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Religious
Motivation |
Religion
vs Spirituality
By
John Coelho
The
recent terrorist attacks in Washington,
DC and New York have led people to wonder
how religion could motivate people to
commit such horrific acts. Such behaviour
might lead one to reject any concern for
what lies beyond mundane existence and
live a dry secular life. Yet, there's
no solution to the human dilemma in this,
for we all will ultimately want to know
what's beyond our limited scope. First
of all, even though the terms 'religion'
and 'spirituality' are often used
interchangeably, the religion of the terrorists
is of a particular common type: it is
religion unsubordinated to spirituality.
Religion and spirituality denote two distinct
phenomena. If we are going to maintain
an interest in the beyond we should ask
what religion is and how it differs from
spirituality.
Religion
is a theological belief system and a code
of conduct. Spirituality is the experience
of love, compassion and unity. In contrast
to religion which is mental, but often
not intellectual, spirituality exists
in the realm of feeling and can only be
experienced to the degree that the mental
function can be transcended. Religion
legitimately achieves two purposes: providing
a lifestyle in which spirituality can
flourish and serving as a “finger
pointing at the moon”. In the latter
case it points the metaphysical novice
toward an experience of God by giving
him an abstract though temporary way of
perceiving God.
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