How Spiritual Are You?

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.