SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION: TWO OPPOSITE SIDES OF A COIN - BY ADE ASH

When you think about it, one will be left puzzled as to what makes spirituality differ from religion. Overtime, there has been a misconception between these two and so to make things easier understood, I will attempt to look at it and decipher what both mean or stand for.

Spirituality resonates around the firm belief that there is in existence a superior spirit being who
oversees the affair of mankind and because of this, spirituality emphasize that we keep our spirit conscious.

The yearning to keep our spirits connected is what drives many of us to embrace some certain religious practices/beliefs.

Deeper than confessing you believe in 'this' or 'that', what spirituality is pre occupied with is keeping the spirit being in us active and also keep track of what goes in and comes out of us.

To buttress the point stated earlier, I came across a quote some months back which simply said ''we are spirit beings undergoing a human experience'' Doesn’t that nail the coffin? What the quote clearly states is that the spirit being is what deserves more attention...more care. To care for the spirit, we must endeavour to keep in touch with the ''control tower''. The Control tower is like the mothership where all other small ships come out from. This control tower will always be ready to communicate and accept any ship it owns and keep them protected from vices. Going further on the contrast between religionism and spiritualism, we can site that in religion one is made to go through a lot before one can be certified a religious person.

There are also certain standards turn ethics that are set in place and when one fails to meet up with these demands, such an individual is tagged a lost soul. This conception attached to religion is totally wrong and often times perceived as being biased.

Religion is more a burden on humanity and this backed up with the proof of what is playing out in the world today. The likes of ISIS, Al qaeda, Al shabaab and Boko Haram have all surfaced as results of individual feelings, they don’t align with a certain pattern of belief therefore are doing their own ''Jihad'', forcing their new set of beliefs on their victims and in a case were one refuses to comply, death is served cold.

Albeit this violence is propagated more by the Muslims, this doesn’t in any way exempt Christians who are also capable of preaching what is false. The church has followed the way of the world and accepted things that originally should not be accepted. Consequently, people want to set up churches based on what they believe in and subsequently hunt for followers.

In conclusion, spirituality is a personal thing and only involves the individual doing his/her best to keep the spirit lifted, cleansed and active. It involves awakening the inner mind which in turn opens our inner mind to see the simplicity in life.