What is the difference between being Religious or Spiritual?

Have you always wondered the difference between being "religious" and being "spiritual"? 

According to Merriam-Webster, Religious means "relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity." Spiritual means "of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit: INCORPOREAL." 

Think of religion as a systematic foundation that, in its highest octave, can be utilized as a daily devotion to set the path for spirituality to flourish. How can being religious set prelude or sustain spiritual attainment? It's an interesting and slippery slope. I'll explain why. For those of us who aren't inherently consciously connected to our Divine affinity, religious practice can help build trust in ourselves through an established organization and provide a backbone when times become turbulent. Generally speaking, as modern-day humans, we may take years or even up to a lifetime seeking reunion with the Divine without realizing or accepting that God is the flame that has burned within our hearts from before and beyond the moment we dispatched from the ethereal realm onto the earth. Our low self-esteem and sense of unworthiness prevent us from fully acknowledging and accepting that we are genuinely “spiritual divine beings having a human experience.” Spirituality merely means you have awakened to the holy voice within, knowing it, and working towards deepening and answering the Divine call in whichever way it may pivot you. 

Religion can have its hindrances when the Ego gets involved through division and judgment of systems different than our own. Superiority through religion means spirituality has yet to be integrated appropriately; the lenses are still black and white, good and bad, right and wrong. Duality is still dancing with itself in search of Oneness. Through spiritual awakening comes the understanding and gratitude that "all roads lead to Rome." All streams lead to the ocean. All trails up the mountain still take us to the top despite the challenges we face from different sides. The scales become balanced because there is equal weight in Oneness.

“But instead, let's replace the word religion with routine.”

I often laugh with clients during our sessions when I tell them, "So long as we are alive in a human-breathing body, we will always need to maintenance our physical, energetic, and spirit bodies." This is where religion can come in handy. But instead, let's replace the word religion with routine. Developing a daily or reoccurring practice/routine that meets our specific goals can catalyze consistent internal and external growth. "As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul"—Hermes Trismegistus

For me, it's a daily routine of Medical Qigong Therapy that focuses on cleaning, filling, and regulating the five principal organs (heart, lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys), followed by prayer and quiescent meditation to harmonize my heart and mind to intentionally connect directly to the Divine without distractions. 

Where do you fall between Religion and Spirituality? Have you found your unique road to Rome yet?

With Love,

Ariana