What is Spirituality?

“Religion is belief in someone else’s experience. Spirituality is having your own experience.” ~ Deepak Chopra

When I go to A.A. and I telling people I’m spiritual but not religious I’m often greeted with a confused face. Often people will struggle to differentiate it from religion (as I did for a long time).

Spirituality is an expansive thought with room for many perspectives. In general, it includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and a search for meaning in life. It is a universal experience that touches us all. People may describe a spiritual experience as sacred or transformative or simply a deep sense of interconnectedness.

For many years I struggled with my spirituality, I was raised in a very religious family and for me the two were so hyper coupled. I found that when I left organized religion, I never had found spirituality. When I tried to find my spirituality, I was at a complete loss as to how to find it without religion. I was so confused.

I’ve heard many stories from people about their spiritual life being complicatedly linked to their church, temple, mosque, or synagogue. Some pray or find comfort in a personal relationship with God, Creator or a higher power. Still others seek meaning through their connections to nature or art. Like your sense of purpose, your personal definition of spirituality may change throughout your life, adapting to your own experiences and relationships.

Relationship between religion and spirituality

While spirituality may incorporate elements of religion, it is generally a broader concept. In my option Religion and spirituality are not the same thing, because I believe you can have one without the other.

Spirituality is simply the discovery of our authentic self without any accessories or labels, which gives us a rich source of values and a deeper meaning to life. In the seeking of such meaning, for some religion and spirituality come together. Spirituality highlights qualities such as caring, kindness, compassion, tolerance, service and community, and, in its truest sense, so does religion for some. But where religion is defined by its tradition and teachings, spirituality is defined by what is real in our own experience, arising from an inner search within ourselves, the finding of our own truth.

In spirituality, the questions are: where do I personally find meaning, connection, and value?

In religion, the questions are: what is true and right?

Spirituality versus emotional health

There is a connection between emotional and spiritual wellbeing, they influence one another and overlap, as do all the dimensions of wellness.

Spirituality is about seeking a meaningful connection with something bigger than yourself, which can create positive emotions, such as peace, gratitude, and acceptance. Emotional health is about growing a positive mind, which can expand and create a connection to something larger than yourself. Emotions and spirituality are distinct but linked, deeply integrated with one another.

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” - Thomas Merton

The 6 Differences between Religion and Spirituality

1. There are no rules to Spirituality

As opposed to following a specific ideology or a set of rules spirituality simply lets you follow your heart, it encourages you to listen to your intuition and do what is right for yourself and others around you. The reward is simply your own inner happiness.

2. Spirituality is based only on love and not fear

With spirituality there is only Love, it encourages you to focus all of your energy only on the good, and to act only based on love. There is no fear of what might happen after you die if you don’t live your life accordingly. Whereas decisions made out of love will empower you, make you braver and feed your soul.

3. Religion tells you the truth – Spirituality lets you discover it

As opposed to telling you in black and white how the universe was created and why we are here, Spirituality lets you discover these questions and answers for yourself. It empowers you to find your own truth in all things and sets no limits to how deep you can go in understanding all there is to know.

4. Religion separates, Spirituality unites

Through our world there are many religions and they all preach that their story is the right story. Spirituality sees the truth in all of them and unites them because the truth is same for all of us despite our differences and uniqueness. It focuses on the quality of the divine message they share and not on the differences in details of the story they speak.

5. The difference with Karma and Punishment

Instead of talking about punishment or threats, Spirituality only talks about the Law of Attraction — you get what you give. Simple.

6. Walk your own path

Spirituality encourages you to make your own path and create your own stories. This sets you on a journey of enlightenment and self-discovery to which the only limits can be set by yourself. It encourages you to trust your heart and follow it wherever it may lead you.

What I believe

I believe that all religions have truth in them, and that many people can be both truly beautiful souls and religious at the same time, but ultimately anything that separates you or creates division is not good for your soul.

Spirituality reminds us that we are not separate, there are no borders, no races and no cultural divides. All that is true is that we are all one and we all need love.

The spiritual path and growth promised to us by the Twelve Steps does not depend on any religious belief. We do not have to allow people to make us feel ashamed, afraid, or less-than because we do not subscribe to their beliefs. The spiritual experience we will find, will be our own spiritual experience. It will be a relationship with, a Higher Power as we understand it to be. Each of us must find our own spiritual path. Each of us must build our own relationship with a Power greater than ourselves.

So is the freedom to choose how to do that.

Some of these thoughs have been taken from https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/what-spirituality and http://blog.mindvalleyacademy.com/mind/6-fundamental-differences-religion-spirituality