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
2. I often do things to help protect animals and plants from extinction.
   
   True    False
3. I am fascinated by the many things in life that cannot be scientifically explained.
   
   True    False
4. Often I have unexpected flashes of insight or understanding while relaxing.
   
   True    False
5. I sometimes feel so connected to nature that everything seems to be part of one living organism.
   
   True    False
6. I seem to have a “sixth sense” that sometimes allows me to know what is going to happen.
   
   True    False
7. Sometimes I have felt like I was part of something with no limits or boundaries in time and space.
   
   True    False
8. 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
9. I often feel a strong sense of unity with all the things around me.
   
   True    False
10. Even after thinking about something a long time, I have learned to trust my feelings more than my logical reasons.
    
    True    False
11. I often feel a strong spiritual or emotional connection with all the people around me.
    
    True    False
12. Often when I am concentrating on something, I lose awareness of the passage of time.
    
    True    False
13. 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
14. I have had experiences that made my role in life so clear to me that I felt very happy and excited.
    
    True    False
15. I believe that I have experienced extrasensory perception.
    
    True    False
16. I have had moments of great joy in which I suddenly had a clear, deep feeling of oneness with all that exists.
    
    True    False
17. 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
18. I love the blooming of flowers in the spring as much as seeing an old friend again.
    
    True    False
19. 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
20.     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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