Spirituality vs. Religion

So many people shy away from their innate spirituality for one big reason: Religion. They either believe spirituality is against their religion or they mistake them for the same thing. And it’s an easy mistake to make. Or maybe they had a bad experience with religion.

For thousands of years, religion has been a powerful force on this planet. In many ways, religion took over spirituality. It became the most accepted way to explain things that could not easily be understood. As Christianity spread, it even went so far as to incorporate practices and holidays from old, spirit-based religions to promote this new one.

To be clear, I don’t like to hate on religion. In fact, it fascinates me how similar so many of the world’s religions are to each other. Yet we tend to focus only on the differences. To me, religion is not separate from spirituality, but it’s not the same either. I consider religions to simply be different modalities through which people can access and make sense of their spiritual nature.

However, because of the politics and power struggles that make up the history of so many religions, the spiritual aspect as it pertains to an individual is often forgotten. “Spiritual” became an aspect of religion to strive for, rather than something we are born with. Spirit became something outside of ourselves, not part of who we are. We were told we could not connect to spirit without religious leaders or practices. And as with anything, when we are told something often enough and for long enough, we eventually come to believe it. 

Yet a part of us knows deep down that somehow and somewhere we are connected to the spiritual realm and that spirit lives within us. I got lucky in that department. Growing up Catholic, I attended CCD regularly. As I was nearing the date of my first Reconciliation, I recall having a huge sense of dread. We had to confess our sins to our priest for the first time. At nine years old, talking to adults was not something I loved to do…talking to anyone was not my thing. So the idea of having to sit one on one with Father Barnes and tell him about all the horrible things I had done so far in life absolutely terrified me. What should I even say? That I didn’t clean my room when my mom told me to? That I didn’t wash the dishes? The “sins” were unbearable!

As the fateful day approached, my dad sensed my dread and asked me if I was nervous. I will never forget his response when I confirmed his suspicion. He said, rather matter-of-factly, “it doesn’t matter. You can talk to God directly any time you want to. And you don’t need to go through a priest to do it. So just tell him about the fight you got in with your sister the other day.” And my nine year old mind was blown…and full of questions. If we can talk to God whenever we want to, why are they teaching us that we can’t? And more importantly, how do we do it?!

Thinking back on that moment, it is no surprise that I always felt more connected to spirit than a lot of people around me. Unlike them, I was told from early on that I was. I didn’t have to discover it after years of soul searching. It was simply something that I accepted. However, I did need to learn how to do it and to truly believe I had that power. 

Whether you consider yourself religious or not, and regardless of your past experience with religion, you are connected to spirit and you can communicate with God, the universe, whatever you choose to call it, and with your spirit guides as well. You just need to learn how to do it and how to believe in and trust the guidance you receive.