S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 8 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 2 1 EDITORIAL Editorial Among the defining features of every authentic spirituality is the quest for wholeness. Mystical traditions put this ideal into practice by shaping its vision and providing their practitioners with tools enabling them to focus internally so that the body-mind-spirit connection is established as an actual experience. The body-mind-spirit integration can be theologically described by the notion of incarnation. Incarnation is the first of the two central mysteries of the Christian faith and refers to the union of spirit and matter in such a way that the spirit permeates and dominates the matter. Experiential knowledge of mystical kind teaches us that this process is done in two consecutive steps: 1. matter is in consciousness, 2. consciousness is in matter. Both these processes belong to the content of the concept of presence in its original Latin meaning of præesse, which refers to the Spirit “descending” on (Lat. prae) an object (Lat. esse). As a result of intersection of qualitatively different elements of spirit and matter, a sense of grounding arises and gradually becomes dominant content of one’s experience in order to be further deepened into a sense of stillness that is difficult to grasp conceptually since human conceptual thinking and language are based on sensory cognitions, while this kind of experience in not of sensory nature. Among those who had been carrying the message of body-mind-spirit integration in a mystical sense in our times was Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) – an Indian mystic by origin who was brought up as a world citizen and a world spiritual teacher. His portrait opens the Spring edition of Spirituality Studies, whereas his ideas are the subject of its introductory article. All articles in the 2022 Spring edition of Spirituality Studies to some point reflect the idea of body-mind-spirit connection and it’s my honest pleasure to invite you, dear readers, to go through their inspiring takes on the pages of the Spirituality Studies journal. Cordially Martin Dojčár
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