the church and of philosophy, where breath came to stand for the vital, animating principle of a person, and finally for the immaterial soul or divine presence. The noun itself took shape in Late Latin as "spīrituālitās," built from the adjective "spīrituālis" (spiritual) plus the abstract suffix "-itās," which turns an adjective into a noun of quality, much as "-ity" does in English. Medieval theologians used it for the state of being spiritual, as opposed to material. It passed into Middle French as "spiritualité" before reaching English, where "spirituality" is recorded as a term for that same contrast between the spiritual and the worldly.

Synonyms: spirituality, religiousness, sacredness