Understanding Spirituality

W hat is the difference between religion and spirituality? Is religion the same as spirituality? Is spirituality a religion? What are the elements of spirituality? A few questions cross your mind while having a spirituality vs. religion debate in your mind. Both spirituality and religion are used interchangeably in common parlance. Religion is typically an organized institution of beliefs, dogmas, rituals, prayers... It is also soaked in mythology and centers around the founding father of the religion. It has roots in faith and is associated with the history of the legends of that faith system. It's objective in its outlook as it's more related to the performance of certain physical acts in the form of rituals. It represents a mass of people who follow and are bound by common elements of faith in their scriptures.   All religions typically have a place of worship and a system of priests. The emphasis is on rituals, ceremonies, festivals, and other outer forms of expression. A ...

  You find science and spirituality often being contradictory and leading in opposite directions. Common questions you usually ask yourself are; whether to believe science or spirituality as the basis of life? What is the truth of existence – science or spirituality? Can science and spirituality coexist?... You seem to be pulled apart figuring out whether the logic of science or age-old spiritual traditions is right. We live in the same world of realities. We share the same sun, moon, and stars. At the individual level, we all feel hunger, sleep, and emotions. Our experiences of the physical world and the emotional world are the same. Then why this difference in defining the  truth  of the same life? Maybe the whole picture is being viewed in a fragmented manner and the WHOLE truth is not clear to us. Science is the systematic study of knowledge through observations and analysis. Science is dependent on the physical senses and intellect to conclude. It considers t...

  The neverending physical and emotional turmoil in life makes all of us disgusted and dissatisfied with it. The basic instinct of life is pleasure. There are glimpses of happiness scattered through life. But, the permanent State of happiness eludes everyone.  We engage in all types of activities, money, power, position, sensual pleasures, adventures... and so on to find this sense of pleasure in our lives. But, it results only in a mixture of pains and pleasures. Our ego pushes us to struggle to overcome episodes of pain in our lives. We devise new means, rules, and technologies. But only see exponential growth in pains along with pleasure.  The struggle never ends. The pains never end. The duality of pains and pleasures continues. We experience the pains and pleasures at the body, mind, and intellect levels. It's these three entities that you consider being "Me" and the things associated with these as "Mine".  The body is the only means of perception and actio...