Contra "Spirituality": Part 2

When we use the word "spirituality" as a label for our own personal collection of religious beliefs, what word is left for us to refer to a collection of ideas and practices related to our spirit and that of others?

If we have no word to refer to a collection of ideas and practices related to spirit, how do we attend to them? How do we attend to our spirit and that of others without language for doing so?  How do we talk about spirit without a language for it? It's like trying to talk about physics or psychology or anything else without words for what we're talking about.

When we use "spirituality" to refer to a personal collection of religious beliefs we misuse the word. We misuse it by using it in a way that has nothing to do with spirit. We thereby put ourselves at risk of deceiving ourselves into believing that our collection of religious beliefs has something to do with spirit when it doesn't. What does belief in some of the sayings of Jesus, karma, remembering past lives, transcending ego, identifying with the divine and other religious beliefs have to do with our spirit and that of others? 

Likewise, when we use the words "spiritual beliefs" to refer to religious beliefs, then we have no words to refer to beliefs about our own spirit and that of others. We misuse the word "spiritual." We do so because of our allergic reaction to the "r" word: religious. In fact, what we call "spiritual beliefs" are, more often than not, religious beliefs.

More on this in Part 3

Religious Belief a Thought Virus?

As far as we know, we human beings are the only animals on Earth that have religious beliefs.* Dogs are not religious. Cats are not religious. Neither are crows nor catfish.

Does having religious beliefs make us superior or inferior to other animals? I wonder...especially since we, like other animals, are not born religious. We humans are made religious by other humans- parents and others in positions of power over us.

Religious belief is not natural. At best it is artificial. It consists of stories we humans make up and tell to help us cope with the challenges of life. At worst it is a serious, life-denying thought virus spread by word of mouth and reinforced by guilt and fear- guilt about our natural instincts and fear of divine rejection and punishment. Guilt and fear, expressed in words of divine love, join in our hearts and give birth to a bad conscience, the symptom of a sick spirit.

If religious belief is a serious, life-denying thought virus, we do well to cleanse our hearts and minds and cure ourselves of it. When we are clear, we will be free. We will be free to live spirit-related lives in which we love and celebrate spirit as that which makes us and all the living alive.

* Those who are "spiritual but not religious" may replace "religious" with "spiritual."