Spirituality versus Religion

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Maybe you call it something different? It doesn't have to be religious. If you value family, that's part of your spirit (who you are). If you value money, that's part of who you are-that's your spirit. What makes you-you. Unless you're an alien I'm sure you have ethics and values that make you, you regardless the names you call it?

What do you mean by "spirit"?

 

[Unveiled Artist]

What do you mean by "spirit"?

Fancy and collective word of a collage of things I value, believe in, like, personality, etc that makes me who I am as a person. Some say this is their consciousness others say it's a part of them but still separate like spirits walking on earth without a body. Technically, spirit means: Definitions of Spirit

What I take from it is

1/ A force or principle believed to animate living beings. Aka Energy

2/ The part of a human associated with the mind, will, and feelings aka personality or someone's psychosis (Cant' think of the word)

3/ An attitude marked by enthusiasm, energy,or courage

Religiously, people tie it to consciousness, god, and so forth. Bias word nowadays.

 

[arthra]

Better to just quietly believe and keep following than risk expulsion or death.
Better would be a 'prophet' who guided his students to become prophets themselves, surpassing his own revelation with their own.

The experience I've seen is that a Prophet has a mission to share with others what has been given Him rather than keeping silent... Revelation is bestowed rarely and when given is sometimes a challenge to the established order and this can mean expulsion or death...

In literature read Dostoyevsky's The Grand Inquisitor or Nikos Kazanzakis' The Last Temptation of Christ or read "A Prophet in Modern Times" by A.L.M. Nicolas.

 

[Windwalker]

The experience I've seen is that a Prophet has a mission to share with others what has been given Him rather than keeping silent...

When I said "better to keep silent than risk expulsion", I was not referring to the visionary or prophet. I was referring to the vast majority of those who join the religion created in the prophet's name where they join seeking truth and enlightenment, but the system does everything to discourage them from thinking for themselves and even challenging the prophet's teaching. The fear of expulsion is how they keep the system alive for its own sake. Not many are as compelled as the "prophets" to risk their own isolation or death for the sake of Truth.

But I agree that those who allow themselves to drink at will of that Water at their own risk do end up with this need to share. It's what happens when you move from deficiency needs into Abundance needs. There are of course other reasons why people "share" their religion which is not out of Abundance, but actually deficiency needs itself where they are seeking affirmation for themselves by getting others to convert to their points of view, and so forth. There is a subtle, yet pronounced difference between the two in where they begin from and end up.

Revelation is bestowed rarely and when given is sometimes a challenge to the established order and this can mean expulsion or death...

I'll put it this way. I believe it's not rare at all. It's freely available to all, at all times, irrespective of who you are. It's the infinite pool of Water from which we all drink in some portion everyday. But what is actually "rare" is those who feel so compelled as to abandon all else for the sake of it and to drink their fill. It is those who have overcome their own selves and all other voices as they give themselves over wholly to it.

Think of it in terms of Jesus' teaching of the sower and the seed. The seed (being "revelation" in this context) is freely scattered. But it only takes root and grows and survives on soil that is prepared to receive it. What is rare is a heart that is truly opened, and remains open. It is "bestowed" upon everyone and everything, like light streaming down from the sun. But not all are ready to receive it.

I personally think it is better to get away from the view that these who are are "chosen". We all are chosen. Not all of us however choose to receive. The "prophets" are just "you" in a different place with their lives. All the rest are myths we create about these people in order to have some object for your own faith to believe in, in the hopes you recognize it is in you already. The don't have the Answers, with a capital A. It doesn't work like that. Ultimately answers come from within each of us, unique to each of us. It's our own unfolding, not someone else's, that teaches us Truth.

 

[arthra]

I believe it's not rare at all. It's freely available to all, at all times, irrespective of who you are. It's the infinite pool of Water from which we all drink

Here we must part my friend... insight yes.. inspiration yes... Divine Revelation is only bestowed on whom God wills.

 

[Windwalker]

Here we must part my friend... insight yes.. inspiration yes... Divine Revelation is only bestowed on whom God wills.

I see no difference in substance, only in how people choose to mythologize it for themselves. From my perspective, God wills it for everyone. When people claim to speak as an oracle of God, saying things like "It's not my words, but God's," I consider that a bit confused about the nature of this. They are viewing it as completely independent of themselves, and that is untrue.

 

[Sister Cyber]

I would think that a person that doesn't follow a religion would not be a Christian.

To be Christian does not mean to follow a religion. To be Christian means to be Christ-like or like Christ. On that note, Jesus was not a Christian. He was a Hebrew Israelite, and he didn't harp on religion; he referred to scripture and followed the customary practices of his culture, and yes, he was spiritual.