Opening to Spirituality: From Judgment to Curiosity
I describe myself as spiritual, but not religious. Lately, I’ve been reflecting on my embrace of spirituality. I think of religion and spirituality as overlapping ways of approaching sacredness, but also different — like a Venn diagram. Here, I focus on my personal experience. Religions are established systems, and I refer to spirituality as focusing on my internal experience.
This difference matters to me because I was taught to fear spirituality. I grew up in a Baptist church in a small southern town where the beliefs were fairly fundamental - the Bible is interpreted literally. A common refrain I recall hearing is, “Make it plain.” In other words, doctrine should be clear and unambiguous. Being “spiritual” carried a negative connotation. But connecting to God, the Divine/Universe, the ancestors, or however a person chooses to acknowledge a higher power is also a personal and sometimes complicated process because people are unique. That enters the realm of spirituality - the question of how I know when God is speaking to me. I don’t believe spirituality has to be divorced from religion, but I think the outside/inside distinction is significant.
Religion, as a system, is an institution. It has a set of rules grounded in sacred texts. The texts are usually accepted as the word of God or derive from the experiences of an enlightened person or people. There’s a hierarchy of roles with expectations. Adherents are expected to fill those roles. For example, some roles are priest, pastor, imam, lama, teacher, members, etc.
They do provide structure and community. At an extreme, they can be used to silence your intuition. This more easily happens when people are taught that their insights must be validated by the spiritual leader(s). It also happens when the religion prohibits curiosity by telling followers that their religion is the only way to encounter God. To me, this is religion divorced from spirituality, when law and tradition disallow individual insight. Inner conflict is often framed as a test of whether people have the fortitude to obey rules.
Over time, being religious without spirituality became too restrictive and judgmental for me. Curious by nature and lover of all people, my intellect left me with more questions than answers. And, I felt it appropriate to ask God to speak to me directly in a way I could understand. I began to meditate and pay more attention to my thoughts, emotions, body, and intuition. I allowed myself to ask serious questions about what I truly believed and why. This process opened me to more inspiration in ways I appreciate.
I think religions have benefits. I also think power can be blinding and religion doesn’t always allow people space to embrace spirituality - individual connection to a higher power. The same can be said of strict spiritual traditions. Instead of being blindly stuck in tradition, I’ve chosen to ask for a loving and wise path that’s for the highest good of All and be open to receiving guidance that allows me to walk it.
