Fundamental Differences between Religion and Spirituality

From auxx.me
By: Chamalee

When you tell a person that you are spiritual but not religious, they might often greet you with a confused face. It is a normal tendency for people to recognize spirituality as something which is strange. Most people we meet do not know how to differentiate religion from spirituality. This is basically  because people in modern-day society are highly materialistic in nature and have a lack of knowledge when it comes to non-material subjects.

The truth of the matter is that spirituality is one of the most natural things there is, and it is important for one to understand that you are more than just a body, that you are a soul with infinite potential.

The facts below about religion and spirituality will help you understand how contradicting the two subjects actually are.

Spirituality has no rules

As opposed to religion which asks you to follow an ideology and obey certain rules to avoid punishment, spirituality lets you follow your heart. Spirituality encourages you to listen to your intuition and do what is right by simply following your instinct.

There is no fear of any punishment or reward in spirituality to motivate you to enslave yourself with rules. Instead it truly sets you free to be the best person you can be and the only reward will be your true inner happiness.

Religion encourages fear and spirituality encourages positive energy

Something that is emphasized throughout religion is the fear of consequences. Religion always reminds you consequences of not maintaining your actions in a particular way. It makes you fear of what might happen after you die if you don’t live your life accordingly.

When it comes to spirituality, there is only positive energy which encourages you to focus only on the good, and to act only based on love.

Religion tells you what to believe and spirituality helps to decide it by yourself

As opposed religion which always instruct you on what to believe, Spirituality lets you discover the questions and find answers for yourself.

When religion asks you to blindly believe in a truth written in a text, spirituality empowers you to find your own truth in all things without boundaries.

Religion separates while Spirituality unites

When we look at the world around us we see most of the conflicts are religion based as all the religions preach that their story is the right story.

Spirituality does not have a set belief system and hence see certain truth in all religions. Spirituality focuses on the quality of the divine message they share and not on the differences in details of the story they speak of.

Karma instead of punishment

Religions speak of punishment for wrongdoings while spirituality speaks of a beautiful idea of karma. Karma in spirituality lets us understand that the consequences we face are a result of our past actions. Simply “we reap what we sow”

Religion walks you down a road while spirituality lets you find your own way

Religion tells you ancient stories about gods, warriors and angels while asking us to follow their footsteps. Spirituality encourages you to walk in your own path which may lead to something greater.

Jesus in his life recognized that the love is the true human nature; The Holy Prophet in Islam emphasized the importance of submission for God, Lord Buddha emphasized the importance of letting go of material possessions. They walked down their own paths, which led them to be respected all over the world. Spirituality encourages you to make your own path and create your own stories. This sets you on a journey of enlightenment.

From Transcend Media Service - Fundamentalism-Extremism-Violence

Fundamentalism-Extremism-Violence

EDITORIAL, 8 February 2016

Johan Galtung, 8 Feb 2016 - TRANSCEND Media Service

To navigate these difficult conceptual waters we need some rules. Here are three suggestions (the violence can be direct–as sometimes prescribed by the Abrahamic religions–or structural as by Hinduism):

1. Anchor “religious fundamentalism” in religious scriptures taken literally according to the fundamentalists, not as “interpreted”;
2. Anchor “extremism” in violent action, verbal or physical;
3. Anchor “religious extremism” in violent action justified-legitimized by religious scriptures, by fundamentalists or not.

Fundamentalism has to do with inner faith, belief. Extremism has to do with outer violence against Other, and against Self (like flagellation for being a sinner). Keep them separate. And be careful.

We can have fundamentalism without extremism. The fundamentalist may believe much, beyond the beliefs of others, yet not cross the border to violence. We may say: let him-her do so; it is not obvious that fundamentalists are more violent than non-fundamentalists.

We can have extremism without fundamentalism. Most people exercising violence believe in nothing, beyond “doing their job”.

There are two criteria for “religious extremism”: violence and religious legitimation. That legitimation may be fundamentalist or not; could also be well-know quotes from the Scriptures. We might even speculate that for the fundamentalist faith may be sufficient.

The combination in “religious extremism” is vicious if it implies that violence will be supported by divine forces and/or that failure to be violent will incur their wrath. Probably a declining category.

Today’s secularizing, “enlightened” world brought us statism, nationalism, and their combination; secular fundamentalists and extremists, and their combination. They have given the world more violence for victory for whatever cause they design than religions. But with a rationality that may open for solving underlying conflicts.

How about the traditional “world religions” in this perspective?

The three Abrahamic and Hinduism with divine forces; and Buddhism, Daoism-Confucianism and Shinto without? Where do we find religious extremism as defined above; and where not? Obviously, some of it everywhere, nothing somewhere, but generally speaking?

Judaismn has religious extremism as right and duty to conquer and defend the Promised Holy Land (Genesis 15:18, wrath of divine forces in Deuteronomy, for structural violence Isaiah 2:1-4).

Christianity has religious extremism built as violence against non-believers (Luke 19:26)–hence also to spread Christianity–but has rules against retribution (turning the other cheek).

Islam has norms against spreading Islam by the sword, but uses violence against infidels, particularly against apostates, and uses violence for “retribution with moderation”.

Summary: Judaic religious extremism is territorial, Christian is missionary, Islamic is punitive. SUM: ex occidente bellum.

Hinduism has internal structural violence built into the caste system, with a history of direct violence to establish it and keep it. Nonviolence to cows serves as an opening to nonviolence in general.

Buddhism has violence in obscure texts but generally prescribes nonviolence. If Buddhists are violent (Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand) it is not qua Buddhists, but as defenders of a state with Buddhism.

Daoism is ambiguous: every human holon has forces-counterforces, not necessarily violent; but a rising yin or yang may be “helped”.

Confucianism deplores “bad emperor” violence, but is feudal structural violence, with rights and duties both high up and low down.     Shinto is peaceful, but state Shinto was a construction inspired by Christian state religions justifying warfare external violence under Sun Goddess Amaterasu-o-mikami and Her offsprings, the Emperors.

Conclusion: not good enough to declare ex oriente pax.

How about the secular counterparts to religions, the ideologies, the isms? Backed by human forces of rationality and compassion, and by social forces across the domestic and global faultlines nature-gender-generation-race-class-nation-territory. Religions see them as parts of the divine order; secularism sees them as changeable, for worse (slavery, colonialism, war), for better (human rights, Art 28).

Enlightenment came with capitalist growth against nature and the working classes; with the rule of Men, Old/middle-aged, White; class with competitive mobility; nationalism and statism. Isms emerged, as dualist-manichean as God vs Satan, promising Paradise vs Hell, pitting Self- good vs Other-evil, with mechanisms for picking winners-losers.

Nature fights back, now possibly winning. Women, young and old, non-whites struggle nonviolently for parity. Afterlife Paradise and Hell no longer available, political parties fight for paradise=upper class rewards from capitalist growth against hell=poverty-misery; meaningful only if inequality prevails over distribution. Nationalism and statism struggle for parity and dominance, even globally; the mechanisms being war by the military and negotiation by the diplomats.

Secular fundamentalism means strong attachment to one side in the one faultline seen as fundamental: with this issue (gender, race, class, nation, state) solved, the others will follow automatically!

Secular extremism, fundamentalist or not, uses violence against the Other in gender, race, class, nation, state; if fundamentalist for the salvation of humanity, with paradise on earth around the corner.

Secularism is Western. It is rejected by Islam and Hinduism. Buddhism focuses on means: nonviolence; China on process: yin-yang. Only Japan under Abe follows US war logic. Western secularism may actually turn out to be an episode, yielding to religious revivalism.

Rather work nonviolently on very many conflicts and traumas than on one giant step toward salvation-paradise, even with violence.

____________________________________

Johan Galtung, a professor of peace studies, dr hc mult, is founder of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment and rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University-TPU. He has published 164 books on peace and related issues, of which 41 have been translated into 35 languages, for a total of 135 book translations, including ‘50 Years-100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives,’ published by the TRANSCEND University Press-TUP.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 8 February 2016.

Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source,TRANSCEND Media Service - TMS: Religious Fundamentalism-Extremism-Violence, is included. Thank you.

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