Spiritual Robots Take Over the Church!

Thomas Merton, in his spiritual classic, Spiritual Direction and Meditation, writes:

The spiritual man is one who, ‘whether he eats or drinks or whatever else he does, does all for the glory of God’  (1 Corinthians 10:31). Again, this does not mean that he merely registers in his mind an abstract intention to glorify God. It means that in all his actions he is free from the superficial automatism of conventional routine. It means that in all that he does he acts freely, simply, spontaneously, from the depths of his heart, moved by love.

I actively encourage people not to act spiritual, but to be spiritual. I abhor the religious spirit and the pretention and “superficial automatism” that it brings. I encourage authenticity, believing that the free person is most spiritual without even intending it. Unfortunately, this brings great offence to the intentionally religious and the conventionally spiritual.