prof. Tatjana Schnell

Religion and spirituality are usually understood as being linked to a belief in a supernatural power. And yet, we increasingly find secular individuals and organizations who adopt spiritual and religious attributes, recognizing the inherent meaning and purpose they offer independent of a belief in a supernatural being. This study explores the history and related worldviews of these phenomena, examining both organizational and experiential aspects. Some secular organizations model themselves after religious institutions, while others adopt religious practices and rituals without referencing their origin. Secular spirituality, like other forms of spirituality, prioritizes subjective experiences over institutionalization and communalization. They emphasize experiences such as meaning, awe, mindfulness, or gratitude, which are considered transcendence within life, rather than transcendence of life.

Humanistic, sceptical and atheist spirituality have been put forward as alternatives to a spirituality that involves belief in a supernatural, vertical transcendence. We operationalized one of these concepts, immanensity, and examined it empirically. Immanensity, conceived by French philosopher Comte-Sponville, describes a mystical quality of relating to an Absolute, viewed as immense in extent, but entirely immanent. Based on a sample of 1,800 secular participants from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the study tested associations between the experience of immanensity, worldview dimensions, and well-being. The data indicate that spirituality, awe, and gratitude can be experienced without belief in a higher power, and that such a sense of immanensity contributes to meaningfulness and interconnectedness.