It lives outside religion, promising a feeling of connection to others, the planet and our long, shared history

• Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life

Some people put up their guard at the word “spiritual”, suspecting an evangelical membership drive or a snake oil sales pitch. I can understand that. I am guilty of doing the same. I dislike the way the experience of awe has been commodified. I have no truck with retailers who purport to sell me salvation in the form of culturally appropriated, mass-produced dream catchers.

For most of my life I have been a devotee of modernity, believing in science as the only valid epistemology. When I was 17 I turned my back on the Catholic faith of my childhood and rebelled in the biggest way I knew how, joining the astrophysics team at summer science camp. I used to pit science and spirituality against each other, thinking I had to declare fidelity to one.