Living "before God" : A Kierkegaardian view of human spirituality

I wish in this chapter to present a Kierkegaardian view of what it means to be “spiritual” or to exist as “spirit.” (Kierkegaard does not distinguish between these ways of putting the matter.) The thesis is simple: spirituality is fundamentally relational. To exist as spirit is to exist “before God,” aware that life is lived in God’s presence. However, this relational spirituality comes in two forms. There is a generic human spirituality that may be found in many religions and even in the lives of those who call themselves “spiritual but not religious.” This generic human spirituality must be distinguished from Christian spirituality, where a person relates to God through Jesus of Nazareth and through the Spirit who is present within the Christian, both as an individual and in the community. I shall begin with a discussion of generic human spirituality.