The word “spiritual” has unfortunately acquired mystical and supernatural connotations, and is used too frequently by all kinds of unreliable people, from bleary-eyed old ladies speaking about spirituality to quacks selling spiritual medicines and spiritual workshops that will make us wise, beautiful, successful, and thin.
Since such “spirituality” seems to range from wishy-washy to clinically crazy, it is not at all astonishing that some people keep a safe distance.
The spiritual world we live in is very close and real.
It is not the realm of ghosts and disembodied beings, where powers and vibrations (whatever they are) roam.
The spiritual world is, first and foremost, all the things we relate to through our minds.
This includes our thoughts and emotions, love, hate, and envy, the ability to read, to enjoy music, or to solve equations, to know that we exist, and to relate to others.
All these are intangible—they cannot be touched or weighed.
However, they are commonplace, direct experiences, and they are as real as anything can be.
All these together make up our second world, the spiritual one.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz