On Religion vs. Spirituality by Nicole Terry             Although religion is manifested differently among the many cultures, past and present, of Mankind, each culture possesses similar religious characteristics. There is a belief in a holy being that exists outside of Man, but created Man, and according to the Academic American Encyclopedia, is “usually in opposition to the everyday and profane and carries with it a sense of supreme value and ultimate reality.” Some type of revelation is usually present in religion, or some sort of parable that demonstrates the holy taking on the form of a human being and living as a man in order to reveal to Mankind His divine knowledge. Each culture expresses his commitment and humility to the holy through faith that generates a system of beliefs expressed through ritual, traditions, sacred writings, and customs. “These systems serve to situate the members of the religious tradition in the world around them and to make intelligible this world in relation to the holy” (Encyclopedia 139). Religion relieves mankind of the burden of a finite existence and provides explanation for man’s meaning and purpose in what seems to be an infinite, chaotic universe.             Where religion explains the universe, spirituality seeks to accept the universe as chaotic and infinite. Where Religion makes use of an extrinsic holy entity to symbolize infinity and great intelligence, spirituality sees consciousness as infinite and an intrinsic part of Man. Where religion subjects the mind and will of Man through conventions, spirituality seeks to destroy conventions, and free the mind and will of Man so that he can see that the infinite is at his disposal because he is a part of it. Religion perpetuates the past through daily ritual, routine customs, and ancient traditions, thereby acknowledging the future only as something to fear or as a termination to present existence, but spirituality leaves the past, and embraces the future through the present. Religion alienates man from his environment by entrapping the mind in orthodox thoughts, so wars with any other culture that does not share the same thoughts in the same way. Through Religion “people develop an awareness of their uniqueness and separateness from others partly on the basis of their acceptance of a particular role in society” (Encarta). Spirituality has a philosophy of not warring with other cultures, because all cultures comprise human beings, so each joins himself to all other humans and to his environment without having to act as a role. French philosopher Lucien Levy-Bruhl describes the relationship of man and his environment as a “participation mystique (mystical participation), denoting a sense of fusion between the human organism and its environment.” Spirituality wills to experience environment through “ways of liberation to describe these forms of spiritual experience, for all are concerned with liberating human consciousness from ideas and feelings brought about by social conditioning–that is by the very systems of convention that a religion . . . guarantees” (Encarta). Thoughts and Feelings on Religion vs. Spirituality             The word religion attempts to circumscribe an abstract action rather than a tangible and material object. But I think Religion can only be observed in the social interactions of many cultures that are living upon the earth. Religion, an idea or system of beliefs within the minds of humans, is manifested through ritual behavior, communal congregation, social conventions, and language. A culture that has become religious has separated itself from its native environment, and placed itself as equal, yet divided to an external holy entity to which that culture ascribes anthropomorphic qualities of intelligence, emotion, and will. When a culture has adopted this concept called religion, it then constructs a civilized society upon religious orders, decrees, traditions, and convention in order to impart on future generations the codes of conduct for continued communal relations. However, the codes of this religion are to be followed without complaint or question by the members of the community (who share the same religion and system of beliefs) and the younger members of the generation are disciplined in the ways of faith through customized behavior, the reward of which is to spend eternity with the holy entity. Religion speaks nothing of the present life as a human being, and accepts a laborious existence upon the earth as evidence of true faith to the holy entity. In effect, man lives upon the earth separate from his environment and from his fellow man, yet relinquishes the control of his natural tendency toward survival and liberation to his rituals and traditions, looking forward to attaining unity only after death. The holy entity symbolizes the All, what exists in All that is human and  animal, is that which created Man, animal, and nature, and is Infinite. Religion allows Man to worship the Infinite while living in finitude. Man’s system of beliefs explains his finite existence by infinite means, yet he attempts to order and identify this infinity through words that communicate this subjection to that which he does not understand and that which he refuses to accept as his own.             Spirituality, however, is the opposite of Religion (although religion integrates the concept, naming it soul). Spirituality, definable as a “mood or emotional state” and as “the part of a human being associated with the mind, will, and feelings,” attempts to demystify the infinite and release the mind from finitude without the necessity of waiting for death. Spirituality seeks to embrace infinity, or that which is too multitudinous to be explained with mere words, or too vast to be communicated verbally through spoken language. Man’s relationship with his environment and universe is integrated into his mental and emotional states. If I described spirituality as the connection between the mind of Man and his environment, could not spirituality be realized as Man’s instinct? Through spirituality or instinct, Man is liberated from the “social conditioning” of society, from the ordered mental constructs—called thought—and from the conformity to an external intelligence. Man exists as one with all else that exists, and he communicates by way of images rather than only by way of oral thoughts and language. Religion uses thought as a means to occupy the mind with belief structures so that the mind can abide and obligated to be bound by religious doctrine and dogma, which estranges Man from his natural tendencies to create his own world through experience. “The connection between a system of social conventions and a system of beliefs about the universe . . . comprise such means as grammar, vocabularies, numbers, and signs, without which a person can feel but cannot think about the world” (Encarta). When man is able to experience his natural biological instincts, he is no longer bound by conditioning traditions and customs; his consciousness is free to experience. His consciousness becomes free to express emotion without fear of what he does not yet understand. In other words, the infinite is not projected onto a holy being, but comprehended as part of mankind, and existence itself is constituent of the infinite. Spirituality embraces reality in all its forms where religion provides an illusion of reality. Man is free to be everything or nothing without punishment, fear, reward, or happiness. Man is simply being as Man at this present time. The future is not death to the present, the present is recognized as an integral part of the future; whereby Man has power of his own mind and looks forward to creating his own future, to fulfill his natural will. Mistake or errors are not seen as infractions of social convention, but as part of the past, a portion of existence that no longer has any bearing on the present because the past is gone forever, remembered, or recalled only by the mind of Man. With spirituality, the objective intrinsic will of man is free to choose the making of his future within an infinite universe, whereas religion is the subjective extrinsic will of man imprisoned by his past choices so seeks to unmake the future, and replace it with a life of finite routines forever embedded into an infinite universe. Spirituality seeks “not so much to destroy religion and convention as to use them without being bound by them” (Encarta). © Copyright 2008 Nicole Terry ALL RIGHTS RESERVED   [back to Essays]  [more Writings]