right or wrong ?

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by desert rat

spiritual not religious ..

Spiritual not religious is just a way to try to disassociate one's self from religion, while still being religious. Your religion is just what your spiritual beliefs are.

It's based on the idea that 'religion is bad', which is a natural reaction in a predominantly secular society. So it's basically saying 'I want to be mainly secular, but have a little religion, but not too much'. lol.

There's a huge divide between religious and secular in the West. In other places they don't have such a huge gap, and the idea of 'spiritual not religious' wouldn't enter their minds, because it wouldn't make any sense lol.

Of course it's ok,

Nobody owns your faith or belief nor does any religion own God, there's no patent on the divine..

I found that religion openned the doorway for my spiritual path, I no longer have anything to do with religion as it wasn't for me at all but I honour and recognise it's place in my awakening..

I now work with a lot of indigenous and shamanic concepts, work with guides and see everyone and everything as connected, components of something larger, a higher state of consciousness! God for me is both within and without, as above so below :)

"Spiritual not religious is just a way to try to disassociate one's self from religion, while still being religious. Your religion is just what your spiritual beliefs are."

Actually that's not correct - the definition of religious is "believing in a god or a group of gods and following the rules of a religion"

I believe in the Gods but I don't follow the rules of anyone, my beliefs are based on my experiences in life not on some dogma..

We live in a state of victim mentality especially in the West.. We go to the doctor to fix us, the council to put a roof over our heads or the church to spoon feed us hand me down spiritual ideas..

As a society we're not empowered, we place our power elsewhere instead of (as Ghandi put it) being the change you want to see in the world..

Follow your intuition, sing your heartsong and love life.. You have everything you need within this perfect vessel we've been blessed with..

xx

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by Free_Spirit1983

Actually that's not correct - the definition of religious is "believing in a god or a group of gods and following the rules of a religion"

xx

There are lots of religions that have zero Gods, Buddhism for example. Also did you know that rules are actually to help you? Like 'look before crossing the street', or wear your seatbelt lol. I guess when you're young it's hard to understand that though.

Hatred for religion is very popular these days, so we come up with ideas like 'it's just about rules', or that 'it's dangerous', etc. But actually, if you have spiritual beliefs, you have religion too, so you're just fighting against yourself. ;-)

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by Free_Spirit1983

I now work with a lot of indigenous and shamanic concepts, work with guides and see everyone and everything as connected, components of something larger, a higher state of consciousness! God for me is both within and without, as above so below :)

I hate to tell you, but that's called religion as well. A person's religion is just their spiritual beliefs. To us in the West it might seem like religion means 'having gods', but there are many different types of religions out there.. shamanic religion, animist religion, ancestor worship, etc.

Originally Posted by Seawolf

Believing in God and angels is the Christian religion. Your religion is just what your spiritual beliefs are.

That is actually incorrect. The concept of God and angels is older than Christianity and even Judaism.

Winged guardians called Karibu protected the temples of Babylon four thousand years before the birth of Christ. Isis, a goddess of ancient Egypt was portrayed with golden wings. And the Zoroastrian religion tells of a celestial battle between good and evil angel like beings called Fravashi. The ancient Babylonians also believed in a personal guardian angel like spirit that watched over every individual.

Archaeologists have unearthed alters dedicated to winged guardian angels in Iraq, in what was once Sumeria dating from 3,000 BC. Old stories go back even further. The idea of the existence of unearthly, shining beings predate the concept of a monotheistic God.

Angels occurred in Judaic tradition around 450 BC, after the Hebrew people left Babylon, bringing the belief in angels with them. And then naturally, Christianity stemmed from Judaism... Thus, God and angels do not belong exclusively to Christianity, Judaism or Islam. This is a fallacy and nothing more than a stamp of ownership on an ancient belief by newer religions.

[Tabby94]

I see where you're coming from SeaWolf.

The saying ''All Spiritual people are religious, but not all religious people are Spiritual'' comes to mind.

I have read this somewhere. " We are all spiritual beings having a human experience. " I feel, whilst we are having this human experience we tend to become religious in order to understand what the spirituality is. I was raised in a Buddhist background. At a point in my life I didn't believe in God. But now I do believe in God. I feel God has different names but there's only one God. So I am a Buddhist who believes in God. :) When you become one with everything in the universe then you experience the oneness of the universe. I think there's nothing wrong or right on this spiritual journey. It's all about how you experience it and find answers to your own questions!

I think the connotation of religion is an establishment or organisation where people gather to be spoon fed ideas from someone else - at least that's how religion appears in todays society..

I practice shamanic healing for a living, I don't have to attend a group meeting and be told by someone what God expects of me, or given conditions on how I live my life or be reminded to love my neighbour (or in some cases be repeatedly told how unworthy you are of God's love).. I try to live in ayni (right relationship and balance) with myself and everything around, I follow my intuition and I listen to my heart..

-To ME that's far from the modern sense of religion - and no exterior establishment..

No man in robes can give you an experience, they can only fill your head with "stuff".. It's up to the person then whether to take the "stuff" out of the church, have the life experience and turn ideas into wisdom, gain understanding about the world and themselves..

Sadly as I mentioned we're in a victim mentality and most people (that I have met) are content with the "stuff"

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by Free_Spirit1983

I think the connotation of religion is an establishment or organisation where people gather to be spoon fed ideas from someone else - at least that's how religion appears in todays society..

I practice shamanic healing for a living, I don't have to attend a group meeting and be told by someone what God expects of me, or given conditions on how I live my life or be reminded to love my neighbour (or in some cases be repeatedly told how unworthy you are of God's love).. I try to live in ayni (right relationship and balance) with myself and everything around, I follow my intuition and I listen to my heart..

-To ME that's far from the modern sense of religion - and no exterior establishment..

No man in robes can give you an experience, they can only fill your head with "stuff".. It's up to the person then whether to take the "stuff" out of the church, have the life experience and turn ideas into wisdom, gain understanding about the world and themselves..

Sadly as I mentioned we're in a victim mentality and most people (that I have met) are content with the "stuff"

All religion is made up, even yours. So you are basically being told what to believe. That is unless you make a completely new and original religion yourself. Condemning beliefs different than our own shows that we are not very spiritual. It's just basically hatred for religion that permeates our sick society. It's no different than reality tv, it's just part of a sickness we all share, where we ridicule things that should be respected. But we have no respect or discipline or love. Congratulations on joining the anti religion bandwagon, the clones always appreciate more people.

We think we're spiritual, but in reality we're pretty far from it these days. We're part of a falling society, which in it's last days becomes completely desensitized and respects nothing. We hate religion, we're like a spoiled teenager on reality tv screaming obscenities at our parents, then believing we are so spiritual. LOL Our spirituality, our sense of being right, being 'advanced' or better than 'those religious people', is a complete joke. But we just go on believing our own ****. and taking a **** on anything good.