Volume 6 / Issue 1 SPRING 2020

S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 0 1 EDITORIAL Editorial Spirituality begins with the inversion of consciousness that can be described as the reversal of intentionality from its natural flow to an object. This reversing process of intencionality is associated with the pursuit of quality. In its essence, spiritu - ality is an existential struggle for quality, which includes both quality of experiencing and quality of awareness: Experiencing directed to reach the highest amplitude possible; awareness directed to reach the highest lucidity and un-limitedness possible. Inversion is only possible when experiencing is no more primarily saturated from external sources. Therefore, the process of inversion of conscious - ness does not begin with concentration, as so many mistakenly believe, but instead with an effort to move the source of experiencing from worldly objects to the body itself. Conditions of this transitus are of moral nature. They are values and attitudes that lie at the foundation of every authentic spirituality, first and fore - most voluntarily evoked lack of interest in any outer object of satisfaction along with voluntarily cultivated contentment to what is given in the presence when we are not dealing with the past or the future, but we are simply present at our bodily object anchoring our attention here and now, as Cordially Martin Dojčár the Latin etymology of the præesse (Eng. presence ) suggests – before (Lat. prae ) an object (Lat. esse ). At first, an object is available to us as a particular being (Lat. ens ), later, however, it can be approached in its beingness (Lat. esse ). This initial attitude is spontaneously going to grow into feelings of gratitude and joyfulness . Af - terwards, we are becoming capable of saturating our body with them and gradually discovering the primary source of experiencing in it. Spirituality Studies enters its sixth year with a bundle of exquisite studies, essays and poems on spirituality from various perspectives and authors from around the globe. Let me invite you to approach them from the angle outlined above. In these terrifying times of global pandemic, vis-àvis an existential threat of life, we might possibly find a fountain of inspiration in them. A fountain of inspiration directing our attention out of its absorption in the sensory and mental objects and turning it entirely to the present moment. In this very presence of our own bodily experience, an opening for transcendence may occur, as indicates a brilliant baroque portrait of Saint Theresa of Ávila on the cover of the 2020 Spring edition of Spirituality Studies.

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