What's the difference?

[spirittap (deleted)]

`Hello.

Let me start off by saying that my comments are not intended to insult anothers beliefs. Even if i do not agree with your beliefs, i do respect your beliefs as all beliefs should be respected.

I believe that Spirituality is when you find the answers from within. I believe that Religion is finding the answers outside of you. I will elaborate.

I view Spirituality as being aware of oneness (your connection to all), who you really are (which is spirit), awareness of the energies around you, and awareness of the evolution of your soul. Meditation is a tool that will answer your questions, it can be used as a way to contact your soul (higher self) and many other beings.

I view Religion as a tool for control (at least it has been used for this purpose in the majority of religions ... not all). Instead of going within, you are taught to believe what you are told word for word from the writings of a Religion. I do believe there are truths in Religious writings, but those truths are twisted with other writings as a way to keep you in line so to speak. I repeat that there are a few expections to this .

My advice for people would be to not give in to teachings that teach you that you are lower than someone or some being. I believe we are all equally great, we are all from the same source, so one can be better than the other. Yes, we may be on different levels of our evolution, but that does not mean you hold superiority over another.

Namaste

[nonlinear]

spirituality is actually what true religion should be, spirituality is the combining of science and religion into one!

spirituality is learning about god and the soul or spirit through direct experience, spirituality liberates the mind!

religion is accepting usally a set of traditional belifs based on the family, location, and somtimes race the individual was born into, religion control the mind through fear!


religion and science were once one! but were purposly seperated to in fact seperate and fragment the mass consciousness disconnecting them (us) from our origins!

[akasha10]

`to me the difference between spirituality and relgion is kinda what everyone is saying. but with religion it's more of what man is telling you what is ture and what the divine says. its more of a follower then a leader. in spirituality u lead your on life and the way you want to go. As someone has said before spirituality is to unite one self with the divine. Religion is more of trying to change a person and or judge one another for what they want to become or be. personally i would rather be spiritiual then religist for the simple fact that if i want to go speak to the divine one when ever i want to do so. I don't have to wait for sunday to see him or speak to him. I strongly believe that religionist people are more so about self then unity...it's a man telling you what god or the divine is saying. and it's up to the individual to believe or not. ppl who are religist are more so stuck on faith and believing that the word is true and spiriutality is more so with inner being and communicated with the higher power. I believe that the world would be much better if everyone was spiritual alot of people will be at peace becuase everyone would have there own lil connection with the divine.

but in religion they call this witchcraft...to be spiritual and to do spiritual work rather good or bad is a sin and banned by there god. where as they just believe that a church is the house of the divine. where in spirituality we believe that the divine is in everything this keyboard that i am typing on is a part of the divine. it's alive and breath we can't see it but this is what we are told. i don't know if i am making any since but this is what i feel that i should wright on this subject. I sat and i waited on an answer

i am also hearing that a spiriutal is a seeking to find the knoweldge that the divine wants to know.

were as religion they believe that it's all about change and converting one self to thus way. were as i was watching a movie called kingdom of heaven and the guy playing the king said that a man/king/pastor can move a person but a man can not move his soul. and that's what alot of religion ppl need to understand. you are told that the divine said though shall not do thus. how do u know that it is man and not the divine saying this have u sat back and liston to what the divine has to say...many religion people can't even hear the divine because man has stuck in there heads that to hear voices within your self means you are crazy.

[dennis15 (deleted)]

[deleted]

[gruvin]

Most religions of the world, do not have a basis in Australia as a country. To me, religions are a set of doctrines that are man made, based in the countries of their origin. We all know what doctrines are, as they are made politically for us by governments, and even the war machines of the world, have their own doctrines. Just because a doctrine exists in the middle east, does not necessarily say that this should also apply here in Australia.

Having spent years amongst the aborigines led me to see that the true spirituality of Australia, is not bound up by religion, but by the flow of the spirit of the land itself. Spirituality then becomes relational, and how things flow from one thing to another. No religion of the world, can define how that works for those living in Australia, so religions become a fantasy and an illusion, for those living here in Australia who wish to be in sync with the spirit of the land.

If one does have a connection to the land, then knowing how the spirit of the land works, and being in sync with Earth Mother, then becomes a magical thing. Not of the individual, but by the syncopation existing between the country and the individual, based as the aborigines use it, from the connection made via their totemic system. Their spiritual side, the "Dreamtime" then communicates with nature, via their totems, that give rise to the homework needing to be faced every day, if one knows how to read the totems properly, when faced by them.

Now that might be true spirituality for Australia, but it is not the true spirituality of the middle east! No one law can be made to show how the spirit and energy flows on the land. It constantly changes, and the indigenous cultures know how the flow and relationships work to the n'th degree! For example; in past times, the men outnumbered the women in some parts of Australia, and in other parts, the women outnumbered the men. The balance was sought, that where there were more women than men, they could have one woman for every season, so that there was no-one who went without. Or if the men outnumbered the women, then one woman had many men to herself. The balance works even in modern times, as cats have gone feral. They have become part of the diet in the desert for balance sake. That is practising their kind of spirituality, based on the spirit of the land, and how it flows, making lore more important than arbitrary laws, that are not based on flows, but on doctrines.

Can you see how this works? It is how it is for me in Australia, though cannot speak for anywhere else, for obvious reasons!

Ben

[mikeacacia1 (deleted)]

Simple. Spirituality is where all religions meet.

[violetrainbow]

lark2 wrote: What's the difference?

I know its a distinction often made but I wonder what it means to anyone posting on here, I think that in their time and place many of the sources of spirituality valued by individuals who have turned their back on organised religion or religiosity are in fact organised religion and religiosity themselves.



Spirituality is about acceptance of the fact that we are all part of one consciousness. Being connected to your Higher Self / Consciousness / Inner self..which ever term you prefer. Leaving the Ego self behind and connecting with our original light being and trying to live a life true to yourself and others and living a life that is not based on material gain and selfishness and individuality (on a social level) This is not to say we are not all different in our own way ie personality, creativity etc..i just mean we are all connected on a conscious level.

Religion however is something that has been given to us...a story if you like that has been manipulated over and over again to suit each individual religious purpose. Although the many stories are based on the truth of God/Source/Gaia the details are so distorted that they only serve to cause divide between people, cause hatred and seperation instead of our original state of oneness.

[78jon]

Religions are manmade. Every religious doctrine, writing, or set of "rules" were written by the hand of a man. Generally it is more accepted to fit oneself into a religious group as a "safezone". That would mean "how can they reject me, I'm of this religion too". I think it's fair to say the religious people maintain more control and power than the non-religious people, most of them getting very comfortable lives. The world works to destroy people who don't generally adhere to the "man and wife, then sex, then kids, so on and so on", this is generally the way of religious groups. Go outside of those bounds and society generally works negatively towards a person's life. I think people find safety in religion, and not many people are willing to claim "not religious" as there isn't the "safety zone" of the church.

Jon Willard