distinction between religion and spirituality

Religion and Spirituality

I believe there is an important distinction to be made between religion and spirituality. Religion I take to be concerned with faith in the claims to salvation of one faith tradition or another, an aspect of which is acceptance of some form of metaphysical or supernatural reality, including perhaps an idea of heaven or nirvana. Connected with this are religious teachings or dogma, rituals, prayer and so on.

Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human spirit - such as love and compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness, contentment, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony - which bring happiness to both self and others.

While ritual and prayer, along with the questions of nirvana and salvation, are directly connected with religious faith, these inner qualities need not be, however. There is thus no reason why the individual should not develop them, even to a higher degree, without recourse to any religious or metaphysical belief system.

This is why I sometimes say that religion is something we can perhaps do without. What we cannot do without are these basic spiritual qualities.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama - Ancient Wisdom, Modern World - Ethics for the New Millennium
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