Spirituality- innate or acquired?

In religion, as well as morality, it has been argued that spiritual awareness in innate, that it exists in us humans naturally, inborn and unacquired. Religion distinguishes between the body and the soul, the former physical and ephemeral, but the latter intransient and infinite.

To me spirituality, exists within each of us as our intrinsic humaneness, which binds us with bond of compassion, and which has helped us evolve from the cave man to the modern citizens with respect for human rights. spirituality is not separate from the body and thus has nothing to do with austerity, but includes an understanding and respect for it. To be spiritual means to be aware of oneself, one's strengths and weaknesses and managing them. it also means to be able to recognise and respect the humaneness in others, and hence being able to connect, and thus be empathetic to them. thus it is very close to the modern ideas of emotional intelligence. Hence, spiritual awareness can be cultivated, by looking inside us, focussing on the self and continuously making efforts to connect the chords inside, finding peace and happiness inside.

spiritual awareness is thus the core of human development. All development and growth nations create, is ultimately aimed at improving the quality of life of humans, which includes life, as a right to live with dignity. spiritual awareness enables us to look at life, beyond mere physical existence and survival. hence, we are today able to talk about moving from mere basic needs to rights and entitlements, to self respect and dignity and being able to realise each one's potential with freedom and equality- a concept central to human development. This is why the hdi talks about gender parity, life expectancy and educational attainment. because at the spiritual level, we both men and women are all equal, have equal right to live along and healthy life and evolve with real education