Can You Be Spiritual Without Religion?
Source: flickr.com/photos/vincos/
Can one be spiritual without being religious? When you sit back today, in November 2011, and reflect on the fabulous attempts made by humanity as a whole are you really surprised by what we see in front of us?
Do you sense a period or a prolonged moment of crisis with the spirit of humanity in general? How about the fundamentalists that have scarred and manipulated the peaceful essence of monolithic religions which has turned so many of us to question their purpose in our daily and spiritual lives?
A famous French philosopher, by the name of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who was also part of the Jesuits was controversial and questioned the static dogmatic notions and centuries of truths of organized religion to try and uncover the real meaning within his own faith. One of his conclusions after much soul searching, traveling and reflection equated to “we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience”.
Did you ever wonder why you weren’t able to question the card you were dealt in terms of religion, the scriptures and the ‘word’ that accompany them .How come any other facet of our lives we are granted free reign to peel apart the layers until its totally exposed from all sides, giving us the opportunity to come up with our own conclusions. Can someone provide us with a true explanation? If you don’t prescribe or practice a certain religion you are frowned upon or seen in certain quarters of society as the cliché goes a “non-believer”, which often seems ironic since a portion of the accusers have no ground to stand on when it comes to traditional values or morals.
Baruch de Spinoza (bn. 1632 – d.1677). Source: Wikipedia.
Life is full of different elements and often is a paradox, none of which more prevalent than the notion of spirituality, which is seen as not accessible without religion. A Dutch/Jewish philosopher, Baruch Spinoza; who renounced his allegiance to his Jewish ancestors and pursued to understand the notion of spiritual enlightenment amongst other complex areas of existence was once quoted as saying; the only law is “Justice and Charity”, the only wisdom is “love” and the only virtue is “do good and live in joy”.
Isn’t being a good decent human soul in essence what being spiritual is about? Do we not all carry a sense of morality, ethics and values that guide and teach us to maneuver our way through life upon the right path unique to our personal journey? Are we not all peaceful loving beings at the core of our existence, who sense a feeling of compassion when you see a fellow passion suffering irrespective of color creed, religion.
You don’t have all the answers yet can you not see after thousands of centuries of human existence that we are evolved to a certain extent to universally agree what it means to have a purposeful, caring and compassionate spirit within us.
Whether you are religious or not doesn’t determine if you are genuine spirits or not , maybe what really matter is our pursuit of the greater good within our souls for the better of humanity and the environment as a whole….
After all what you do know is that leading a life of compassion, love and charity to one another allows your soul to gravitate beyond petty egotistic arguments regarding your “faith” of choice, or whether you conform or not to a particular belief system tangled within a religious or cultural society you were raised within.
Related Post: Where Science meets Morality
The Aboriginal Australians have had sprits and a spiritual connection to their land for 40,000 years that completely excluded a God. Only 210 years ago did they learn about a Christian God when the missionaries and church attempted to wipe them out.
Awesome post and sentiment, Sami! Thank you for this. I know that there are many out there (including me) who are not comfortable with (read: distrust) religious dogma and left their respective churches and even religion decades ago. Just like you say, spirituality is the foundation that allows us to treat all life with respect and love - without being restricted by ultra-focused ideology. ALL religion has something important to teach, as well as bad things to avoid, but spirituality is at every one of their cores. Yet religious non-practitioners are insulted for not believing, and not listened to when they try to explain to no avail. I had a conversation with a minister a while back, and he couldn't understand why I was explicit in my belief that I'm spiritual and not religious. He couldn't see the difference. I find it a bit sad and scary when a church leader can't understand that significant distinction and yet can speak to his congregation about religion without feeling a sense of hypocrisy. That's when you know dogma and ideology has gone too far.
Thank you for your kind words..I think in its essence religion and different forms of religion have an awful lot to teach us and effectively project the same message. Spiritual beings and spirituality as a whole enhances and develops the quality of the person in his view of himself and more importantly the view of the world around him. Just because one is disenchanted by what they see through the rise of fundamentalists in all forms of monolithic religions doesn't mean that they should look unfavorably at themselves. I think we have to turn inwards and really explore that "space" and when we interact with the external we provide a much greater quality to those around us..
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