spirituality and religion - what are the differences?

by soft+gentle 68 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  00DAD

  Jeffro: Some aspects (particularly, the more rational bits) of what some people call spirituality are actually philosophy.

  Interesting thought and I appreciate the distinction you are attempting to make.

  I'm going to have to think about this for awhile before I try to articulate my thoughts on it, but a cursory response would be that while there may be some overlap between spirituality and philosophy, they are not the same.

  In deed, much philosophizing gets into speculating about things supernatural that are neither provable nor disprovable.

  00DAD
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  rather be in hades

  i am not sure the two are mtually exclusive

  there are many religions that claim to be nondenominational

  many that are very accepting of others differences

  there are some christian churches that are very accepting of homosexuals and within any particular religion, you have people that have a very wide range of beliefs

  i think of this more like the difference between ionic bonds and molecular bonds

  there is a range and a mixture.

  spirituality - - - - miixture of the two- - - - - religion

  in my own personal view, i think of the extreme end of spirituality as stressing the personal relationship with god, while 100% rejecting any sort of organized form of worship. how YOU do it is how YOU do it

  conversely, in my own view, i see the extreme end of religion as stressing the relationship with the religion while minimizing the relationship with god.

  and then you have the mixtures which say that they don't care what you believe per se, they want the fellowship, association and the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other while finding that path to god. some have more rituals and organization than others.

  that's why i don't really see the two as mutually exclusive

  just my 2c.
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  Jeffro

  there may be some overlap between spirituality and philosophy

  True. But quite a lot of philosophy is fairly irrational as well.
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  Fernando

  God created the time-space dimensions we live in.

  He resides in much higher dimensions.

  For me spirituality describes an awakened condition where we are aware of our inner human spirit, its connection with higher dimensions, information from these dimensions, and those residing in these dimensions.
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  Fernando

  Carl Sagan makes higher dimensions sound rather simple (7 minutes):

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwL_zi9JNkE
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  Fernando

  Multiverse theory by Dr Michio Kaku (10 minutes):

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBrIBs3YRWI
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  Jeffro

  God created the time-space dimensions we live in.
  He resides in much higher dimensions.

  That presumption is about as valid as the 1960 claim in The Watchtower that god would use antimatter at Armageddon. It barely even makes the grade of pseudo-scientific drivel.
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  apostatethunder

  Religion is the social and public expression of spirituality.
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  00DAD

  Jeffro: ... quite a lot of philosophy is fairly irrational as well.

  Yes, that's what I meant when I said, " Indeed, much philosophizing gets into speculating about things supernatural that are neither provable nor disprovable. "

  Why is it that even when we agree with each other your responses seems like you're being contrary?

  00DAD
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  AllTimeJeff

  I think that spirituality and faith are part of the human condition that most religions to one degree or another use to control and often exploit.

  One big difference in my view is that a spiritual person need not be burdened with the mind controlling (& brain damaging) concept of sin, which is the main device most religions use for control.

  If there were no teachings on what is "sinful", the need for religions to interpret and control the actions of their followers would be nil.