The Life of the Spirit and the Life of To-day

This work reflects on the practical aspects of spirituality in the contemporary world, aiming to bridge classical spiritual experiences with modern psychological insights. Underhill seeks to articulate a unified understanding of the spiritual life that emphasizes its relevance and accessibility to modern readers. At the start of the text, Underhill outlines the foundational purpose of her work, which is to connect the timeless experiences of spirituality with contemporary human consciousness. She acknowledges an important shift in understanding spirituality, advocating for a practical approach that relates to everyday life rather than merely focusing on historical mysticism. The opening chapters introduce the key characteristics of spiritual life and stress the inseparability of spiritual development from personal and collective experience, inviting readers to consider the transformative power of spiritual engagement and the interplay of transcendence and immanence in their lives.It is not. It is a matter of biology. Though we cannot disregard history in our study of it, that history will only be valuable to us in so far as we keep tight hold on its direct connection with the present, its immediate bearing on our own lives: and this we shall do only in so far as we realize the unity of all the higher experiences of the race. In fact, were I called upon to choose a motto which should express the central notion of these chapters, that motto would be-"There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." This declaration I would interpret in the widest possible sense; as suggesting the underlying harmony and single inspiration of all man's various and apparently conflicting expressions of his instinct for fullness of life. For we shall not be able to make order, in any hopeful sense, of the tangle of material which is before us, until we have sub-dued it to this ruling thought: seen one transcendent Object towards which all our twisting pathways run, and one impulsion pressing us towards it. As psychology is now teaching us to find, at all levels of our craving, dreaming, or thinking, the diverse expressions of one psychic energy; so that type of philosophy which comes nearest to the religion of the Spirit, invites us to find at all levels of life the workings and strivings of one Power: "a Reality which both underlies and crowns all our other, lesser strivings."[1] Variously manifested in partial achievements of order and goodness, in diversities of beauty, and in our graded apprehensions of truth, this Spirit is yet most fully known to us in the transcendent values of holiness and love. The more deeply it is loved by man, the nearer he draws to its heart: and the greater his love, the more fully does he experience its transforming and energizing power. The words of Plotinus are still true for every one of us, and are unaffected by the presence or absence of creed: