Interspirituality

Interspirituality originates in the work of Wayne Teasdale, who developed this term to reflect commonalities between religious traditions, specifically those that are spiritual in nature.{{Cite journal|date=2003|title=How to be an urban mystic: The editors interview Wayne Teasdale|journal=U.S. Catholic|volume=68|pages=26–30}} These commonalities across religious practices do not erase differences in beliefs, rather they build community and sharing across practices, leading to the ultimate goal of more human responsibility to one another and the planet as a whole.{{Cite book|last=Teasdale|first=Wayne|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/47009676|title=The mystic heart : discovering a universal spirituality in the world's religions|date=1999|publisher=New World Library|isbn=1-57731-316-X|location=Novato, Calif|oclc=47009676}}{{Cite journal|last=Kourie|first=Celia|date=2011|title=Crossing Boundaries: The Way of Interspirituality|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/rt/18/1-2/article-p10_2.xml|journal=Religion and Theology|volume=18|issue=1–2|pages=10–31|doi=10.1163/157430111X613647|issn=1023-0807}} At its core, this is an "assimilation of insights, values, and spiritual practices" drawn from many different traditions that can be applied to one's own life to further personal, spiritual development.{{Cite book|last=Teasdale|first=Wayne|title=The Community of Religions: Voices and Images of the Parliament of the World's Religions|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|year=1996|pages=209|chapter=The Interspiritual Age: Global Spirituality in the Third Millennium}}

While interspirituality is involved with common spiritual practices, these are not synonymous with how religious traditions practice. As such, interspirituality should not be considered synonymous with interfaith work, in part because some spiritual practices may be considered antithetic to certain religious practice, thereby including elements that would not be accepted by some conservative approaches.{{Cite journal|last=Puett|first=Tiffany|date=2005|title=ON TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD: Critical Pedagogy for Interfaith Education|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24460809|journal=CrossCurrents|volume=55|issue=2|pages=264–273|jstor=24460809 |issn=0011-1953}} New insights that can be gained through aspects of other spiritual practices can be threatening to some faiths, as postmodern approaches to beliefs and practices can be challenging when individuals are encouraged to explore other practices to deepen one's own.{{Citation|last=King|first=Ursula|title=Interfaith Spirituality or Interspirituality? A New Phenomenon in a Postmodern World|date=2012|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1057/9780230360136_9|work=Religious Pluralism and the Modern World|pages=107–120|editor-last=Sugirtharajah|editor-first=Sharada|place=London|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|language=en|doi=10.1057/9780230360136_9|isbn=978-1-349-33386-8|access-date=2021-12-08}}

One way interspirituality is practiced is through interspiritual meditation. This was originally developed by Edward Bastian from the Snowmass Conferences convened by Thomas Keating,{{Cite web |date=October 15, 2013 |title=Introducing InterSpiritual Meditation |url=http://www.theinterfaithobserver.org/journal-articles/2013/10/15/introducing-interspiritual-meditation.html |access-date= |website=The Interfaith Observer |language=en-US}} who organized gatherings of people from other spiritual practices, including the Dalai Lama.{{Cite news|last=Seelye|first=Katharine Q.|date=2018-10-28|title=Rev. Thomas Keating, Pioneer in Contemplative Movement, Dies at 95|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/obituaries/rev-thomas-keating-pioneer-in-contemplative-movement-dies-at-95.html|access-date=2021-12-09|issn=0362-4331}} Through these gatherings, interspiritual meditation grew to incorporate insights in meditative and contemplative practices across many spiritual traditions, primarily through engaging in shared spiritual practices and then discussing them, rather than through lectures or formal teachings about them.{{Cite web|last=Travers|first=Andrew|title=How Thomas Keating launched a global interfaith movement from a Snowmass monastery|url=https://www.aspentimes.com/magazines/aspen-times-weekly/how-thomas-keating-launched-a-global-interfaith-movement-from-a-snowmass-monastery/|access-date=2021-12-09|website=www.aspentimes.com|language=en-US}} These practices continued to develop and expand beyond Keating's death.{{Cite web|last=Aspen|first=Todd Hartley|title=Celebrating the contemplative legacy of Father Thomas Keating|url=https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/celebrating-the-contemplative-legacy-of-father-thomas-keating/article_31a43a04-ab55-11e9-8181-33617fbaee74.html|access-date=2021-12-09|website=Aspen Daily News|language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Bastian |first=Edward |date=February 6, 2017 |title=Find Your Path |url=https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/articles/2017/02/06/find-your-path |access-date= |website=Spirituality+Health |language=en}}

• Spirituality
• Interfaith dialogue
• Thomas Keating
• Wayne Teasdale 

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