How Spiritual Are You?
To find out, take this test, which is adapted from a
personality inventory devised by Washington University
psychiatrist Robert Cloninger, author of Feeling Good:
The Science of Well-Being
- 1. I often feel so connected to the people around me that it is like there is no separation between us.
True False
- I often do things to help protect animals and plants from extinction.
True False
- I am fascinated by the many things in life that cannot be scientifically explained.
True False
- Often I have unexpected flashes of insight or understanding while relaxing.
True False
- I sometimes feel so connected to nature that everything seems to be part of one living organism.
True False
- I seem to have a “sixth sense” that sometimes allows me to know what is going to happen.
True False
- Sometimes I have felt like I was part of something with no limits or boundaries in time and space.
True False
- I am often called “absent-minded” because I get so wrapped up in what I am doing that I lose track of everything else.
True False
- I often feel a strong sense of unity with all the things around me.
True False
- Even after thinking about something a long time, I have learned to trust my feelings more than my logical reasons.
True False
- I often feel a strong spiritual or emotional connection with all the people around me.
True False
- Often when I am concentrating on something, I lose awareness of the passage of time.
True False
- I have made real personal sacrifices in order to make the world a better place, like trying to prevent war, poverty and injustice.
True False
- I have had experiences that made my role in life so clear to me that I felt very happy and excited.
True False
- I believe that I have experienced extrasensory perception.
True False
- I have had moments of great joy in which I suddenly had a clear, deep feeling of oneness with all that exists.
True False
- Often when I look at an ordinary thing, something wonderful happens. I get the feeling that I am seeing it fresh for the first time.
True False
- I love the blooming of flowers in the spring as much as seeing an old friend again.
True False
- It often seems to other people like I am in another world because I am so completely unaware of things going on around me.
True False
- I believe that miracles happen.
True False
SCORING: Give yourself one point for each TRUE answer and 0 points for each FALSE answer.
14 and above = highly spiritual, a real mystic
12-13 = spiritually aware, easily lost in the moment
8-11 = spiritually average; could develop more spiritual life if desired
6-7 = a practical empiricist lacking self-transcendence
1-5 = highly skeptical, resistant to developing spiritual awareness
Published with permission from C. Robert Cloninger, Sansone family Center for Well-being, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
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