Spirituality versus Religion
It has become quite popular in recent years to distinguish between
spirituality and religion.
It’s true that there are valid distinctions between the two, but there
are also a number of problematic distinctions which often and unnecessarily
divide the two fields of thought.
One principal problem with attempts to separate religion from
spirituality is that the former is saddled with everything negative while the
latter is exalted with everything positive.
Religion is spiritual and spirituality can also be considered
religious. One tends to be more personal and private while the other tends to
incorporate public rituals and organized doctrines.
The lines between one and the
other may often not be clear or distinct depending on the interpretation.
Consider these definitions:
Religion is an
institution established by man for various reasons. Exert control, instill
morality, stroke egos, or whatever it does. Organized, structured religions all
but remove god from the equation. You confess your sins to a clergy member, go
to elaborate churches to worship, told what to pray and when to pray it. All
those factors remove you from God.
Spirituality is born in
a person and develops in the person. It may be kick started by a religion, or
it may be kick started by a revelation. Spirituality extends to all facets of a
person’s life. Spirituality is chosen while religion is often times forced.
Being spiritual to me is more important and better than being religious.
True spirituality is
something that is found deep within oneself. It is your way of loving,
accepting and relating to the world and people around you. It cannot be found
in a church or by believing in a certain way.
Consider the following in favor of the spiritual path:
There is not one
religion, but hundreds
There is only one type
of spirituality
Religion is for those
who want to continue rituals and the formality
Spirituality is for
those who want to reach the Spiritual Ascent without dogmas
Religion is for those
who are asleep
Spirituality is for
those who are awake
Religion is for those
that require guidance from others
Spirituality is for
those that lend ears to their inner voice
Religion has a dogmatic
and unquestionable assembly of rules that need to be followed without question
Spirituality invites you
to reason it all, to question it all and to decide your actions and assume the
consequences
Religion threatens and
terrifies
Spirituality gives you
inner peace
Religion speaks of sin
and of fault
Spirituality encourages
"living in the present" and not to feel remorse for which has already
passed - Lift your spirit and learn from errors
Religion represses
humanity, and returns us to a false paradigm
Spirituality transcends
it all and makes you true to yourself
Religion is instilled
from childhood, like the soup you do not you want to take
Spirituality is the food
that you seek, that satisfies you and is pleasant to the senses
Religion is not God
Spirituality is infinite
consciousness and all that is - It is God
Religion invents
Spirituality discovers
Religion does not
investigate and does not question
Spirituality questions
everything
Religion is based on
humanity, an organization with rules
Spirituality is DIVINE,
WITHOUT rules
Religion is cause for division
Spirituality is cause
for union
Religion seeks you so
that you create
Spirituality causes you
to seek
Religion continues the
teachings of a sacred book
Spirituality seeks the
sacredness in all the books
Religion is fed fear
Spirituality is fed
confidence
Religion lives you in
your thoughts
Spirituality lives in
your conscience
Religion is in charge of
the "to do"
Spirituality is in
charge of the "to BE"
Religion is a dialectic
Spirituality is logic
Religion feeds the ego
Spirituality makes you
transcend
Religion makes you
renounce yourself to the world
Spirituality makes you
live with God, not to renounce him
Religion is adoration
Spirituality is
meditation
Religion is to continue
adapting to the psychology of a template
Spirituality is
individuality.
Religion dreams of glory
and paradise
Spirituality makes you
live it here and now
Religion lives in the
past and in the future
Spirituality lives in
the present, in the here and now
Religion lives in the
confinement of your memory
Spirituality is LIBERTY in AWARENESS.
Religion believes in the
eternal life
Spirituality makes you
conscious of all that is
Religion gives you
promises for the after-life
Spirituality gives you
the light to find God in your inner self, in this life, in the present, in the
here and the now…
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