International Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Quality of Life Spirituality and Religion: A Commentary

The present article provides a commentary on spiritual and religious concepts within the belief-cultural context of Iran, which can be used in countries with a similar context.Spirituality and subsequently spiritual health have no single definition as yet. It is essentially impossible to expect such a definition because it is abstract and depends on human-being, which can be seen differently in different cultures and ideologies. Hence, authors attempt to interpret the relevant data according to their own worldview, which will yield different definitions for these concepts. Although many components of these definitions overlap, the God-orientation component is often the point of difference in these definitions.According to the Islamic-Iranian definition, spirituality is the supreme dimension of human existence bestowed upon mankind to transcend and approach God.In definitions based on the divine religions especially Islam1, God-orientation is the focal point of the definition, like the definition presented in this article.

Keywords:

Spiritual health , Spirituality , Religion , Islam , Iran