Spirituality vs Religion — A Deep Analysis
Every human is spiritual, but most don’t consider themselves to be.
Defining Spirituality
The ability to ponder existence is a key element of what it means to be human. Questions concerning life after death, a higher power, and the purpose of our existence have been asked by all cultures in history.
Most of us hold beliefs about the divine very close to our hearts, as they play a major role in how we live our lives. We hold these thoughts so dearly that cultures have clashed throughout history as a result of differences in beliefs. Numerous wars have been fought, and countless lives have been lost.
One’s thoughts on a higher power, life after death, etc. are what I like to call “spiritual” beliefs. While the dictionary defines spirituality as “relating to religion or religious belief”, I do not believe that definition fully depicts what the word means to humanity today.
Nowadays, the word “spirituality” brings up ideas that may vary dramatically from person to person. In the past few decades, the term has increasingly been applied to people who abide by a more new-age form of spirituality, which one might associate with hippies, meditation, crystals, and chakras. However, applying the label to only these people is unfair.
A few months back, when I was creating a video on my Youtube channel about spirituality, I realized that defining the term was actually extremely difficult. To help the viewers grasp the term, I showed them multiple definitions. Of these, the best one was written by Christina Pulchaski, Director of the George Washington Institute of for Spirituality and Health.
“Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred.”
The ability to simply question existence, think about divinity, develop holistic thinking, and find meaning in life based on this questioning is what makes humans inherently spiritual. Even a concrete, scientifically-minded atheist who holds the belief that there is no God or higher power is expressing his spirituality, because he still ponders and integrates into his life the same fundamental questions that all religion and other similiar schools of thought ponder such as: Why do I exist? Is there a higher power? What could our purpose be for being here? Is there life after death?
Spirituality vs Religion
Now that spirituality has been defined, we can better understand what a religion is.
A religion is simply a group of people who collectively share the same beliefs about divinity. All religions have formed as a result of humanity’s spiritual nature to wonder about existence and deeper meaning in life. Belief systems such as Christianity and Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, Astrology and New-Age Spirituality, and even an atheism are all expressions of man’s spiritual essence.
So when it comes to religion and spirituality, spirituality may incorporate elements of a religion, but in general spirituality refers to a much broader concept. I like to think of spirituality as encompassing religion. Take a look at this graphic to understand the concept better.
The greater circle of spirituality represents all that one could possibly think of and know about the divine, whereas the smaller circle of religion represents a cut out, specific set of beliefs.
Basically, one’s spirituality within the circle of religion is limited to whatever the rules within the religion are. For example, followers of the Christian faith are always relating their sense of connection to divinity to Jesus, who they believe is the son of god, and the bible, which is the holy book of the religion.
But it would be a very spiritual act to accept that we can never be 100% sure that our beliefs equal truth, and to question whether Jesus really was the son of god, whether there is a god at all, or if the Bible is actually holy or not.
An individual who has no attachments to any specific set of beliefs can relay their experiences in whichever way they please, because all possibilities are open in their eyes. This individual can greatly appreciate and live life in alignment with teachings from a variety of teachers, and can even turn inwards and have mystical experiences of their own in order to have a direct experience of divinity.
Literally anything can be an expression of our spiritual nature. Even non-religious parties stem from spirituality. Science and space exploration are seeking a connection to something greater than themselves. Science too is in awe at the profundity of the universe and is seeking answers. That’s spirituality.
Get Out There and Express Your Spiritual Nature!
What I’m trying to get at is that there are no rules in spirituality. Ancient poet Rumi once wrote “Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.”
In order to make the most out of our experience of being a human and contribute to our species’ growth and development in the most highly conscious manner possible, we should be striving to embody the largest circle that we can.
The key to increasing circle size is through learning about new perspectives and letting go of limiting beliefs. As long as you stay open minded, never stop asking questions, and never cease to be in awe of the magic of this universe, you should be able to embody a pretty large circle.
There is a deep yearning with every human that wants to connect with Source, God, the Universe, or whatever else you want to call it. It would be foolish to assume that one religion or one specific set of principles is the only proper way to do so. This way of thinking shrinks your circle and drives separateness and division within humanity.
Get out there. Get in touch with the magnificence of existence, and most importantly, don’t limit yourself. I promise you won’t regret it.
