I was ubering someone the weekend before last, and they asked if I was spiritual and I said, "yeah, I consider myself spiritual but not religious," talking along the same lines as you. This person immediately created an affinity with me and said they agreed, then started to talk about how God was everywhere in everyone, healing crystals, and so forth.

My spirituality means a lot to me given everything that has happened to me, but it's a shame how dangerous the word is to communication.

Same here. I didn't put it because in the description for what they mean by spiritual is belief in the supernatural which I did not have. However, the internal personal definition is something I've experienced many times in meditation and has nothing to do with anything supernatural and can easily be explained by science.

We are all freethinkers here, welcome.

You might be interested in a book by Sam Harris (no less than one of the "four horsemen of atheism" ) who wrote: WAKING UP: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. He is very much against belief in anything supernatural but definites spirituality as something like varieties of conscious experience. It's worth a read.

I agree - meditation is a centering of one's self! Totally practical too. ?

Hello and welcome. "Spiritual" implies "spirit" which is a supernatural and generally religious concept, but I don't know of a commonly accepted term that doesn't sound awkwardly forced, to describe what you're talking about, which is really seeking out "peak experiences" or "altered states of consciousness" or "non-duality". Your objective is likely personal centeredness and presence and being present-centered and unattached to particular outcomes. I suppose "self-reflective" comes close while still managing to remain concise. But I think most of us here will forgive you for "spiritual".

I think there are quire a few here who think of themselves a spiritual, as in a state of mind rather than a defined belief.

I think teh constant strivign to improve oneself, is in a sense of a "spiritual" state of mind and may have a "spiritual" quality to it. Not everyone would choose the same vocabulary to describe it that way, but I think the generl idea is to strive for improvement in ourselves and humanity in general.