Religious or Spiritual?
Whenever I am on the subject of religion I am sure to clarify that I am spiritual and not religious. I am not against any particular religion although I do sometimes in jest share that I am a 'recovering Caltholic". Yet in every religion I find there is a common thread and for me that common thread is spirituality. I find there is a difference between religion and spiritual thoughts or practices. For me, spirituality is the deepest part of who we are as human beings. It is the part of us that motivates us to love others and to serve in every way we can in a world where there is a need for it. Religion is something we may practice and it can very well connect with our spiritual beliefs. For many as well as me, religion is an organization and a place where we worship whereas spirituality is a feeling, a belief and a deep practice in life. Spirituality is what tells us that we are all connected and that we are all equal and here to serve one another. Spirituality is never the reason to have a war with another group of people in the way religion has been a justification to harm others or to fight them. Although for some religion is important and does not pose an issue of any sort, for me it is simply a word used to say that we are part of group A or group B with certain beliefs and sometimes a set of rules followed by that religion.
When I was growing up there was a large family that lived next door to us. The parents of that family did not allow them to speak to us. They were Penticostal in religion and my grandparents were at the time Caltholics. We were viewed by them as sinners because not only did we dance and watch television we dressed in ways that they considered inappropriate by wearing short dresses or in my ask short pants. The fact that we wore bathing suits and ran around in our back yard did not help and in fact when we were outdoors often times the children next door were called in. What I felt at the time was a certain compassion for my forbidden friends next door. Over time there were many issues with that family, one of which was a death of one of the sons from an overdose of drugs. Although I did not care that they were of a different religion the fact that they were not allowed to interact with me made it impossible for us to become friends. For me this felt wrong and when I would see these children on rare occasions I felt bad for them. It was for me the first example of how religion segregated us and made it so that we could not be united.
I left the Catholic religion because over time the message that I was hearing was one of omission. Certain people were going to heaven if they complied. One would be forgiven of one's sins if you confessed to a priest inside a confession booth that felt odd and scary to me. Homosexuals were going to hell and women who divorced were shunned. One day after church I simply told my grandmother that I would not be attending church any longer and since my mother rarely attended I was given immunity. For me this was one of the reasons that I decided to seperate religion from spirituality and to start a journey of becoming more of a spiritual being than a religious being. I know today that I am a spiritual being having many human experiences along the path of life. I know that I can be whole and and worthy of God's love simply by being who I am and doing the best I can to serve and to be kind to others. I turned into a spiritual being and have since nurtured that part of me on my own.
We don't have to pick between being religious or spiritual if we feel like we are both. We can follow a religious practice and be a spiritual person. But for many of us the two do not mix and we would rather be spiritual than someone who is religious and follows a particular kind of practice that serves God or says it serves God. I believe we are all spiritual human beings and that whether we are practicing a religion or not we are what is in our hearts and untimately our actions. We are of one another and each of us is connected in that spiritual way. At the core of who we are is our spiritual self and when we are in touch with spirit we are whole.
What is at the core of who you are? Where do your thoughts and actions reside? Who or what do you believe in and why? How do you practice a spiritual life? These are the questions that each of us might want to ponder and understand. Only then can we live a life that is truly joyous and truly whole.
Elliott Maximo Collazo
When I was growing up there was a large family that lived next door to us. The parents of that family did not allow them to speak to us. They were Penticostal in religion and my grandparents were at the time Caltholics. We were viewed by them as sinners because not only did we dance and watch television we dressed in ways that they considered inappropriate by wearing short dresses or in my ask short pants. The fact that we wore bathing suits and ran around in our back yard did not help and in fact when we were outdoors often times the children next door were called in. What I felt at the time was a certain compassion for my forbidden friends next door. Over time there were many issues with that family, one of which was a death of one of the sons from an overdose of drugs. Although I did not care that they were of a different religion the fact that they were not allowed to interact with me made it impossible for us to become friends. For me this felt wrong and when I would see these children on rare occasions I felt bad for them. It was for me the first example of how religion segregated us and made it so that we could not be united.
I left the Catholic religion because over time the message that I was hearing was one of omission. Certain people were going to heaven if they complied. One would be forgiven of one's sins if you confessed to a priest inside a confession booth that felt odd and scary to me. Homosexuals were going to hell and women who divorced were shunned. One day after church I simply told my grandmother that I would not be attending church any longer and since my mother rarely attended I was given immunity. For me this was one of the reasons that I decided to seperate religion from spirituality and to start a journey of becoming more of a spiritual being than a religious being. I know today that I am a spiritual being having many human experiences along the path of life. I know that I can be whole and and worthy of God's love simply by being who I am and doing the best I can to serve and to be kind to others. I turned into a spiritual being and have since nurtured that part of me on my own.
We don't have to pick between being religious or spiritual if we feel like we are both. We can follow a religious practice and be a spiritual person. But for many of us the two do not mix and we would rather be spiritual than someone who is religious and follows a particular kind of practice that serves God or says it serves God. I believe we are all spiritual human beings and that whether we are practicing a religion or not we are what is in our hearts and untimately our actions. We are of one another and each of us is connected in that spiritual way. At the core of who we are is our spiritual self and when we are in touch with spirit we are whole.
What is at the core of who you are? Where do your thoughts and actions reside? Who or what do you believe in and why? How do you practice a spiritual life? These are the questions that each of us might want to ponder and understand. Only then can we live a life that is truly joyous and truly whole.
Elliott Maximo Collazo
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