Huff Post: Michael P. Murphy.
The word “religion” finds its root in religio, which means “to bind.” And herein lies the main point: we like being “spiritual” because the concept, as we perceive it, makes no claim upon us. It binds us to nothing — or at least nothing communal, confessional or public. Of course, it is liberating to be masters of our own faith practices.
But to be truly spiritual, ironically, is to be bound to something greater than ourselves. It is to be in relationship. It is to be earthy and physical precisely because we are seeking the transcendent; and the transcendent, as St Thomas Aquinas demonstrated so persuasively, moves through the finite
It’s a commonplace bifurcation and we’ve all heard the line before: “I’m spiritual, not religious.” So many contemporary thinkers, in decrying institutional religion as destructive and backward-thinking, have revealed a cultural juggernaut. In one way or another, we all seem exhausted by the erratic behavior and rank fallibility of big religion and prefer, more and more, the perceived credibility and utopian autonomy of our own personal spiritualities.
Categories: Religion, Spirituality