Religion: The Quiz: 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

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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.