Religion vs Spirituality

 

“Religion is for people who're afraid of going to hell.  

Spirituality is for those who've already been there.” 

 attributed to David Bowie

 

 

My friend Cookie reminded me of this quote recently.  There was a time when I was really religious, but over time I realized that nothing about Christianity made much sense.  Like so many my age we have drifted from religious orthodoxy to spiritual beliefs that suit us better.  Over time I have realized that religions are a totally human construct, having little to do with actual spiritual advancement.

 

Every single religion I have ever encountered is cluttered with human wishes and failings based on childish tales from our ignorant ancestors.  Before the advent of science, religion was the source for answers to life's many mysteries.  Over the history of humankind our dependence on the unseen forces which may -- or may not -- exist has waned.  We are slowly understanding Reality.  We know what causes disease and why the volcano blows up.  We are near to seeing the truth of all things -- a point at which "ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5) will be essentially true.

 

I have long thought of Spirit as a moving stream in which Religion is the rocks.   The stream flows over and around the rocks and over long long years gradually wears the rocks down.  We have finally reached a point where unconventional ideas can be aired in public without cries of "Heresy!" ringing out.  Not uniformly true, of course, but over the course of human history the overall direction has been forward.

 

Being raised an Episcopalian I had an excellent education in Christian theology.  Being the daughter of a medical doctor I also had a healthy understanding of reality to offset the Bible stories.  I was never taught a thing about the Bible being literally true.  I was about six when I asked our parish priest Fr Howard Hickey a solemn question.  I had figured out that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel, but that leaves three guys to one gal and I realized that was really yucky.  It also occurred to me that there was no one writing this stuff down in the Garden of Eden.  Even worse who was taking notes on Day One before God created the pencil?  

 

Fr Hickey assured me that the Old Testament is full of wonderful stories told by people who didn't know all the things we know.  Of course, the New Testament was a different matter.  Since then the more I learn about the Bible's dubious origins the less seriously I took it.  I still value it.  It has provided pivotal elements to our culture.  I have revered it right alongside all great works of our distant past.  

 

So a long time ago I left the rock of religion and entered the ever-flowing stream.  Perhaps it is the Holy Spirit -- or maybe the Dao -- or my GDW (God-Dao-Whatever).  Daoism teaches us to be like water.  Water seeks its own level, finding its way over, around and between any obstacles.  Water nourishes the soil and makes life possible.  Water also wears away the most solid structures over vast time.  Nothing is softer than a gentle rain or more destructive than a massive flood.  

 

Religions are entirely human things, based on human hopes and fears manipulated by humans who are more motivated by the power here and now than anything in the far future.  Each religion views its own texts as sacred and everyone else's as mythology.  It is high time we accept that all religions are based on mythology because not one of them actually has a monopoly on truth.  GDW is so vast as to encompass all beliefs.