Religion vs Spirituality
Since all religious subjects are much controversial and as the terms, religion and spirituality, are used by many as if they are synonyms, this article brings out the difference between religion and spirituality. Religion can be defined as a belief in and reverence for a divine power. It can be a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship. Institutionalized Religion focuses on dogmas and rules whereas spirituality focuses on the soul that dwells within you. The American psychologist William James (1842–1910) defines spirituality as “the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine.” Religion and spirituality are two terms that do not appear to have any difference at all in their sense, but they do have some difference for sure.
What is Religion?
Religion is all about beliefs and worship. In short it can be said that religion refers to a group. Religion focuses more on the outside due to its indulgence in dogmas and rules that are often felt rigid by the people.
Religion, on the contrary, aims at imbibing faiths in you about certain dogmas pertaining to a group of followers of a particular faith. It helps in shaping your character by giving importance to the adherence of the dogmas and rules. It says once you stick to the rules and dogmas you are sure to emerge out as a man with character. Religion is in short a character-building concept.
Religion leads towards discipline. Religion builds discipline of the individual.
What is Spirituality?
Spirituality is about the soul within matter. The matter corresponds to our body. Soul is different from the body. Anything pertaining to the soul or the spirit is spiritual. Spirituality refers to an individual. Unlike religion, spirituality on the contrary concentrates and focuses more on the ‘within.’ The term ‘within’ applies to the individual soul.
Spirituality is all about the individual. It is about the realization of the supreme self within you. The realization of the innate power within you to combat all situations in life is the goal of spirituality. Spirituality aims at building strength of the mind and the spirit. It speaks about the real truth of life. Spirituality aims at making you strong by mind. It aims at the elimination of what are all untrue. Spirituality is a mind-building concept. It shapes the mind of the individual. It is individual oriented in content.
Spirituality leads towards enlightenment. Spirituality builds the individual himself.
What is the difference between Religion and Spirituality?
The perfect combination of both is needed in the present days for man to succeed in life. You need to have a perfect blend of religion and spirituality to succeed in your life. You need to be spiritually strong to react to successes and failures of life. You need to be religiously strong too in order to shape your character.
• Religion focuses on dogmas and rules followed by a particular sect or group of people whereas spirituality focuses on the soul that dwells within you.
• It can be said that religion focuses on the outside; spirituality focuses on the within.
• Religion comes from outside whereas spirituality comes from within.
• Religion shapes the character of the individual whereas spirituality aims at shaping the individual himself.
• Religion makes a person disciplined, whereas spirituality makes a person strong by mind.
• Religion aims at building faiths and customs, whereas spirituality aims at building the strength of the soul. It makes the person ready to combat any situation in life.
Hence, you can say that religion is a subset of spirituality. If you think deeply then you will come to know that once you are spiritually strong you need no religion to survive. You become a polished individual once you train in spirituality.
Further Reading:
- Difference Between Carnality and Spirituality
- Difference Between Religion and Philosophy
- Difference Between Religion and Ideology
- Difference Between Religion and Mythology
david says
I have alwats seen religion as a set of man made rules, dogmas and precepts that are really about mans relationships with his fellow men (or women) it is about horizontal relationships. Spirituality is a VERTICAL and individual circumstance that is almost entirely about ones personal and individual relationship with some higher power (be that higher power a God, or Gods or life force or whatever name you give it) The difference is that it is PERSONALLY and exclusively about SeLF and the Higher power.
Victor says
There is true spirituality and false spirituality. True spirituality is about a loving God who cares for us as a heavenly Father, and who is taking the initiative to build a relationship with his sons and daughters on earth. False spirituality is about the “freedom” for each individual to construct his own spirituality based on whatever he/she feels.
A says
Whomever wrote this piece, I am sad to say, understands only a little about religion and seems to have a pre-existing bias against it in their last comment. I would argue that religion protects the individual from going down dangerous paths. Spirituality presupposes one thing. That Spirit exists. The question then becomes, which Spirit? Is it a Spirit of Good or Evil? How do you know? That’s where religion comes in. Generations of experience and relationship with God. Everyone has a soul. Not a spirit. Which spirits you let influence you can do as much harm as good, if not more so. Free will is yours to follow or not follow the path. But as with everything in life, learning is key. We teach our children skills to protect them and prepare them for life. Why then is teaching skills to protect your soul such a bad thing? Believe in God, not man when it comes to religion. Spirituality is part of religion and I agree with Victor, it’s building a relationship with God. If we just go by people, we’re easily put off. People are not perfect. Some religious people just go through the motions without exploring the spiritual side of it at all. But anyone who’s serious about their Faith, sits down, looks into it, thinks about it and prays (which is conversation with God) and spends time with God, soon finds a spirituality that’s deep, rich and meaningful and an inner strength that can only come from the Divine. If we just rely on ourselves, at some point you’ll meet a crisis in your life where you’re helpless and can’t see a way out. Some will argue that you’re not strong enough spiritually. There’s a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. There’s a reason for that.