Spirituality vs. Religion

I know that I am one with God. I know that God in me is perfect. I know that my real nature is spiritual. I know that I exist in a boundless good, in a heavenly state, and in perfect being. I know that my mind is being acted upon by pure Spirit. Divine Intelligence guides me into peace, happiness and success, into joy, love and perfect life. – Ernest Holmes

Spirituality is inherent in the human psyche.  It is a drive within us which is more awake and more activated in some and seemingly completely dormant in others.  It is the impulse for self-transcendence, for deeper connection and meaning and for the development of higher possibilities within the mind-brain.  True spirituality is not tied to a religious tradition or dogma and in fact can only truly be developed by deeply questioning one’s religious tradition.  It arises when the carefully constructed culturally defined ego cracks under crises, through intense spiritual practice or through an epiphany that comes as grace.

Religion is a double edged sword.  On one hand religion serves to pass down tradition spiritual values.  On the other most religions seem to degenerate quickly into divisive fanaticism.  Most religions of the world help pull us developmentally from an ego-centric to an ethno-centric perspective.  Spirituality propels into a world-centric and even a universe-centric perspective.  Spirituality is not strictly separate from religion but transcends the ethno-centric perspective of earlier traditions.  The essence of spirituality is experiential, mystical and unitive.  The essence of religion is dogma which often regards actual spiritual experience with suspicion if not outrage.  It is empowered by the politics of us vs. them.

Right now we live in a world that is in crisis, hopefully a crisis of development which might lead to a transformation of consciousness on a global scale.  The negative aspects of religion are forces of devolution and destruction within a global society.  This morning we awoke to the news of a riot in Libya in which four members of US embassy were killed.  The whole thing seems to be orchestrated by the making of a cheesy film which insults the Prophet Mohammed: an obviously provocative piece of propaganda aimed at inflaming islamist fanatics.  This is the power inherent in the manipulation of ethno-centric religious followers.  It can be found here in the US in the believers who attack Islam by staging Koran burnings or murdering peaceful Sikhs in their temple. 

We can justifiably feel outrage at the attack on the US embassy and there is no question that the killers should be brought to justice.  It might be beneficial, though, to look deeper into the pattern of events and to seek out the illness which lies behind the outbreak of symptoms.  The roots of this violence can be found in the divisive, inflammatory and self-righteous belief systems (BS) parading as spiritual values.  They are not and there is nothing sacred or holy about them.