Spiritual vs Religious
Religion and spirituality are often discussed together and are both essential aspects of human life. They help individuals gain a deeper understanding of their lives and existence, enabling them to cope with life’s challenges.
What is Spiritual?
Spirituality can be defined as a process of personal transformation in accordance with certain religious ideals. Since the 19th century, spirituality has been more focused on personal experience and psychological growth, rather than being tied to religion. There is no single widely-agreed upon definition for spirituality, so it can be any experience or meaningful activity that brings about personal transformation. According to Waaijman, spirituality can be traditionally defined as the effort to recover the original shape of man in the image of God. In modern terms, spirituality denotes a process of transformation that is triggered by a meaningful activity, making it a very subjective experience.
What is Religious?
Religion can be described as a philosophy or method of thought based on an organized set of cultural beliefs and systems created by humans to give meaning to human existence. This is achieved by connecting communities with a higher power through rituals, stories, and beliefs. Religion is an open community that usually allows freedom of thought to its members, with principles that have been established and accepted by large groups of people for an extended period. In most cases, individuals are born into their religion, while others choose or convert to a religion of their choice after experiencing, researching, and extensively studying it. Being religious means wholeheartedly believing and placing faith in the beliefs and practices of one’s religion.
Key Takeaways
- While a religious person is typically spiritual, a spiritual person is not always religious.
- Religion is more tangible, involving worshiping idols, symbols, and fixed ideals, while spirituality is more intangible and vague.
- Religion has a basic moral code, a set of core values, and a story outline, whereas spirituality does not feature these characteristics.
