Religion And Spirituality Are Not The Same

Each of us has a personal belief system that guides how we act towards others. We may or may not be consciously aware of what our beliefs are, but they form the foundation for our feelings and the motives for our actions. This is essentially our personal spiritual belief system.

The moment you become aware of your personal beliefs and consciously consider them, you could say that is the moment you become a spiritually active person.  Spiritual thinking will lead you to seek out others with the same kinds of self-awareness. Humans have a natural desire to share feelings and experiences in a friendly, accepting environment.

Religions provide opportunities for like-minded individuals to form communities for this very purpose. However, religions also provide theological definitions, histories, and disciplines that members must accept and follow on faith.  Most of us will accept church doctrine, even if it contains elements that conflict with our own personal beliefs, if we find joy and satisfaction in a particular religion, denomination, or house of worship.

The point is, religious doctrine and individual spirituality, though interrelated, are not the same thing.  One is institutional and created to grow and develop as a corporate entity within a human world.  The other resides in your own mind and heart and determines how you will live with and react to others.  By necessity, religious institutions are materialistic even though they were created for matters of the spirit.

For me, there is no question that individual spirituality is far more important than religious doctrine and institutional theology.  But that does not mean that religions and places of worship are not important. On the contrary, they can be extraordinarily important to your spiritual growth. We need communities of faith where we can express, discuss, and develop our spiritual understandings. This helps us face and work through real life events.

We learn something about ourselves when we agree with dogma and we also learn something when we disagree.  But spirituality demands that only that which makes sense in your own heart and mind be maintained as your truth, your reason for being, and your motive for actions.  All else can and should be respectfully set aside.

If your personal sense of spirituality starts conflicting with the teachings of your place of worship, you should consider looking for another. It really doesn’t matter the history behind your membership in any church or organization, you should respond to your own awareness of a need for change.

Too many of us don’t make that change when we should. For a variety of reasons we resist change. Most of that has to do with the comfortable social ties we have established. 

Some even become so devoted to particular religious organizations, that whatever is presented by their religions as truth, is accepted, without question. Sensitive discussions with those of other faiths gradually devolve into a series of pat answers because you are saved and they are lost.

Let us remember that our personal lives are altered by the decisions we make.  Also, we tend to find spiritual guidance through personal prayer and meditation, even when we are at church. The next time you are inspired notice that all those feelings you experience come from within.

It seems to me that being spiritual is the more important understanding than being religious.

What Does It Mean To Be Made In The "Image Of God?"

       All of us realize that ultimate truth is beyond our human capacity to completely understand. However, we can and have labeled this ultimate truth and power as God because we know that the world and universe exist as a result of some kind of progressive, creative process. The human mind doesn't like uncertainty so some of us write out our own explanations of life and its purpose. When these explanations include traditional stories, dogma, rituals, and "orthodox" discipline, we create religions. Religions tend to turn God into a supernatural male personality. If God is defined by the image of man, then, of course, mankind can be viewed as made in the "image of God." 

       I believe that when we individually accept what we know, stand on the edge of our knowledge and openly seek new, higher understandings, that leads to individual spiritual growth that actually does raise our thinking toward God (ultimate truth and power). From that perspective we tend to realize that even though we are limited by the earthly scope of our knowledge and power, the ultimate knowledge and power of God includes, at the very least, all that we are and all that we can be.  I think that is what the writer of Genesis meant by describing man as made in the "image of God."

Why The Christian Myth of The Fall Of Mankind (Original Sin) Is So Appealing

We may debate our different perspectives of the nature of God and how to interpret stories in the Bible, but it is easy to understand the basic story line of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as told by ancient Biblical interpreters. 

        However, it is interesting to note that this early story line is not actually found anywhere in the text of Genesis, word for word, in any literal way. It is a narrative that has been created outside the Bible, by those early Bible interpreters. They applied very specific definitions to selected words and phrases in the Bible, then speculated from there about what it all meant. Here is the generally understood final version of what they decided.

         One way or another we were given a perfect world in which to live, with instructions on how to keep it perfect. When Adam and Eve acted, by deciding for themselves what was good and evil,  the perfect world was lost and they were ejected.  All humans, since then, have been suffering the consequences of that fall. In other words, there seems to be a flaw in basic human nature that is in need of spiritual repair.

Conservative Christians say it their way, that we are all sinners, unworthy of redemption, yet saved by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Though I disagree with this theology, there is still much worth considering in such a statement. Yes, we are all, each of us, uncontrollably selfish. We are only pulled out of that selfishness when we accept the reality of a higher understanding or wisdom.

Only when we are able to view the world from a perspective beyond material values can we find ways to live with others that help us fully experience love, compassion, joy, and spiritual growth. It is as if by giving up our most basic human urges, we can reclaim a spiritual position closer to the Garden of Eden; the original  possibilities for a perfect life. We can do this by allowing our human minds to be inspired and guided by God’s mind, which encompasses the totality of truth and power.

Still, the Adam and Eve story is just that, a story, a myth; no more a record of actual events than is the fairy tale, Cinderella. And, it doesn’t have to be.  The story of Cinderella demonstrates that love, patience, obedience, and forgiveness win out in the end and help us achieve more than we can even imagine. We all understand this without having to believe Cinderella was a real person. But the situations and emotions she feels in the story seem real to us because we see events in our own lives, or the lives of others, that resemble her predicaments and successes. Fairy tales and myths help us see a lot about ourselves.

So, you might ask, what is it about human life that makes the Adam and Eve story so appealing? Believe it or not, studies of how the human brain evolved help provide that answer. Humans are unique because of the complex centers and connections we have in our cerebral cortex, the covering over our brain. However, underneath our unique cortex lies remnants of the brain structures of every species from which we evolved. At the very core of our brain there is a cluster of structures collectively called the “limbic system.” The limbic system has one primary purpose and that is to actively promote our physical survival.

Everything we need to do for our bodies and species to survive is monitored by the limbic system. That includes reproduction (sex), finding shelter, food, and protection from what are perceived to be dangerous situations, people, animals, etc. When members of the opposite sex go by, you will check them out, whether you want to or not. The longer you go without eating, drinking water, or going to the bathroom, the more dire those needs become until they are met. If you feel you need to have material possessions to maintain status in your cultural community you will work hard to gather those possessions and try to limit others from being as successful as you. All of these drives come from our deep limbic system urges to survive, by being first, being the best with the most. Sounds shamelessly depraved, doesn’t it?  But, that is our basic human animal nature that has helped us survive as a species.

But we do have a chance for redemption and that chance comes via our complex cerebral cortex. The human cerebral cortex  (the outer covering of our brain) is uniquely designed to support cognition (thinking) and communication (speech). Not only are we self-aware, but also we can think and talk about being self-aware. We have memory and imagination, so we can talk about the past and the future. We can create almost unlimited numbers of concepts and words and use them to describe whatever we would like.  It is almost the total opposite of our limbic system, which is always doggedly focused on promoting and guaranteeing our dominance and survival.

The key to this battle of attitudes is that we humans can use our thinking, or minds to override our hard-wired limbic system impulses. My limbic system may warn me to stay away from an angry dog, but my mind will make me move toward that dog if it is about to harm my child. My limbic system may alert me that I find a teacher handing me a test form sexually attractive, but my mind overrides any reaction to that urge because taking the test is the priority in that situation. We are caught in these kinds of dilemmas essentially every day, all day. We all are and we know it, thus we have a genetic foundation for the idea of original sin.

 This inner battle over our own behavior has been going on since the first Homo sapiens emerged. It creates the human characteristics that make the Adam and Eve story both interesting and understandable. Yes, we have a deep, dark side that is selfish and totally self-serving. I want all of mine and as much of yours as I can get away with.

Then there is our capacity to think and dream and consider others and reason through what our behavior should be towards others. We search for meanings, understandings, and, most of all, a sense of satisfaction, happiness and balance in life. When we let the chatter of our minds go silent during prayer or meditation, the human mind is capable of complete spiritual dominance of limbic system activity. 

Whatever the mind of God is, I have felt touched by it during prayer and meditation.  Prayer and meditation always takes me away from my human self-centeredness and leaves me with an overwhelming feeling of peace, love, and companionship. I sense that I really know very little of all there is to know, yet, everything is okay as long as I stay open to the presence of God.  I am in the right place and in the right time for what I can do.

These are uniquely personal moments, which have formed the foundation of my spiritual beliefs. I do not believe in religious dogma. I do believe in what happens and what is possible, even when I don’t know what that is. I am at peace in God’s hand, that space of ultimate truth.

Jesus taught God first, too, but not because he understood anything about the limbic system. He taught it because it worked and brought his understanding higher than any of his human desires. The stories of Jesus overcoming his temptations in the wilderness are about an inspired human rising above his urges for material superiority and survival. His love of life, God, and his fellow beings was stronger than his fear of physical death. Being true to unconditional love was more important to him than denying it, even to save his life.  What he taught through the peaceful giving of his life still inspires us.

Being open to what science has revealed to the human mind only multiplies my spiritual experiences. I know exactly why my human mind is tempted with “sinful” urges throughout the day and it has nothing to do with the Fall of Mankind mythology. It has everything to do with my evolutionary urge to be supreme and survive on the most basic level as a human animal. But, because I know that, I can consciously override my limbic system and seek spiritual understanding instead. Not only was there no Fall of Mankind, but also, human kind has been growing into even higher levels of spiritual awareness ever since the first word was spoken.

The author of Genesis felt all the same urges I feel, but he did not have benefit of the scientific knowledge available to explain it, as we do. So he just wrote a simple story to create a context for something everyone was aware of, but could not explain. He also decided to describe why snakes crawl, why women suffer in childbirth and why men have to work hard to make a living.  His details may not have been factually correct, but he created an imaginative and compelling narrative. It’s like a friendly first hypothesis that people in his religious community could hold on to until more was learned about how things really work in the world and better explanations presented. The author of Genesis was clearly not writing a history of actual events.

Still, the Fall of Mankind story (Original Sin) in Genesis will always be appealing to humans, because when we honestly assess the source of our most basic sinful urges, somewhere in that search our limbic system will report to our cortex, “Yep, that’s me, it's natural, and I’m just doing my job.”  The mythical Fall of Mankind, therefore, coincides so perfectly with something we always feel inside from our human evolutionary drive to survive, that many will stop thinking at that point and accept The Fall of Mankind myth as the literal Gospel truth, no matter what.

        And, you know, that's OK. While it is true that faith comes from knowledge, it is also true that the extent of knowledge you seek is a decision that you make. Wherever you are in your thinking is exactly where you need to be, until you are prepared to understand more.

A Practical Spiritual Glossary

           These definitions are meaningful to me, but might change as I think more about them. If there are any definitions with which you disagree, then write out your own definitions using ideas that speak to your understanding and faith.  Understanding and accepting ourselves is probably one of the most important activities of life.  It is also the most effective way to influence others.

            I would like to influence others, but not for the purpose of persuading others to believe as I do. I would like to influence others into being totally open and honest about what they believe in their heart of hearts. I feel it is important that we be able to do that as individuals and as religious communities.  Then, as we speak sincerely to each other from love and listen with love, we will discover pathways to acceptance and understanding even in our diversity.

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Deism – A rational belief in the existence of a metaphysical reality, specifically of a creative nature that does not directly intervene in human or cosmic events. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural being or deity who interacts with humankind. A number of the founding fathers of our country (e.g. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Ethan Allen, Thomas Paine, etc.) were deists. In other words, theistic Christian orthodoxy was not the spiritual foundation underlying the ideas and documents that created our nation.

Devil – A personification of hell

Eternity – An idea derived from the fact that there is no discernible end to now.

Faith¹ – The concept of life you hold as true when faced with decisions you must make. You always have complete faith. The real question is, in what do you actually have faith? Your faith is what you actually believe that provides the motives for your actions and is not determined by your membership in any particular organization or even by what you say you believe. Sometimes we adopt statements of belief because we enjoy the social interactions with a particular group of people. But, that is not the same as joining with others because they share your view of reality based on sincere spiritual consideration of their life experiences. There is a commonality of conclusions in the latter, which is more deeply and permanently binding than is the casual congeniality of the former.

Faith² – You have faith when you have sufficient confidence in your own knowledge and skills that you can successfully solve problems that are unlike problems you have faced before.  For example an experienced architect might be asked to design a structure unlike anything he/she has done before. Still, because of his/her training and experience in fundamental design principles, this professional will know how to successfully accomplish the task.  Likewise, spiritual principles you learn, try out in life, and discover to be fundamentally true, become the foundation of your spiritual faith. If you are religious, then how you articulate this faith and frame it in terms of a world-view describes the religion and denomination with which you will likely associate.

Future – Without human memory and imagination, there would be no concepts of events yet to occur. However, we do have memory and imagination, so we can and do speculate about what might happen next.

God – God is a personification of the highest levels of knowledge and the best instincts and attributes of humanity. Beyond that, God is whatever the ultimate and complete truth of the universe and existence is. All I can understand is that God is Truth, universal, and eternal. The prime cause and support for all that is and all that can be. Since humanity is one result of this prime cause, everyone and everything is a manifestation of God, not a material existence outside of God. Humanity never lost a state of perfection. On the contrary we have always been evolving toward higher and better expressions of our ultimate spiritual potential. Since we have rational self-awareness we can create, but all that we create has always been possible as an expression of God’s potential.  Thus, even our creativity is of God and cannot be separate from God. A God-centered life creates love, wisdom, harmony, and what we call “good” in life. However, a self-centered life that rejects the need for love, wisdom or compassion, creates disharmony and what we describe as “evil” or “sin” in life. Other than these basic truths, it is beyond human capacities to understand, much less definitively describe God.  Actually, there is no need to do that, because there is no human achievement that exists outside the reality of God. 

Heaven – Experiencing life with unconditional love and compassion towards oneself and others; complete harmony of mind, body, thought, and action that occurs when spiritual oneness with God is achieved. It is being wholly in the arms of God (total reality) and entirely at peace no matter the circumstances. It is living just as Jesus taught and demonstrated.

Heavenly Father/Mother – The personification of God as a loving human father or mother. It is neither right nor wrong, good nor bad, to do this, it is simply something we can do and may feel comfortable doing. When I meditate, I feel a closeness of consciousness, which I accept as my experience with God. I treat this awareness, this presence, as a loving spiritual parent, because that is a meaningful human relationship  with which I am familiar. Some find comfort feeling a feminine presence, as with their own mother, or perhaps thinking of Jesus' mother, Mary, who is venerated by many. Our personal spirituality evolves from the meaningful experiences we have had.

Hell – Experiencing the results of individuals choosing to live from the perspective of total selfishness; self-centered domination of others by force or fear. Their only purpose in life is the material and mental domination of others and the exclusive exaltation of themselves and their cultural tribe.

History – Without human memory, there would be no concepts of the past and no reason to recall or record world events. However, there is human memory, so there is the idea of history. Because history is based on artifacts and human memory, historical accounts will always be, to varying degrees, accurate, incomplete, and imaginary.

Idol – Any person or object treated as if he, she, or it were a god that requires pious and penitent worship for fear of punishment or retribution. Many Christian fundamentalists treat Jesus, Mary, the Apostles, the cross, and the Bible as idols. Even a theistic perspective of God is a form of idol worship.

Jesus Christ – A human example of living in heaven and a title given to Jesus of Nazareth by the Christian communities that developed after Jesus' crucifixion. Since Jesus was completely human, then the extent of his spiritual nature defines our potential. Therefore, I view Jesus Christ as an example of living spiritually in the consciousness of God (ultimate Truth) while experiencing a human life. This is what John 14:6, “…I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”, means to me. Jesus was inviting everyone to follow his example and live the Christ consciousness within ourselves to the full breadth of our human experiences.  The beliefs about and descriptions of Jesus' spiritual relationship to God clearly evolved from the time the Gospel of Mark was written until the writing of the Gospel of John. The spiritual reality of God always leads to unending opportunities to learn and grow.

Jesus of Nazareth – A first century itinerant Jewish apocalyptic teacher-healer-prophet whose message was to Jews urging them "to repent", or more accurately according to the original Greek text, "to rethink" their spiritual priorities as God was preparing to assert the power of His Kingdom on earth. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God would cause a reversal of the power structure of the traditional political/religious/economic domination systems, under which Jews had suffered for centuries. The role of Jewish prophets was not primarily to predict future events. Rather, they were ordinary citizens who were not members of the aristocratic political/religious establishment, but still spoke with such wisdom and authority concerning current and possible future events that the official religious/political leaders tended to paid heed. During their lifetimes, men who became known as prophets were frequently criticized, imprisoned, or even executed, as Jesus was, for what they said and taught, because they were openly anti-establishment. From the Roman perspective, wandering Jewish apocalyptic healers/teachers like Jesus (and there were many) were guilty of sedition, because the actual "King of the Jews" during the first century was the Roman Emperor. The Roman penalty for sedition was crucifixion.

Now – The current moment of existence and the active part of eternity.

Religion – Human institutions created for the purpose of defining God and the meaning of life based on particular assumptions, and providing what are asserted to be God’s laws for mankind. Religious institutions tend to be defined by specific sets of doctrine (dogma). It is assumed that if you join a church or other religious organization you accept their doctrine as true and live your life in ways that are compatible with the teachings of that organization. If your ideas change, as time goes on, that religious institution would likely not change its doctrine, but you would be expected to “correct” your thinking, or, if that is not possible, to leave the assembly and find a religious organization more compatible with your new perspectives. Too many people do not do this when they are actually ready to learn more. Spiritual growth means considering new perspectives held by other churches or religions, or simply as a result of your own thinking and prayerful consideration.  Your faith and spirituality represent your personal journey of inner discovery which should not be stunted nor diverted by the dictates of any particular religious institution. No external rule or teaching should replace the truth you feel in your own heart unless and until you are inspired from within to change.

Science – The body of knowledge verified by the scientific method and available for practical life applications or to be used as the starting point for the further extension, or correction, of human knowledge.

Scientific Method – Formal protocol for determining which of all proposed explanations (hypotheses) of a set of specific events best describes why those events or observations occur as they do. The scientific method is bias neutral because it makes no difference what the ideas are that you are comparing. It simply helps you determine which of the ideas is the better explanation of what is observed. Bit by bit scientific communities have used the scientific method to construct our current human base of knowledge. The scientific method can also be used to study the practical outcomes of spiritual and religious ideas as well as the principles of engineering or chemistry, but it requires you not start with conclusions you feel you must find. For example, all of the books of the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) were written about three centuries after Moses died. This means that Moses did not write the Torah as is traditionally taught. Needing to prove that Moses was the author of the Torah, for whatever reason, is an example of research bias and such a proof cannot be accomplished using the scientific method. Such dilemmas tend to move religious conservatives to reject the scientific method when considering life events predicted by religious beliefs. They claim that faith based on religious teachings is more real or more important than faith based on rational analyses. However, truth is truth and any attempt to separate spiritual truth from scientific truth is artificial and involves willful deception. If life events do not (or did not) occur according to one's religious beliefs, it is the religious beliefs that are in error, not life or reality.

Sin – Those decisions we make and the actions we take that cause  us to experience hell instead of heaven

Spirituality – That level of consciousness we accept that gives meaning and emotion to our activities of life. We are primarily spiritual beings because we find meaning and feel emotion in everything we do. Whatever we think to be spiritual truth will tend to direct the courses of our lives because activities, events, and ideas that support our spiritual perspectives will simultaneously consume our attention. 

Theism – belief in the existence of a God that possesses a human-like personality, that dwells above our realm of experience, and who created all the content and laws of the universe.  Theists believe that God intervenes in cosmic and human events in supernatural ways for the purpose of maintaining a personal, judgmental watch over his creations. Fundamentalist Christianity is an example of religious thinking based on theism. An "a-theist" is literally someone who does not have a theistic perspective of God. For example, those who accept deism, may believe just as deeply in God, but their foundational thinking is rational and not dependent upon a faith that cannot be objectively confirmed. Therefore, they are correctly considered atheists, based on the literal meaning of the word. 

Science And Religion: Where The Debate Really Is

Let’s keep this simple. Science (the scientific method) is a tool available for anybody to use to help decide which explanations of observable events are the best so we can accept them as true. Religions are human organizations whose members hold an allegiance to statements of belief which they accept as true.

Right off, you can see that a scientist’s role is one of discovery and a gradual uncovering of the unknown, however, religious leaders are bond to certain doctrinal explanations of the unknown. Scientists have faith in explanations of truth that are rational and verifiable. Members of religions can also be scientists and have faith in many rational explanations of truth, but if a rational explanation conflicts with any of their religious beliefs, then their religious doctrine takes precedence, even if it is irrational. In fact, members may be expected to accept on faith some religions dogma (such as virgin birth, bodily resurrection, etc.) because they are irrational.

At this point I would like to suggest there is no real debate between science and religion because they are what they are. I think these first two paragraphs present what is perceived as the tension between science and religion.  I, personally, am even willing to concede to each perspective whatever one would wish to claim. If you see truth as defined by science, I will accept that. If you see truth as defined by your religious beliefs or any mix of science and religion, I will accept that, too.

So where is the debate? I think it resides in our minds. I think the internal debate each of us has begins emerging when we first become aware of questions that don’t appear to have clear, final answers. What is life? What has meaning? What happens when I die? Why do bad things happen? Each of us faces these questions and one way or another has to decide how to answer them.

When we have that debate within ourselves we face a major question. How well can I handle not knowing all the answers at the end of all my questions? If you realize that most of life is beyond your capacity to understand, but still you stand open to learn all you can, then science could become an exciting and fulfilling part of your life, including your religious life. 

       If, however, not having answers to some fundamental questions makes you feel uncomfortable, unsettled, or even fearful, you might decide you need a life perspective that has greater certainty. Religions were designed and created to do that, so religion may provide you more of that confidence than science. Most of us simply strike a tolerable balance between what we see as rational and irrational thinking.

Yes, there is a debate, but it’s not on the outside between science and religion. It is an inner debate between those ideas in your own mind that make you feel confident in the face of the unknown and those other ideas that make you fearful of the unknown. However, neither science nor religion has individual consciousness. You do. So, the decision is yours to make. In the meantime, the activities of science and religion will continue on just being what they are, no more and no less. 

Whatever you decide will be your reality. May it include love, wisdom, knowledge, and happiness.