S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 7 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 1 1 EDITORIAL Editorial There are two symbols displayed on the cover of the current edition of the Spirituality Studies journal pointing to the third one and creating a classical triangular perspective with deep spiritual meaning. They are the book, the lily, and the aureola. Although in traditional Christian iconography, they are all attributed to Saint Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order, their meaning is essential for any authentic spirituality, whether Christian or not. In the case of the Bellini’s oil on canvas depicted on the cover, it is Teodoro of Urbino; however, Meister Eckhart, a renowned Dominican mystic from the 13th and 14th centuries to whom the portrayal was sometimes attributed, might very well also be the case. In the mystical sense, the book is a symbol of wisdom. In general, the wisdom is related to the profound understanding of life, the fundamental human query how to live accordingly as human. Furthermore, Christian interpretation relates wisdom do the Holy Spirit: Wisdom is conceived from the presence of the Spirit, who “descends” on (Lat. prae) an object (Lat. esse), as the Latin etymology of the præesse (Eng. presence) suggests – metaphorically settles on an object or illuminates it, and thus making it fully conscious. Cordially Martin Dojčár The lily is a Christian symbol of purity, however not only in a strictly moral sense of sexual abstinence, but also in the spiritual one, where it refers to the high quality of experiencing, that is such experiencing, which can be described by the highest amplitude and the shortest wavelength in terms of physics. The outcome of both – the lucidity of consciousness and the purity of experiencing – takes on the form of an aureola, a universal, transcultural and transreligious symbol of sanctity. Consequently, the lily is a symbol of spiritual rebirth – resurrection to new life. These are the underlying ideas of the 2021 Spring edition of Spirituality Studies. They are directly addressed in the opening study of Slavomír Gálik, and partially reflected in a way in the further studies of Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, Peter Šajda, Miloš Lichner and Marianna Hamarová, Mária Dědová and Gabriel Baník, Raysa Geaquinto Rocha and Paulo Gonçalves Pinheiro, as well as in concluding essay of Jiří Vacek. Let me invite you, dear readers, to explore the possibilities opened up by this transition of both awareness and experiencing on the pages of the Spirituality Studies journal.
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