Has religion become disconnected from spirituality?

If you look at early eastern religions, especially Buddhism, Taoism, and Bön (Tibetan), spirituality is regarded as the basis of all practices and teachings. Spirituality is essentially the foundation shared by all indigenous religions (Native American, Aboriginal...) and in this sense is the connection to (or experience of) oneness and the transmission of knowledge on how to maintain this connection.

Religion is simply the way people put this foundation into a conceptual and possibly institutional vessel. Because we tend to be more comfortable with concepts rather than something abstract and beyond any language's capacity to express, we divide this basis, spirituality, into schools of thought; as we allow conceptual thought to dominate and widen this division and attach to a particular religion, it is easy to forget oneness.

This is the point at which dualism enters our lives more forcefully and causes a lot of suffering and strife. We separate seamless consciousness into separate entities, subjects and objects, us versus the enemy. We allow fear, hatred, greed, and ignorance to control our lives. Some people get so used to this that it becomes something solid and permanent, and they accept a limited notion of "self" and are comforted by the consumerism and ethnocentrism that is fed to them.

I do not believe in "god" as a separate entity. As something perpetuated by religions who have become so superficial and intolerant from pushing away spirituality, and are as empty as the concepts which sustain them.

It could be said that spirituality is the same as pantheism, the idea that "god" is the entire universe. "god" is only a word, no different from the others used to point out the same thing (Being, Oneness...). But "god" has become a symbol of the dualisms I've mentioned, and may have lost its connection to its true meaning.

Spirituality means letting go of the extremely limited human conditioning you've taken on, as well as freeing yourself of greed, hatred, and ignorance. It is non-dual awareness. It is knowing that all phenomena that you perceive are your mind. Your perceptions and your mind are the same. The objects we interact with every day exist only conventionally, tied to the meanings, words, and concepts we attach to them. At the ultimate (or quantum) level, they are all the same: a seamless background from which conventional phenomena manifest.

It's like waking in a dream and realizing that the dream and your mind are the same thing.

Something I find very interesting about Aboriginees is that the dream world is as "real" to them as waking life. They are so close to oneness that attachment to material things is completely alien to them. But colonizers were oblivious to this. It's sort of....painfully funny to see how some Americans take life so seriously and have seemingly tried to remove dreaming from our culture. Most people I know can't remember hardly any of their dreams.

I wonder how long it will take for the synthetic, fearful world we've created and invested in to change into something more compassionate and incredibly enriched by the true nature of reality; like waking in dream and remembering its infinite potential.



~cygnus

Yes, I think you're right. Spiritualism, to me, is more a quest into your own mind. There is no real difference any more between Christians/Muslims and fanatical Marxist/fascists. Only a few Christians I would call spiritually sane, but I personally don't see such people as real Christians, seeing they undermine the only 'proof' of their religion (by discarding half of the bible).

I think religion is silly.

Let me clarify that.

Religion (rules, ceremonies, traditions, etc. meant to bring you closer to some higher power) is stupid. Christianity as a religion (pray 30mins every day, read your Bible every day, go to church every Sunday, all because it's the Christian thing to do) is stupid. Christianity as a relationship with God, though, is great. I don't know if that's what spiritualism is nor not. And I believe the whole Bible.

Sadly, I believe you hope in vain. The religions of the world will always have a stranglehold on the minds of the masses; especially the Abrahamic religions, as they always have.

...and yes, religion was disconnected from spirituality a very long time ago and on purpose. There is nothing to be gained from encouraging people to seek the truth, and they are much more willing to obey than to feel lost.

"Religion" is an absolute necessity theists. God doesn't talk to you. He makes no physical contact.....yea. People need to go to Church, service, etc. so they can still feel connected to the cause. Without all that mumbo jumbo, God has little to do with their daily life.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Never

Sadly, I believe you hope in vain. The religions of the world will always have a stranglehold on the minds of the masses; especially the Abrahamic religions, as they always have.

...and yes, religion was disconnected from spirituality a very long time ago and on purpose. There is nothing to be gained from encouraging people to seek the truth, and they are much more willing to obey than to feel lost.

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Truth is becoming evolutionarily stable whereas being controlled by hate and delusion is not. Destroying the environment and pouring garbage into the minds of our youth will have to be replaced by compassion and wisdom if we are to survive. Our society has developed so much materially at the expense of our minds, while aboriginal cultures have done the reverse. It's just a matter of balancing the two.

One really good quote I once heard (no clue who by, feel free to google it):

Religion is for those who don't want to go to hell. Spirituality is for those who have already beent here.

I think religion has been disconnect from what originally led to its creation. The sense of mystery and superstition found in less organized religions like shamanism and animism has vanished from mainstream Christianity. I think it's a symptom of our general turn away from these values in Western society. Of course superstition isn't a very effective way of making decisions, but it's an element of human existance that we as westerners are out of touch with.

I don't think it's as much about superstition as it is about being a part of nature.

Nicely written I completely agree with you thoughts. Couldn't have said it better myself :).

Thanks!

religion and spirituality are incompatible. when you take on a religion, you've decided to adhere to a set of beliefs and rules. you're no longer free to explore spirituality, because you have this set of beliefs, and if you argue them you're not part of that religion anymore. which i guess makes you spiritual instead of religious. that's why spirituality is the only way to go, because you're open to explore all ideas and come to new conclusions, instead of closing up your mind and going nowhere.