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Hopefully this question isn't too basic for this forum, but what's the difference between spirituality vs. being religious? In contexts like this I can't tell

Hopefully this question isn't too basic for this forum, but what's the difference between spirituality vs. being religious? In contexts like this I can't tell what definition(s) are at play.

jordwest 5y ago
I don’t know if this a generally accepted definition, but to me spirituality is guided only by direct first-hand experience, while religion is a set of beliefs from some other humans or books written by humans. Spiritual teachers are trying to point you towards firsthand experiences, as opposed to just asking you to believe what they say. Obviously there is some crossover between the two - spiritual teachers might be a bit religious and vice versa.
- RobertRoberts 5y ago
  "Spritualism" is just as man made as people claim "religion" is man made. Some verses in the bible that indicates that the "chrisitian" religion is _not_ based on man made ideas, but instead flies in the face of them: > "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person's religion is worthless." > "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." I think that using an argument of "spiritual" vs "religion" is a justification, not a fact.
  - redis_mlc 5y ago
    To understand spirituality, walk into the middle of a national park and just stand there for 5 minutes. It makes you understand why early tribes worshipped nature - it's beautiful, powerful, humbling and eternal, unlike anything man-made. Regarding organized religion, I think some prophets had worthwhile things to say, and some didn't. The remarkable thing about the Old Testament is how accurately it depicts both human evolutionary biology and early human civilization as understood today. Archaeology over the past 200 years basically confirms what it says. I would agree that it's the greatest book ever written. Marxism/Communism has tried to replace the Ten Commandments with an alternate doctrine for the past 100 years, and has failed miserably.
pomian 5y ago
religion answers or satisfies the questions that spirituality asks, or desires.
tombh 5y ago
I have a bachelor's degree in Religious Studies. Quite literally in the first week they gave us a handbook with some 120 definitions of religion. It was quite a sobering introduction to understand that the field I was going to invest 3 years in didn't have a consensus on what it is it's actually studying. Whilst I think it's fair to say that the general perception is that religion is something more formal and perhaps more organised than spirituality, no such strict distinction holds a broad consensus in academia. Perhaps relevant, is to consider that we even studied capitalism and communism. So not only is it unclear where religion ends and spirituality begins, but neither is it straightforward to isolate the boundary between religiousness and secularism. Personally I think "spiritual" is generally used as an implicit value judgement to distance something religious from "religion". It's that implied distancing which, to me, is the most relevant. Leonard Cohen's Zen teacher was involved in widely publicised sex scandals. Just because somebody leans more on the spiritual side of the spectrum doesn't automatically distance them from the more traditional trappings of religion. However, I would say that implicitly distancing yourself from something does tend to ironically bring you closer to it.
interroboink 5y ago
I think the term "religion" has a lot more societal/organizational connotations associated with it. It touches on concepts of community, rituals, value of specific texts, proscription of certain behaviors and prohibition of others, and so on. People talk of "organized religion," but "organized spirituality" doesn't make as much sense. Spirituality is one aspect of religion, dealing with the meaning of existence, etc. It's has a more personal and philosophical connotation. You could have two people be members of the same religion, but have different spiritual existences. At least that's my take on it. The terms can be somewhat fluid, though.
jplr8922 5y ago
I've actually had the opportunity to practice a bit of zen meditation within a traditional framework (Rinzai Zen) which is very close to what Leonard Cohen experienced. In my humble opinion, spirituality is to religion what 'passion for fitness' is to a gym. A gym is an organisation with rules, employees, a boss, location, history, etc. Some people go there in order to get a 'healthy person' identity, meet friends, and to make sure that their body image fits the attractivness metrics of the society in which they live. The actual experience of pushing iron and sweating is an inconvenient.
kitotik 5y ago
My favorite explanation for this came from David Bowie (I think?). To paraphrase: “Religion is for people that believe in hell. Spirituality is for people that have been there.”

Hopefully this question isn't too basic for this forum, but what's the difference between spirituality vs. being religious? In contexts like this I can't tell what definition(s) are at play.

jordwest 5y ago

I don’t know if this a generally accepted definition, but to me spirituality is guided only by direct first-hand experience, while religion is a set of beliefs from some other humans or books written by humans. Spiritual teachers are trying to point you towards firsthand experiences, as opposed to just asking you to believe what they say. Obviously there is some crossover between the two - spiritual teachers might be a bit religious and vice versa.

RobertRoberts 5y ago
"Spritualism" is just as man made as people claim "religion" is man made. Some verses in the bible that indicates that the "chrisitian" religion is _not_ based on man made ideas, but instead flies in the face of them: > "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person's religion is worthless." > "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." I think that using an argument of "spiritual" vs "religion" is a justification, not a fact.
- redis_mlc 5y ago
  To understand spirituality, walk into the middle of a national park and just stand there for 5 minutes. It makes you understand why early tribes worshipped nature - it's beautiful, powerful, humbling and eternal, unlike anything man-made. Regarding organized religion, I think some prophets had worthwhile things to say, and some didn't. The remarkable thing about the Old Testament is how accurately it depicts both human evolutionary biology and early human civilization as understood today. Archaeology over the past 200 years basically confirms what it says. I would agree that it's the greatest book ever written. Marxism/Communism has tried to replace the Ten Commandments with an alternate doctrine for the past 100 years, and has failed miserably.

pomian 5y ago

religion answers or satisfies the questions that spirituality asks, or desires.

tombh 5y ago

I have a bachelor's degree in Religious Studies. Quite literally in the first week they gave us a handbook with some 120 definitions of religion. It was quite a sobering introduction to understand that the field I was going to invest 3 years in didn't have a consensus on what it is it's actually studying. Whilst I think it's fair to say that the general perception is that religion is something more formal and perhaps more organised than spirituality, no such strict distinction holds a broad consensus in academia. Perhaps relevant, is to consider that we even studied capitalism and communism. So not only is it unclear where religion ends and spirituality begins, but neither is it straightforward to isolate the boundary between religiousness and secularism. Personally I think "spiritual" is generally used as an implicit value judgement to distance something religious from "religion". It's that implied distancing which, to me, is the most relevant. Leonard Cohen's Zen teacher was involved in widely publicised sex scandals. Just because somebody leans more on the spiritual side of the spectrum doesn't automatically distance them from the more traditional trappings of religion. However, I would say that implicitly distancing yourself from something does tend to ironically bring you closer to it.

interroboink 5y ago

I think the term "religion" has a lot more societal/organizational connotations associated with it. It touches on concepts of community, rituals, value of specific texts, proscription of certain behaviors and prohibition of others, and so on. People talk of "organized religion," but "organized spirituality" doesn't make as much sense. Spirituality is one aspect of religion, dealing with the meaning of existence, etc. It's has a more personal and philosophical connotation. You could have two people be members of the same religion, but have different spiritual existences. At least that's my take on it. The terms can be somewhat fluid, though.

jplr8922 5y ago

I've actually had the opportunity to practice a bit of zen meditation within a traditional framework (Rinzai Zen) which is very close to what Leonard Cohen experienced. In my humble opinion, spirituality is to religion what 'passion for fitness' is to a gym. A gym is an organisation with rules, employees, a boss, location, history, etc. Some people go there in order to get a 'healthy person' identity, meet friends, and to make sure that their body image fits the attractivness metrics of the society in which they live. The actual experience of pushing iron and sweating is an inconvenient.

kitotik 5y ago

My favorite explanation for this came from David Bowie (I think?). To paraphrase: “Religion is for people that believe in hell. Spirituality is for people that have been there.”