Spirituality Guide

In my introductory post, I wrote that you can be spiritual without being religious, religious without being spiritual, or both spiritual and religious. Today people often connect the two, interchanging one for the other.

I thought defining the two terms would be the perfect place to start for this site.

According to Wikipedia: A religion is a set of beliefs and practices generally organized around supernatural and moral claims, and often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law.

That definition covers my personal definition of religion: a set of beliefs, organized, centered around a being or beings.

Also according to Wikipedia: Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. The spiritual, involving (as it may) perceived eternal verities regarding humankind’s ultimate nature, often contrasts with the temporal, with the material, or with the worldly.

I put up the Wikipedia definition of spirituality as well because it encompasses my personal definition of spirituality.

Of course, both can be a lot more complicated when applied personally, but in general definition I believe these definitions are a good place to start.

You can easily have one without the other, despite how much people today interchange the two. To be spiritual, you do not need a god or goddess. To be religious, you do not need to be concerned what’s beyond the material and the nature of humankind. (Though to not be concerned about those while religious seems somewhat strange to me.)

Many people are made to feel guilty and wrong for not identifying with one religion or another, and yet many of these people are still concerned with what is outside the material scope of their reality. Feeling pressured to label oneself can change or stop one’s personal growth and education in spirituality.

Likewise, many people find peace and belonging in identifying with a religious group but feel uncomfortable with what lies beyond what is dictated in their religion. Sometimes they feel like they are viewed as being close-minded.

When you realize the differences between spirituality and religion, you can begin to explore your personal Truths without having the ’shoulds’ in life directing your path. The perceived ’shoulds’ in your life will deter you from your Self faster then almost anything else.