..But, I know the FEELING of spirituality. I know how it FEELS different than any other emotion, and in that feeling you feel CONNECTED to everything and something larger than yourself.
Yet, what conjures these feelings for myself is not something magical, mystical, spiritual, or divine. What conjures this in me is the idea of how HUGE our universe is, how SMALL we are in comparison, and how despite all of that, we ARE connected to everything, and that the universe AS A WHOLE is something far greater than ourselves even without mystical forces, spirits, or divinity. More-so, I think that can be recognized by those who DO believe in things mystical, magical, spiritual, and divine, and through that, they can stand in even MORE awe of those forces.
Beyond that, I believe that that spiritual feeling is a PERSONAL connection to that which an individual views as the greater.
Here is a direct quote I got from a worksheet given to me me by my IC about "Virtues and Strengths" I was also given a worksheet where I was supposed to check off my strengths, and as usual I understand and respect all of them, but can'r really pick out what mine are intrinsic to me personnaly. But I will work on that later..
Here is the part I would closly relate to the confusion about human beings having a spirit, but how spirituality is allways related to religion.. One of the most freeing part of my learning about Christ was that he did not respect religion over his relationship with the father, who was spirit and life.
Ok Here it is..
" Trancendence
I use "trancendence" for the final cluster of strengths. This term is not popular throughout history---"spirituality" is the label of choice---but I wanted to avoid confusion between one of the specific strengths, spirituality, with the nonreligious strengths in this cluster. like enthusiasm and gratitude. By trancendence, I mean emotional strengths that reach outside and beyond you to connect you to something larger and more permenant: to other people, to the future, to evolution, to the divine, or to the universe."
Then HHH he has a list of sub-headings that fall into that cluster. I will list the headings but not the definitions.
1.Appreciation of beauty and excellence
2.Gratitude
3.Hope/Optimism/Future-mindedness
4.Spirituality/Sense of Purpose/Faith/Religiousness
5.Forgiveness and Mercy
6.Playfullness and Humor
7.Zest/Passion/Enthusiasm.
Here is one of the scriptures that I beleive shows the contempt Christ had towards organized religion in his day. Yes Churches do wonderful work, but it up to us to work on ourselves and traditions can only help so much to understand what is really important to God. But thats just my opinion..
Mark 7
Amplified Bible (AMP)
Mark 7
1 NOW THERE gathered together to [Jesus] the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem,
2 For they had seen that some of His disciples ate with [a]common hands, that is, unwashed [with hands defiled and unhallowed, because they had not given them a [b]ceremonial washing]--
3 For the Pharisees and all of the Jews do not eat unless [merely for ceremonial reasons] they wash their hands [diligently [c]up to the elbow] with clenched fist, adhering [carefully and faithfully] to the tradition of [practices and customs handed down to them by] their forefathers [to be observed].
4 And [when they come] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions [oral, man-made laws handed down to them, which they observe faithfully and diligently, such as], the washing of cups and wooden pitchers and widemouthed jugs and utensils of copper and [d]beds--
5 And the Pharisees and scribes kept asking [Jesus], Why do Your disciples not order their way of living according to the tradition handed down by the forefathers [to be observed], but eat with hands unwashed and ceremonially not purified?
6 But He said to them, Excellently and truly [[e]so that there will be no room for blame] did Isaiah prophesy of you, the pretenders and hypocrites, as it stands written: These people [constantly] honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far distant from Me.
7 In vain (fruitlessly and without profit) do they worship Me, ordering and teaching [to be obeyed] as doctrines the commandments and precepts of men.(A)
8 You disregard and give up and ask to depart from you the commandment of God and cling to the tradition of men [keeping it carefully and faithfully].
9 And He said to them, You have a fine way of rejecting [thus thwarting and nullifying and doing away with] the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition (your own human regulations)!
10 For Moses said, Honor (revere with tenderness of feeling and deference) your father and your mother, and, He who curses or reviles or speaks evil of or abuses or treats improperly his father or mother, let him surely die.(B)
11 But [as for you] you say, A man is exempt if he tells [his] father or [his] mother, What you would otherwise have gained from me [everything I have that would have been of use to you] is Corban, that is, is a gift [already given as an offering to God],
12 Then you no longer are permitting him to do anything for [his] father or mother [but are letting him off from helping them].
13 Thus you are nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the Word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on. And many things of this kind you are doing.
14 And He called the people to [Him] again and said to them, Listen to Me, all of you, and understand [what I say].
15 There is not [even] one thing outside a man which by going into him can pollute and defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him and make him unhallowed and unclean.
16 [f]If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening [and let him [g]perceive and comprehend by hearing].
17 And when He had left the crowd and had gone into the house, His disciples began asking Him about the parable.
18 And He said to them, Then are you also unintelligent and dull and without understanding? Do you not discern and see that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot make him unhallowed or unclean,
19 Since it does not reach and enter his heart but [only his] digestive tract, and so passes on [into the place designed to receive waste]? Thus He was making and declaring all foods [ceremonially] clean [that is, [h]abolishing the ceremonial distinctions of the Levitical Law].
20 And He said, What comes out of a man is what makes a man unclean and renders [him] unhallowed.
21 For from within, [that is] out of the hearts of men, come base and wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery,
22 Coveting (a greedy desire to have more wealth), dangerous and destructive wickedness, deceit; [i]unrestrained (indecent) conduct; an evil eye (envy), slander (evil speaking, malicious misrepresentation, abusiveness), pride ([j]the sin of an uplifted heart against God and man), foolishness (folly, lack of sense, recklessness, thoughtlessness).
23 All these evil [purposes and desires] come from within, and they make the man unclean and render him unhallowed.
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I allways heard it as .."It is not what goes into a mans mouth that defiles him, it is what comes out of it" Words are powerful.
My favorite quote I heard given as a response to someone who was trying to "Save" and individual and bring them to thier church,(Yes their church was the only "good one"), was this.
"Jesus allready had a religion, he wasn't trying to start one.."
In my opinion, that Woman knew Gods heart.