Religion and Spirituality - Wayne Teasdale

There is a difference between
religion and spirituality.
Spirituality refers to an individual's
solitary search for and discovery of
the Absolute or the Divine...

[however one knows that to be]
It involves direct mystical experience of "God"
[however one knows that to be],
or realization of the vast Awareness.
Spirituality carries with it a conviction
that the transcendent is real...

Religion is more a social organism of
worship and ritual...

We need direct contact with The Divine or Ultimate
Mystery.  The focus of Religion is on worship at a
corporate level - carriers of tradition rather than
the mystical life...

Spirituality can be profoundly transformative when it
inspires in us an attitude of surrender to The Mystery.
Spirituality draws us into the depths of our Being,
where we come face to face with ourselves, our
weaknesses and the Ultimate Mystery.

Religions depend on institutions to make decisions for
us through conformity to external religiosity and the
safe routines of liturgy and ritual.

The necessary shifts in consciousness requires a new
approach to spirituality that transcends past religious
cultures of fragmentation and isolation.
We don't need to go into monasteries to become mystics.
We need only to realize and activate that Essential part
of our Being...

How we make the journey is what spirituality is all
about, using all the resources from all the religious 
traditions available to us...

Finding our own path.

Finding a way to relate to the Divine [however one knows
that to be].  The evolution of an individual's spirituality
is a mysterious and intimate matter.  It originates in the heart,
in deep stirrings that represent an insatiable longing of the 
heart [for Source]...

We are created for the spiritual journey...

Wayne Teasdale
from: Mystic Heart

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering