By Ashutosh
A bird needs two wings to fly. Similarly, a human being needs both material and spiritual wheels to maintain a balance in life. If either of them gets imbalanced, life becomes out of focus. Spirituality is what keeps the balance.
There can be no single definition of spirituality. Spiritualism is like a huge elephant. People manage to touch one part of its body and start feeling as if they know all that there is to know about it. The person holding the trunk thinks – spiritualism is long and flexible like the truck, the person holding the tail feels spiritualism is short and keeps swinging from one end to another. Likewise, the person holding the leg has the perception that it is something hard and rigid.
Spirituality means different things to different people. For some, it is a way of complying with the laws of nature and the laws of God. Others consider it as a path to “spiritual enlightenment” and “spiritual awakening”.
Broadly speaking the term spiritual relates to the spirit. Spiritualism attempts to explain the world we live in and our place in that world. It tries to act as a bridge between how the world works and the understanding of the reasons behind those workings.
Spirituality is:
• Beyond all religions yet contains all religions
• Beyond all science yet contains all science
• Beyond all philosophy yet contains all philosophy
The words religious and spiritual are often used synonymously. But Being spiritual does not mean being religious. Religiosity is viewed as being rooted in religion, whereas this is not necessarily the case for spirituality. There is no religion in the Spiritual World.
Religion implies code of conduct and rituals for the worship of God while spirituality is being spiritual. In other words, religion is the art of maintaining perfect relations with God while spirituality focuses on spiritual things and the spiritual world instead of physical/earthly things.
The lines dividing spirituality and religion aren’t always clear or distinct. Religion is an institution established by man. In organized religions, all but a clergy tried to replace God. You are taught what to pray and when to pray and confess your sins. God get’s relegated to the background.
Spirituality is born and develops in the person. It may be triggered by religion or a revelation but extends to all facets of the person’s life. Spirituality is chosen while religion is often forced. Being spiritual to me is more important and better than being religious.
