Spiritual but not Religious



That is a BIG question: the relationship between religion and spirituality. 

Ideally, they would go together. But often it is issues people have with religion AS AN INSTITUTION (the social aspect of religion) that turns them away from formal religion to look inward for what they personally find to be sacred, to practices that they personally find help them feel a connection to that "sacred".

So, basically, there is an OVERLAP between religion (outward forms) and spirituality (the inner feelings and experiences). But there is plenty of religion devoid of spiritual feelings. And there are certainly some people who are deeply spiritual yet remain aloof from formal religion in a social context.

Can we consider spirituality alone to be religion (or A religion)? I don't think so. I tend to associate religion with organizational structure, with other people, with the social dimension. Everything else can exist for the spiritual INDIVIDUAL but I tend not to call that "religion".

But this can be debated forever: can an individual DEVELOP/have their own PERSONAL "religion"? Maybe. And maybe doing that might make them end up as the "founder" of a NEW religion, if they end up with FOLLOWERS. But once you have followers, there you add the social component that, over time, can make it a formal religion.


What other people are saying on the Web:

https://thereflectivepen.com/spiritual-not-religious/ 

https://medium.com/@Kys.Rawls28/spirituality-vs-religion-33bcfa4b0a93

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-DKtyUIHFy/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet 

https://7esl.com/spiritual-vs-religious/

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