A Basic Definition of Spirituality (of True Faith)

[Belacqua]

True spirituality is like true psychotherapy. It does liberate us from falsehoods and strengthens us in doing good-constructive deeds.

I think this is an important point. And the comparison to psychotherapy is on point. 

Psychoanalysis, when it's successful, is extremely self-revealing. The fictions we tell ourselves and the defenses we set up to protect our egos are hard to break through, and psychoanalysis can do this. It's not always successful, of course, but at its best it can be a great benefit. 

Often when people describe a spiritual experience, it seems to me that what they're talking about is simply aesthetic. That is, if you get some numinous feeling in a forest, or looking at a starry sky, it can be very beautiful. And beautiful things can give us pause, briefly taking us away from our normal habits of thought. 

But the way I define spirituality, there must be a lasting effect. And it must be an effect which reveals us to ourselves, and points us in the direction of becoming better people. This happens largely by a dissolution of the protective ego and an epiphany concerning one's real place and importance in the universe. I call this a spiritual epiphany because logically, rationally, we can be aware of our tininess in relation to the Great Scheme of Things, but even so behave as though we were special and specially deserving. It requires something other than a logical argument to really bring the meaning home and make it a part of one's working psyche. 

There are many traditions which aim at something spiritual, but I think many of them have this as their goal.

I have met people who were proud of their consistent meditation habits and general spiritual personality (self-described) who were nonetheless egoistic and indifferent to their influence on the rest of the world. This seems to me like an imitation spirituality, because it doesn't end in the "good-constructive deeds" you mention.