What is spirituality?
What is religion?
It’s 2025 as I write this update to a post originally published in 2010. I’ve left the original to show my own evolution.
Despite a lot of hopeful people on the spiritual path, seeing reality is a practice and a sloughing away process.
We don’t see everything all at once.
The human being is not even designed to. We’re designed to adapt to survive. That means we see what we’re used to seeing if we’re surviving, no matter how false our sense of perception may be.
While awakening starts a process of dissolving illusions and attachments, it takes time. It takes choice.
It goes more quickly when you have support from others dissolving their ego and body attachments. Human beings are communal animals. We learn and grow best together.
But let’s back-up here, and let’s talk about what spirituality and religion are and why we need them.
Let’s also look at how the path to realizing spiritual freedom/liberation is very different than what spirituality and religion typically do.
The Purpose of Spirituality
The purpose of spirituality is to help us understand our world and how to survive in it.
Everything boils back down to survival for the human being. While there are all kinds of things that get twisted up into spirituality, we want to live.
The purpose of religion is to organize large groups of people.
Once we gave up hunter-gather tribes for civilization we needed a new way to manage all of us.
How do you share resources?
How do you handle deception and stealing when you don’t know everyone in the community because it is too big to handle?
You create rules, and you credit those rules to a deity or deities. These gods or God tell everyone what to do, and she/he/they watch over everyone. If you don’t follow the rules, you’ll get in trouble with the Divine because the Divine can see everything. The Divine will uplift you or smite you.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari is a great primer to help you understand the impacts of civilization on all of us and how we learned to organize and create belief systems, in general.
BTW, this is not an affiliate link. I genuinely believe this book is useful.
Double BTW, all content on this blog has been written by an actual human, not AI.
Coping with Suffering
However, civilization has not gone well for us. It has degraded our experience of life time and time again.
What we often confuse as progress like vaccines is a correction for the dozen of diseases that civilization created such as smallpox.
That’s right.
Vaccines are a fix for numerous diseases that we created. They’re a technology addressing the problems created by the technology of settled, farming life.
Since we rarely understand the full impact of technology and how it changes us for a generation or five, we make up beliefs about why illnesses are happening. We must not be righteous enough. We must need to balance our chakras better. We must be under a psychic attack. We must be cursed.
As such, many, many superstitions get created and reinforced to help people cope and self-medicate with suffering. If religious institutions incorporate the superstitions into their system, they become sanctified as doctrine.
Dogma or Coping: The Main Experiences of Spirituality and Religion
Spirituality and religion boil down to two main things:
- Following rules that you hope get you what you want (safety, partners, money, etc.)
- Coping or medicating pain and difficulty
There is only a very tiny percent—maybe .036% of us interested in freedom from ego (yes, I made that number up).
It’s exceedingly small, and it’s not where most of us start. Most people who come to the path for liberation are driven by suffering away from religion, rules, and dogma. Following the rules didn’t fix the suffering. So the person goes to the side of the spiritual world that is trying to help you to feel better.
When feeling better all the time fails, a more radical shift is possible.
That radical shift is to long for freedom from the ego and body’s ups and downs. I call this spiritual freedom.
Corrupted Spiritual Liberation Paths
I define spirituality on the path to freedom as the process of being engaged with life.
Letting go of illusions and attachments is critical to see reality so that we can survive and enjoy life.
I’m not the only one who has found this path. There are other spiritual paths about liberation.
Buddhism is probably the most popular.
Are Buddhism and other paths of self-realization being taught to help people realize their liberation?
Most of the time, no.
I’ve seen Buddhism taught as a list of rules. Many people know the Noble 8-fold Path by heart and so many other tenets.
I’ve seen Buddhism offered and used for meditation to try to feel better. These “I want to feel better” people always expose themselves as they acclimate to the self-medication. Eventually, that medication “isn’t working.”
I’ve heard this so many times.
“I was feeling better, but this spiritual tool doesn’t seem to work anymore.”
They and probably their teachers weren’t helping someone to realize enlightenment. They were trying to make people feel better and follow rules.
Liberation is a breaking of rules—our ego rules.
It truly needs an outside perspective to help people see what is happening inside of them.
Your ego is so normal that you think this mask is the very skin on your face.
Tearing that mask off brings howls of pain.
What spiritual practitioner really wants to deal with that?
It’s easy to try to make people feel better or have them follow rules.
Spiritual Awakening and Enlightenment
Creating an Interpretation of a Religion
The choice of being free of ego/liberated/enlightened is no small thing. As I’ve discussed, this is not what 99.983% of spirituality and religious paths are about (Yes, I made that number up too).
That doesn’t invalidate helping people to feel better.
That doesn’t invalidate the fact that people need rules to behave properly with each other. People don’t just know how to live together.
People are socialized—taught how to be in community together.
When the many other spiritual paths and religions do their job, they help people to coordinate, cooperate, and be kind.
Yes, I know.
There are plenty of religions and spiritual paths that ostracize, dominate, shame, and blame.
I’m sure more than a few “religious refugees” (people who have left organized religion) know what I’m talking about. The Bible is a huge document covering everything from creating a story for the Jewish community (Old Testament) to managing mold (seriously, it’s in there) to preaching kindness to miracles.
You literally can interpret The Bible anyway you choose to do anything you choose. You can find something to justify going on a holy war or jihad or going to the local food bank and serving meals to the hungry.
It’s up to us and the guardians of religion (the Pope, cardinals, ministers, imams, rabbis, priests, etc.) to interpret these things well.
Do You Want to Be Free of Ego?
In short, religion and spirituality serve important purposes. The true interpretation of any religion and spirituality is to serve the people—not to condemn or destroy any people, believers or not.
This small splinter group of us “freedom fighters” arrives at this place when we no longer want to live within the rules of our ego or try the endlessly losing practice of self-soothing.
We want the truth.
The truth is that modern civilization has put us into a state of distress. Our animal bodies have been in some state of shock and distress since civilization radically altered how we live our lives. We’ve been trying to figure out how to understand ourselves and our worlds ever since.
Each new technology creates more changes and shocks that we need to find a way to engage with.
Modern culture is in a horrific state of shock and reaction, constantly looking for a belief system or experience to soothe itself and manage a radically changing technological world.
However, creating more ego—a spiritual ego—that attempts to soothe itself with ideas and practices is ultimately a failing job.
Letting go of ego to see the simplicity of what we long for is immensely powerful.
We find ourselves lovers of
- fresh air,
- clean water,
- nourishing food,
- healthy community,
- great sleep, and
- lots of regular activity.
This speaks to the body. This heals and enlivens it.
And none of that is about beliefs.
Question Your Spiritual and Religious Beliefs
You can and should explore what I’m pointing towards. The truth I point towards can take it.
Ego beliefs fall apart when questioned.
One simple way to explore the truth is my breakfast challenge. It will challenge your ego beliefs about what to eat.
Try it. See how your body responds after seven days of meeting your real needs.
You are a human being with natural human needs.
That truth stands on its own.
When the ego is out of the way, you don’t need spirituality and religion to tell you this.
New post updated 1/19/2026
Original POST
This is from August 30th, 2010.
From time to time, you hear people discussing spirituality and religion and grappling with what the distinction is. For those who already consider themselves very religious, they cannot see a distinction. And for many of the refugees of religion (who are many because they feel rejected by the dominant belief system in their region), they immediately see that you can still care very much about the divine without following a specific religion.
To help you in your spiritual growth, let me offer a few words on the topics of religion and spirituality. As always, practice listening to your inner knowing to find what feels true. Do your best to not get caught up in your ego desires to believe a certain way. Religion and spirituality can be hot-button issues, but if we are mindful and notice when we are triggered, we can uproot unhealthy beliefs in ourselves and make greater space for compassion and love–two of the most important characteristics we cultivate on the spiritual path and which should be present in any true spiritual path.
Religion As a Home for Spirit
I view religion as a channel for spirituality. In being a channel , religion does not inherently own spirituality. Spirituality is that immaterial substance that is in all of life, and the spiritual path offers us that road to deeper connection to source, to the divine, to God, to the universe (You can use whatever name you need to fit your beliefs). Another way to view it is that religion is a structure. It offers practices and rules to help us figure out how to live our lives successfully. Most religions have built up over thousands of years, and like geology, they house many levels of sediment and interests that harken back to different time periods. Consider what it would be like to find rules about how to live from the fifties if spiritual texts were still trying to include all kinds of rules for daily living. You might find how to use a rotary phone a hundred years from now, which would make no sense to your life. So you can appreciate that some of the more mundane rules that many religions house in their tomes are now no longer applicable.
Yet still, there are many important core elements to focus on. When we look at deeper themes that religions offer, we can focus on what is most important and timeless without getting hooked into issues that no longer are relevant, and yes, there are irrelevant aspects of spiritual texts simply because they’re outdated. This can be upsetting to a fundamentalist, but then, the fundamentalist is playing an ego game. The timeless truth that is the foundation of all true spiritual paths, and it needs no defending. You already know many of these spiritual truths innately. They’re things like offering kindness, not intentionally hurting something, honoring agreements, telling the truth, and so forth. The religions and those wonderful spiritual teachers who honor those traditions that focus on such things do us and the whole world a huge service.
Plus, spiritual truths ultimately are quite simple. Remember that whenever things start getting super complicated, then the ego is hard at work. And it certainly has done a job in wrecking some religions or at least how some of them are perceived.
Returning to the Essence
But you don’t need to have a religion to learn how to return to the essence–how to connect to the divine. In some ways, we are all still benefiting from Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, which is credited for igniting the Protestant Reformation and spreading the idea that people can have personal relationships with the divine. A third-party is not necessary for you to connect to the divine. I don’t want to speak too much to history, but the idea that you had to go through a priest, minister, brahmin, spiritual teacher, or some other holy man (usually a holy man, unfortunately) has been a very dominant one for some time. But as we continue to embrace this simple little idea–that we all can connect to the divine on our own–we also can more fully recognize when structure–religion–can benefit us in our personal growth.
Now, I really want to emphasize that this ISN’T about picking and choosing what is comfortable. For some of my sincere students, you know how powerful and uncomfortable spiritual growth can be. It’s not always this way, but in following your path to divine connection, discomfort comes up. Along the way, a religion and a particular structure may have limited use for you. At other times, they may be really supportive. The more in tune you are with yourself, the less likely you are to need an external set of rules or a spiritual person to tell you how to live mindfully and kindly. It starts to become innate. Being kind becomes natural because it is.
Honoring Others’ Needs For Spiritual Guidance
Even as many of you understand and feel your connection more and more, I encourage you to appreciate religion’s role in society and that other people may need more spiritual guidance than you. For many centuries, religion really was the only form of codified law in a lot of societies. Secular law is still very much in its infancy. And in many parts of the world, religious law is still the rule of the day, and that’s okay. Every society has its own path and karma to follow. In societies with secular law, it’s important to honor that many people still need and want religious guidance on a great many matters. This is okay. So long as no one is imposing their values on others (and I know this is a sticky point) or overtly hurting others, I encourage you all to have compassion for these differing needs.
Those of you whom I called “religious refugees” earlier may still have wounds from how a particular congregation and religious group treated you in the name of their religion. All I can do is encourage you to work through your wounds and heal. If something is egregious such as an example of child sexual abuse by a priest, then you have every right to seek justice. However, the deepest justice and peace you will ever find is in following the spiritual path inwards to heal. In this way, if you feel like religion failed you, then turn more deeply to the spiritual path–that path inwards to your own divinity that is always here.
When Religion Becomes Hollow
Because this is another topic worth mentioning, many people get lost in doing things and in having religious practices. By themselves, practices and beliefs are not the truth. If you do not understand the connection of the divine in your heart and soul, you cannot truly take communion and be baptized. It won’t mean anything. You simply ate food and got doused with water. In this way, religion is hollow instead of hallowed if we are not sincere in our inner devotion–our devotion to spirit within us and around us.
People who do not learn this underlying truth of spirituality can become exceedingly attached to the forms and when challenged about their religion, can become very angry. Without the religion practices and structure, they feel adrift. They can feel like the structure gives them spiritual meaning that somehow they believe they do not already have. As such, they already are adrift by focusing on these exterior concerns, which includes mental constructs about who they think they are. But spirituality cannot give us meaning. It doesn’t need to. Because only the ego needs meaning. We already are, and we are beautiful. But no matter how forgetful someone is, the path inwards is always there for you. God is always there for you, waiting for you to come how to the truth of your divinity. And this is a most encourag
Finding Your Connection to the Divine
As you discover your connection to the divine, your need for external structures will shift. Some things will fall away. If meditation got you to a certain point, you may find that you don’t need it as much if at all. In some ways, you’ll find yourself embodying spirit–your spirit, the universe’s spirit. You’ll begin to understand oneness and the illusion of separation. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. I just wanted to remind you where we’re going so that you don’t get caught up in definitions like what is religion or what is spirituality. They’re just starting points–questions to help your begin to focus your consciousness.
If I haven’t simplified things enough, here are two very simple definitions for spirituality and religion:
- Religion–The structure, beliefs, and practices that guide us to spirituality
- Spirituality–Our divinity and connection to the divine, which is in all things
Plenty of Religions and Spiritual Paths to Choose
So go find your spiritual flavor. So long as a group is preaching love and openness, you can be sure that it’s safe. There are some weird cults out there that get into mind control and fear-based tactics. They should be avoided at all costs. The big name religions you can be sure are pretty safe: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, yoga (the full path not just the exercise poses) and so forth as long as they are focusing on loving kindness. Study the texts that they are founded on, and pay attention specifically to the teachers. There are lots of interpretation of spiritual teachers like Jesus and Buddha, but the closer you are to the enlightened ones, the closer you are to clear explanations of the truth. So listen to those teachers most of all, as well continuing to learn how to listen to your truth.
As you find a religion or spiritual path that serves you, don’t hold on too tight. An open hand receives from the universe; a closed hand can hold very little and receive nothing. Proceed with an open hand and a discerning heart, and things can shift and unfold for you.
Next blog: What Is a Spiritual Teacher?
