“Spiritual but not Religious” How Do You do That?

“I’m spiritual but not religious” is one of the catch phrases you’ll hear a good bit these days.

My question about this is, “How do you do that?”

Just exactly what do you do to be spiritual without being religious?

Do you kind of sit quietly from time to time and think beautiful thoughts?

Maybe you go for a hike and think, “Gee this is really a nice day!” Do you smile at folks and think to yourself, “I can see the sunshine of eternity in their smile!” Maybe  you feel warm when you read that poem about walking on the beach and there was only one set of footprints and that’s when the Lord carried you?” Do you maybe light a candle from time to time and turn out the lights and feel spiritual for a time? Do you sit cross legged on the mountaintop and watch the sunrise?

I just can’t figure out how a person can be spiritual without being religious because wouldn’t you have to be religious (at least a little bit) to be spiritual?

Saying you’re spiritual but not religious is like saying you love sports but you don’t play a sport and don’t watch it on TV or go to any games, because once you tried to play the sport or even go to the games you would have to be taking part in the rules that make sport actually happen.

Saying you’re spiritual but not religious would be like saying you love music, but you don’t play an instrument, never took music lessons, don’t go to concerts and don’t listen to music through your headphones even. Because if you were to do any of those things you would be taking advantage of the rules and regulations and structures and strictures that actually make music possible.

The root of the word “religious” is “to bind”. That means you bind yourself to a certain rule or way of doing things. It’s not all free flowing, do as you please and make it up as you go along. Just as there are rules to the game, music on the page and a map for the journey, so there is religion to make “being spiritual” possible.

Surely as soon as a person starts to try to “be spiritual” they start being religious. Continue Reading

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