Spirituality and Religion

Spirituality is one of those charged words, loaded with connotations, crying out for precision, begging for clarification as to the user’s point of view. Religion has connotations of its own, and far less subtle ones to be sure. All too often, though, they're used interchangeably. It's worthwhile, then, to spend some time differentiating the two.

Spirituality is something that we all possess or manifest simply by virtue of being alive in this human form. Religion, on the other hand, is something that we choose to take part in or not. Spirituality is a universal human experience or quality, whereas religion asks that an individual’s spirituality be brought into accord with its dictates – its rituals, teachings, and beliefs. Spirituality and religion might coincide, as in the case of a healthy individual functioning in a healthy religious organization, or they might be divorced from each other, as in a religious organization that is more about wielding power over its members than facilitating their spiritual growth. The following Venn diagram shows this relationship between spirituality and religion quite clearly. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide how realistic the relative proportions are.

As you can see from the diagram, spirituality, being a universal quality, is the larger of the ovals. That religion overlaps with spirituality instead of falling entirely within its domain relates to the fact that religious practice may or may not be imbued with spirituality. For instance, if a religious ritual is performed without regard, without meaning, without any investment on the part of the practitioner, then that practice lacks the quality of being spiritual. Ritual performed in such a way would fall into that part of the diagram on which the N of religion falls; it is religious without being spiritual. When an individual finds a religion that is a good fit it is because the structure of the religious organization provides appropriate context for that individual’s spirituality to flourish, gain direction, become actualized, etc. When there’s not a good fit it is because the religion is stifling or somehow suppresses that individual’s spirituality.

The reason spirituality is such a charged word, I think, is because our hearing it prompts us to access our own deeply held views regarding what constitutes reality and then compare them with the views of others with whom we may or may not agree. For instance, staunch adherents to methods of science and rationality, in general, and strict materialists, in particular, might chafe at the insinuation that some other (spirit) realm exists outside that which is accessible to scientific inquiry. More doctrinally-oriented religious practitioners might decry the growing tendency of individuals to engage in (invent) their own brand of spirituality outside the bounds of organized religion. Still others might be so fed up with all of the violence, repression, sexual abuse, gender and other discrimination perpetrated either in the name of religion that they turn their back on both religion and spirituality entirely. Perhaps you've already made up your mind which camp you fall into. Such haste is not required, however. Let’s dig a little deeper.

Yes, some people do use the word spirituality in reference to matters of the soul. Such usage almost invariably involves either a belief in a deity that the soul is striving to merge with or rejoin, or a belief in some other metaphysical system wherein a soul transmigrates and progresses through a series of incarnations, ultimately leading (perhaps) to oneness (whatever that may be.) If you place utmost value in those truths that only science may discern, then the realm of the spiritual as just described may hold little value for you. Likewise, spirituality, to the extent it is practiced outside the confines of structured religious systems, might be viewed with suspicion by those who place utmost value in truths promulgated by the doctrines of those various institutions. If your truth comes to you fully formed and beyond question right from the pages of your holiest of books or the interpreters thereof, then the realm of the spiritual might not be of much interest to you either. On the other hand, if you're a spiritual or scientific-minded individual who's had enough of religion – who's seen far too many incidents of petty humans spouting high-minded ideals even as they destroy people’s lives – I would simply ask the following: Are you sure you’re not throwing the baby out with the bathwater? Are you certain that you’re not turning your back on yourself?

Webster’s Dictionary notes that spirit is derived from the Latin word, spiritus, which relates to “breath, courage, vigor, the soul, life.” On one level, then, spirit might merely refer to that which animates the otherwise inanimate matter of our bodies, thereby making us alive. It need not refer to any metaphysical reality at all. Sure enough, the definition does go on to mention souls and deities and supernatural beings, but it also refers to “the thinking, motivating, feeling part of man,” as well as the “life, will, consciousness, thought, etc., regarded as separate from matter.” It would seem, then, that the definition of spirituality is big enough for everyone – from avowed atheists to those who simply cannot conceive of a life not accompanied by an afterlife.

In recent years there's been a resurgence of interest in spirituality and religion within the disciplines of counseling and psychology. Progress is being made in the areas of measuring spirituality and determining its impact on recovery, resiliency, and coping. Mansager (2002) distills much of this research and summarizes individual spirituality as comprising the four aspects of striving, personal integration, self-transcendence, and the determination of that which is of ultimate value. In this regard spirituality would seem to be important work for each of us regardless of religious affiliation, or lack thereof.

My hope, then, is that those who’ve come to consider themselves strongly religious will also come to know the fullest depths of their spirituality – if indeed they have not. Conversely, to the extent that religion has the potential to provide structure for individual spirituality to flourish, I hope the “spiritual but not religious” among us might find a good fit, like a rose bush finding a good trellis – if indeed they might benefit from it. And for those who may eschew all things spiritual and religious, it is my hope and belief that it is only so many clunky and inadequate words that separate us from being able to share in rich detail what it means to be fully human – for I am not about to assume that you lack anything at all.

This post originally appeared in 2011 and was updated and revised with a new closing paragraph in March, 2019.

References

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Buss, D. M., & Larson, R. J. (2002). Personality psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature. In J.E. Karpacz (Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

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Mansager, E. (2000). Individual psychology and the study of spirituality. The Journal of Individual Psychology, 56(3), 371-388.

Mansager, E., & Eckstein, D. (2002). The transformative experience questionnaire (TEQ): Spirituality in a couples context. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 10(2), 227-233.

McKechnie, J. L. (Ed.). (1979). Webster’s new twentieth century dictionary (2^nd ed.). New World Dictionaries/Simon and Schuster.

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Zinnbauer, B. J., & Pargament, K. I. (2000). Working with the sacred: Four approaches to religious and spiritual issues in counseling. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78(2), 162-171.

Copyright 2011, 2019 by Mark Robert Frank