Spirituality vs religion.

Sep 01 2016:1pm

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.

it is important to note the fact that many of the negative things which people attribute to religions are features of some forms of some religions (usually judaism, christianity, and islam), but not of other religions (like taoism or buddhism).

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 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…
may peace, happiness and universal love continue growing in your heart.

you are all that is....