Spirituality and religion :
CELIA KOURIE in A “TURN” TO SPIRITUALITY-PDF points out that spirituality is not necessarily linked to religion. It is possible to practise a deep spirituality without necessarily being religious in the accepted understanding of the word. In fact, certain adherents of spirituality consider religion as antagonistic to spirituality and consider the two to be mutually exclusive.
Some students of spirituality maintain that its main characteristics comprise relationships with things, nature, other people and the Ultimate (in whatever term this is understood) as well as true morality and integration, rather than being linked to religious practices.
In an age of secularism and agnosticism, true spirituality may be the way forward for those who cannot align themselves with traditional religion. An understanding of spirituality which effects aesthetic appreciation, and a deep interior conviction of the connectedness of all things, will perhaps bring women and men back to the realities of a life lived for others, and away from enslavement to material things and self-centredness. Clearly, given the fact that many people claim to be spiritual, but not religious, one cannot deny the validity of their particular path.
By way of SUMMARY, therefore, spirituality in general refers to the values to which we subscribe which give meaning and orientation to our lives. Spirituality entails the ongoing harmonious integration of the whole human person. Whereas “religion” has connotations of institution, ritual, articulation of doctrine, etc., spirituality refers to something which is deeply personal, inward, experiential and authentic in the lives of its practitioners.
Spirituality can also be linked to art and music, to the aesthetic sense, and thus offers access for those who locate themselves in the secular, or find themselves resistant to religious discourse. It is thus possible to be religious without being spiritual, and to be spiritual without being religious. However, this is not to posit an irrevocable gulf between spirituality and religion. On the contrary, in many instances the former gives life to the latter.
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