Turin Spirituality does not mean theoretical research on spirituality
I’m glad to know that there is the manifestation Turin Spirituality. I tried to comb through here and there, trying to figure out what it is, which contents presents. They are certainly interesting meetings, in line with what is said on the website:
It is a privileged space for reflection. It is the home of those who never give up asking questions. It is the place in which to search, away from the rush of everyday life, the deep meaning of our being and of our time. It is Turin Spirituality. Five days of meetings, dialogues, lectures and readings to grow together, through the comparison of consciences, the intersection of faiths, cultures and religions from all over the world.
Turin Spirituality is an opportunity in this blog for a clarification on the difference between spirituality as such and its particular manifestations. If we try to look at the individual activities carried out in the event, we can see that they can even lack any explicit reference to spirituality. It does not, however, mean that they are not spirituality: there are particular expressions of it.
This phenomenon occurs in virtually all human activities, especially in humanities. For example, we can observe that Dante did not wrote the Divine Comedy with the specific intent of making Italian literature and enter the list of authors in that field that today must be studied; Michelangelo did not sculpt his masterpieces with the explicit intention of becoming part of the sculpture as a humanistic event. Critics and specialists choose man’s works and group them in various disciplines. So, it is treating humanities as such is different from producing a particular work, even if it will be fully part of them.
In this blog I have been involved so far about spirituality as such, without producing or examining in detail individual expressions that can be traced to it. This was justified by the fact that today spirituality, unfortunately, does not have a clear definition, such as is the case of literature, painting or history. The work done so far was essential, but now there was an opportunity to clarify that spirituality is not only experience of silence or interest in spirituality as such. One that goes to hear a concert does not go there with the explicit thought “Now I want to create in me a spiritual experience”; it is the critical researcher who decides that his experience, besides being part of all that is music, also falls within the field of what is spirituality.
This clarification should make us able to realize that it is not necessary, in order to include Torino Spirituality in what is this blog is considered spirituality, that they should necessarily mention it explicitly. Unfortunately, the present situation of confusion about spirituality leaves the field exposed to uncertainties and confusing invasions, but that is one reason of the work carried out in this blog.