Spirituality: Encyclopedia II - Spirituality - The spiritual and the religious

Spirituality - The spiritual and the religious

An important distinction needs to be made between spirituality in religion and spirituality as opposed to religion.

In recent years, spirituality in religion often carries connotations of the believer's faith being more personal, less dogmatic, more open to new ideas and myriad influences, and more pluralistic than the faiths of established religions. It also can connote the nature of a believer's personal relationship with God, as opposed to the general relationship with Deity understood to be shared by all members of that faith.

Those who speak of spirituality as opposed to religion generally believe that there are many "spiritual paths" and that there is no objective truth about which is the best path to follow. Rather, adherants of this definition of the term emphasize the importance of finding one's own path to God, rather than following what others say works. The best way to describe this view is: the path which makes the most sense is the correct one (for oneself). Many adherents of orthodox religions who consider spirituality to be an aspect of their religious experience are more likely to contrast spirituality with secular "worldliness" than with the ritual expression of their religion.

Others of a more New Age disposition hold that spirituality is not religion, per se, but the active and vital connection to a force, spirit, or sense of the deep self. As cultural historian and yogi William Irwin Thompson put it, "Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization." (1981, 31)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The spiritual and the religious", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki