Spiritual or Religious? Yes, And.
Every writing piece of mine begins with a topic and the question, what do I think about this? This is typically followed by a quick dive into the internet for confirmation and a resulting clarification. Then the essay basically writes itself. Today’s topic began as a question and still remains that way.
As with many things in our modern day life there is limited agreement on the meaning of many specific words. One of those words is spiritual. What does it mean to be spiritual? What do you actually mean when you say spiritual? Recently, I was listening to a podcast on spirituality and its relationship to mental wellbeing so they started off with each participant defining for the group what he or she meant by the word. Here are some responses: “It is the experiencing of the sacred.” “On a bad day I might look up and say out loud “‘Help me God.”’ “It is a sense of a greater thing than the blood and bones and oxygen that we reach for in humanity.” “It is a relationship with the bigger more metaphysical world that is not specific to any religion. It is a felt connection to the world beyond ourselves that includes ourselves that we can feel but we can’t prove.” “It is how I am able to right-size myself in comparison to a higher power.” There is a lot to sift through here but they all seem to be settling on a the theme of spirituality involving a higher power. So at least, that may be a starting place.
We now have been through several decades of a common poll answer to the question of religious affiliation for many Americans being “spiritual but not religious.” During some of those years, I too would have nodded my head and agreed that I leaned closer to the spiritual side of the two polarities. But what are we actually saying if each respondent has a different definition of what it means to be spiritual.
It is clear that America is leaving organized religion behind and it’s not unwarranted given the known behavior of many of our leaders, both religious and political. But even I have been stunned at the diminishing number of people in America who claim to be religious and perhaps spiritual or both, and. According to the latest numbers from Gallop, only 32% of Americans attend church weekly. When I look around in church I see mostly senior citizens so I’m assuming that is our local 32%. You can find all the numbers and charts you might want here: How Religious are Americans?
If you want more, I can also recommend this Substack:
Since I still remain hesitant to create a clear and coherent definition for spiritual, I can at least share where I presently stand. To begin with, when I speak of spiritual, I think of it in reference to the three planes of existence: physical, mental, and spiritual. I think of these planes as three panes of glass with the exterior layer being the physical, moving in toward the spiritual. Slowly as I move deeper into the spiritual realm, the outer pane becomes thinner and I struggle to differentiate my physical being at all. I am no longer aware of the space around me. It is what is often called the thinning of the veil that separates the physical from the spiritual. It helps for me to think of Jesus’s reminder that You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Heart and soul tend toward the spiritual, mind to the mental, and strength to the physical.
I’m definitely in alignment with saying that to be spiritual is to believe in a higher being. You can call it God, Source, Creator, Energy, or Divine Love. There is simply something out there bigger, more powerful, more loving, more knowledgeable than me or any other human. There is a spirit or power that has put life as we know it into. motion.
This chart may be helpful in delineating the differences between naming ourselves as religious, spiritual or both:
I am much clearer about my spiritual practices; I put into that bucket anything I that brings me closer to God and helps me tap into the spiritual plane where I am able to gradually and at least partially leave behind the physical realm. I am still physically here but my mind is released from thoughts and ideas and I become united with my creator or spiritual source. This could be a walk in the woods, structured prayer in my spirituality corner, or something much more mundane like coffee with a friend as we chew on the day’s events or scripture readings. For me, one of those practices is still attendance at church. Two things keep me coming back: a good homily and Eucharist. One feeds my brain and the other my spirit.
As we, who claim a religious affiliation, look toward the future it may appear concerning. I am reading more and more from spiritual teachers like Father Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest who are predicting that the future of the Christian church lies in the areas of mysticism and spirituality. Karl Rahner in his book Concern for the Church in 1981 said,
The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not exist at all.
So if that it is true, the pendulum is indeed in motion and if our leaders continue to look away, spirituality may soon win out over organized religion. Father Rohr and his community at Center for Action and Contemplation (Center for Action and Contemplation) have definitely been moving in that direction.
For the time being, I continue to find great comfort and a deeper relationship with God while I can still walk in the worlds of both religion and spirituality. I choose to attend mass with my community surrounded by inspiring music and the eucharist that brings me oneness with Jesus. While at the same time I choose to develop my personal relationship with God sitting alone in silence, paying attention to the presence of each moment in creation, surrendering to mystery and leaving my head, heart, and arms open for the Spirit to work in and through me. To the question of my personal religious affiliation, I choose to respond Yes, and.