The Spiritual Potential of Moods
Usually moods are associated with mental health. In this context they are often related to spirituality. An example of such an approach is found in the book of K. Raab Mayo, Creativity, Spirituality, and Mental Health: Exploring Connections (Routledge, 2016). In consequence, spirituality can be considered as a tool to improve mood. In this paper another approach towards moods is proposed: a philosophical one, based on phenomenological theory as developed by H. Schmitz, G. Böhme and T. Griffero. This vision of moods, called by these authors “atmospheres”, will be interpreted in the context of spirituality and applied to a new perception of it (or perhaps, better, a new understanding). Thanks to this we will propose another key to the interpretation of classical spiritual texts with a hope that such interpretation will bring spirituality closer to life and refresh its important affinity with art. This reflection arises from an observation of Cassirer who pointed out that lan guage, religion, art and myth, though they share the same structure, have in fact separate modalities of spiritual form (geistige Auffassung and geistige Formung) (Cassirer 1977, 7)1. The structural affinity of different realities is crucial in identifying their mutual relationships. As N. Hartmann points out, “The world has a shape given by the Spirit and, despite its unity, the world is by no means a simplicity, but it salvages a concrete multiplicity of different directions and actualizations” (Hartmannn 1938, 60)2. If this is true, one can say that spirituality is everywhere. What is needed is merely to discoverit. The truth of spiritual forms is to be measured by these forms themselves.
