Spiritual Side of God
Article by Elizabeth J Dabrowski
Is there a difference between spirituality and religion? And if there is one, what is it?
According to Wikipedia 'Many equate spirituality with religion, but the two are separate entities; religion being just one way in which humans can experience spirituality. As cultural historian and yogi, William Irwin Thompson put it, "Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization." Whilst the terms spirituality and religion can both refer to the search for the Absolute or God (or whatever name you want to use), the experience of 'spirituality'; the human emotions of awe, wonder and reverence, are also the province of the secular/scientific, in response to their highest values, or when observing or studying nature, or the universe. One might say then, that the key difference is that religion is a type of formal external research, while spirituality is defined as a search within oneself.'
I think the biggest difference is in the fact that traditional orthodoxical religions, even though they acknowledge that God is Spirit, during the process of teaching and preaching, manage to convince us that he (excuse the male reference but it is just an old habit), apart from super natural powers, has a lot of human-like attributes (e.g. rewarding - heaven, punishing - hell) which automatically make him a separate identity from us, even more if we are taught we are his children; he watches not only over us but he watches us very closely, judging our every step, thought, everything we do.
So it is only logic that we perceive him as a Being in his own right and unless we have everything we want in life (does it ever happen?), we either keep blaming him or being scared of him but we do not identify ourselves as an integral part of him. As a matter of fact we and he are not partners, quite opposite; we are absolutely powerless in comparison and one hundred percent at his mercy.
And how could we not be? From the moment we were born we have be! en tryin g, better or worse, to secure the best outcomes for our own affairs so even if we are very religious we will be trying in many different ways to convince him to be on our side.
When we start discovering spirituality we find another side of God, the Spiritual side. We start grabbing new concepts and ideas rediscovering the meaning of God on a completely new level. Our understanding becomes deeper and more comprehendible, based on conscious choices we make as we progress.
Often we will be overwhelmed, as the idea of spirituality may be new to at least some of us, but nevertheless it is very simple, as life is simple if we do not complicate it.
If you have troubles in understanding this concept, read U.S. Andersen's "Three Magic Words ". He explains it on the basis of quantum physics in such a simple and logic way. It is a great book which I cannot recommend highly enough, and I wish I read it at least ten years ago.
But as they say "there is always a reason for everything" and I do believe that the books which show up on our ways are the right ones for us, which leads me to another issue: we do not learn from happy events, we learn through struggles.
I am not saying it is not possible to learn from nice and pleasant experiences; if you can appreciate them enough and analyze what needs to be done to have more of them in your life, your spiritual education will be so much smoother and probably quicker, but majority of us have the tendency to complicate everything. So majority learn through struggle and it takes much longer. Of course, those are our own choices and blaming anybody will not make it easier, quite opposite; it will create more struggle!
But then, I believe, all the struggles are worth the realization that we are inseparable part of the Universe; that What we call God is the Universe, The Intelligence, The Energy of which we all consist as well. The liberation in our thinking brings us hope and power to create our lives as we want them to be.
Elizabeth Da! browski writes on Spirituality and Law of Attraction subjects. You can learn more by visiting her website http://www.beingawoman.net
About the AuthorI write about what I have experienced myself, either personally or as an observer. Even though many people have influenced and shaped my theories, they are mainly based on my own development and as such reflect my very personal point of view. To find out more, visit my website http://www.beingawoman.net
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