Religion Vs Spirituality
Has materialism enabled us to remain Religious while depriving us of our Spirituality? It is customary today for spiritual organizations and people to refer to themselves as spiritual. In reality, they use the terms faith and spirituality . While attempting not to disparage anyone's beliefs, a better understanding of spirituality can only help us in our spiritual understanding.
In the beginning, religion was a tool to be used in spiritual improvement. In the procedure of creating a completely materialistic paradigm for what is real, faith was taken out of the domain of the metaphysical into the domain of the physical (material). The unfortunate result of this act was that religion was no longer used to achieve a spiritual connection to God. Religious worship was transformed into an understanding based on psychological, intellectual, and physical senses. Salvation was to be found in a belief in a publication, a building, and finally in a former dwelling being called a savior.
O Religion: any particular system of belief, worship, conduct, etc. . including a code of ethics and doctrine.
O Spirit: the life principle, esp. In man, orig. Regarded as inherent in the breath or as infused by a deity.
O Religious: characterized by adherence to faith or a faith.
O Spiritual: of their spirit or the spirit as distinguished from the body.
The above mentioned dictionary definitions should clarify for us that there's a difference between religion and spirituality. The main difference is that faith is totally external, although spirituality is totally internal. What stands out most is that the spiritual person is a"believer", although the spiritual individual is attempting to become a"knower". What's the difference? seeking allah finding jesus and attitudes are formed by outside stimulation; whereas the knower goes through an internal procedure of understanding reality. The believer can not deal with abstract concepts, he/she can't get pass the definitions or labels of a thing.
The knower tries to go through the fact of something, thereby knowing it. We're all souls or souls living in a physical body. But as long as one's consciousness is in control, the soul is only an failed part of our body. There is an indwelling intellect laying dormant in each of us who needs to be awakened. As long as we are absorbed by the material, as long as people are continuously trying to meet the non-stop request of the physical, nothing spiritual is going to happen in our lives. Irrespective of how much dogma or church one gets, unless one learns to go inside, the spiritual part of one's being will remain dormant.
There is an older African Proverb that states:"All knowledge starts and ends with self awareness. Failure to understand that this proverb has helped to produce the conflict of Religion vs Spirituality. There is a settlement to this conflict. With soul searching and also help from reliable sources, we can manifest the spiritual life force in our everyday lives.
In the beginning, religion was a tool to be used in spiritual improvement. In the procedure of creating a completely materialistic paradigm for what is real, faith was taken out of the domain of the metaphysical into the domain of the physical (material). The unfortunate result of this act was that religion was no longer used to achieve a spiritual connection to God. Religious worship was transformed into an understanding based on psychological, intellectual, and physical senses. Salvation was to be found in a belief in a publication, a building, and finally in a former dwelling being called a savior.
O Religion: any particular system of belief, worship, conduct, etc. . including a code of ethics and doctrine.
O Spirit: the life principle, esp. In man, orig. Regarded as inherent in the breath or as infused by a deity.
O Religious: characterized by adherence to faith or a faith.
O Spiritual: of their spirit or the spirit as distinguished from the body.
The above mentioned dictionary definitions should clarify for us that there's a difference between religion and spirituality. The main difference is that faith is totally external, although spirituality is totally internal. What stands out most is that the spiritual person is a"believer", although the spiritual individual is attempting to become a"knower". What's the difference? seeking allah finding jesus and attitudes are formed by outside stimulation; whereas the knower goes through an internal procedure of understanding reality. The believer can not deal with abstract concepts, he/she can't get pass the definitions or labels of a thing.
The knower tries to go through the fact of something, thereby knowing it. We're all souls or souls living in a physical body. But as long as one's consciousness is in control, the soul is only an failed part of our body. There is an indwelling intellect laying dormant in each of us who needs to be awakened. As long as we are absorbed by the material, as long as people are continuously trying to meet the non-stop request of the physical, nothing spiritual is going to happen in our lives. Irrespective of how much dogma or church one gets, unless one learns to go inside, the spiritual part of one's being will remain dormant.
There is an older African Proverb that states:"All knowledge starts and ends with self awareness. Failure to understand that this proverb has helped to produce the conflict of Religion vs Spirituality. There is a settlement to this conflict. With soul searching and also help from reliable sources, we can manifest the spiritual life force in our everyday lives.
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