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Musings: Spirituality & Religion: One and the Same … Or Not?

February 1, 2018 | Azim Khamisa | Comments Off on Musings: Spirituality & Religion: One and the Same … Or Not? | ,
Let me start by sharing some good news: the rights to my third book “The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit – How to Bounce Back from Life’s Hardest Hits” (co-authored with Jillian Quinn), originally published by Random House, has recently been acquired so that it can be republished by Waterside Press (Link to Book). The book has been in popular demand; however it was difficult to find as Random House had stopped printing copies. So, I am excited to share that the book is now widely available on my website plus Amazon.com and your local book retailer. (Note: if you purchase the book on my website, we will send you an autographed copy.)

I mention this early in my musings for two reasons:
  1. For those who have been waiting for this book, you can now find it.
  2. The book deals extensively with the topic of spirituality and religion, which is the subject of this musing.
Over the last 22-plus years of work that I have done in the area of spirituality, forgiveness, nonviolence, conflict resolution and peace building, I have found that people are either spiritually resilient or spiritually fragile. This book is specifically written and provides clear guidance for those interested in strengthening their spiritual resiliency.
In my journey, I have learned that in life one confronts problems that one’s intellect will not be able to solve even though one may have a double PhD. Einstein taught: “We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. It cannot lead; it can only serve.” This advice is from the preeminent intellect of our times. In life you may also confront problems that your heart will not be able to heal. So how are you going to get through these tough times?

The answer is through spiritual resiliency. What I have learned in my journey is that there are NO problems – repeat NO PROBLEMS – you will get in life that your spirit cannot resolve or heal. However, you will need a strong resilient spiritual foundation to address this. I believe I am a good example of this as in my deepest crises, which was losing my only son Tariq, my degrees in mathematics and finance and all my studies in the finest English schools were useless.

What saved me was a strong spiritual foundation.
In Chapter 23 of the Bulletproof Spirit book – “Use Your Spiritual Radar” we share Oprah’s advice: “Follow your instincts. That’s where true wisdom manifests itself.” We write:


“Spiritually bulletproof people cultivate and rely upon their own intuition for guidance in all areas of their lives. This ‘spiritual radar’ helps them navigate life with more ease, grace and effectiveness than their spiritually fragile counterparts. If you want to be as spiritually bulletproof as possible, it’s essential that you begin to use and rely on your spiritual radar. You already possess all the “equipment” you need – you just need to figure out how to use and learn to trust it.”

Edgar Mitchell – an astronaut who was the sixth man to walk on the moon and the founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (www.Noetic.org) – had an epiphany while returning from the moon. Because of his experience, he established IONS where there is an in-depth study and research of consciousness – which I believe is the seat of spirituality. Edgar taught that “intuition” is NOT our sixth sense as popularly thought; it is in fact our first sense! With the honor of serving as the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of IONS, I believe this is an exciting way of looking at life.

I have always maintained that religion and spirituality are often confused as the same thing. In my estimation, there are distinctly different. For starters, in religion you have to have a deity (a God or Goddess or as in some religion a multitude of Gods and Goddesses) while spirituality is the study of the spirit and does not require the presence of a deity.
We are more than intellect (head) and emotion (heart); we are also spiritual beings. Although we, as yet, do not know a lot of the true identity of spirit, because you can’t see it, there is an innate knowing that spirit clearly resides in and unites all sentient beings. We have all encountered those moments of epiphany: de javu, clairvoyance, telepathy and the times when the phone rings and we know who is calling.

So, I believe everyone is spiritual but not necessarily religious. I include in this list atheists, some of who I personally know as highly spiritual. Provided by my dear brother (Nazir) here is another perspective from Dr. Froylan Alvarado Guemez Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Of the Jesuit Order.

Born in Orcines on May 1, 1881 and dying in New York on April 10, 1995, he was a French theologian, philosopher and paleontologist who built an integrated vision of science and mysticism with his thought. Here he offers some differences of religion and spirituality. See where you agree and disagree.
  • Religion is not just one, there are hundreds; spirituality is one.
  • Religion is for those who need someone to tell them what to do and want to be guided; spirituality is for those who pay attention to their inner voice.
  • Religion has a set of dogmatic rules; spirituality invites us to reason about everything, to question everything.
  • Religion speaks of sin and guilt; spirituality says, “learn from error.”
  • Religion invents; spirituality finds.
  • Religion is human, it is an organization with men’s rules; spirituality is Divine, without human rules.
  • Religion is looking for you to believe; spirituality you have to look for it to believe.
  • Religion follows the precepts of a sacred book; spirituality seeks the sacred in all books.
  • Religion lives in thought; spirituality lives in Consciousness.
  • Religion lives in the past and in the future; spirituality lives in the present.
  • Religion makes us believe in eternal life; Spirituality makes us aware of Eternal Life.
  • Religion is the cause of divisions; the spirituality unites.
While there is no right or wrong answer to the distinctions between spirituality and religion, my own view is for all of us individually to question our own beliefs, and seek inner guidance for the way forward.
At the end of the day – life is a mystery and that is a good thing. If it were NOT there would be no growth. What I have learned through my spiritual practice over the last 40 years is that as my own spiritual foundations gets more resilient, I don’t necessary get the precise answers but my inquiry and questions get loftier.
And in that space, my sisters and brothers, is where growth resides.
Peace, love and many blessings,
 
   Azim Khamisa
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