Spirituality differs from religiosity

By Rahayu Ratnaningsih

JAKARTA (JP): Religious demonstrations that lead to violence seem to have gained momentum in Indonesia. From the one that demanded the closure of night entertainment premises, perceived to be the center of vice and prostitution, to the one demanding the dismissal of certain high-ranking officials, perceived to be lacking in moral values, to the one calling for a holy war and the annihilation of followers of other religions.

And these people claim to be religious.

Perhaps so, because to be religious does not take as much as it does to be spiritual. To be religious, perhaps, one needs to grow beards, or shave heads, dress a certain way, speak in a certain manner, perform certain rituals a specified number of times and unconditionally cling to certain doctrines and dogmas.

In the words of Ken Wilber, the leading theorist of transpersonal psychology and a philosopher himself: "To be spiritual has to do with actual experience, not mere beliefs; with God as the Ground of Being, not a cosmic Daddy figure; with awakening to one's true Self; not praying for one's little self; with the disciplining of awareness, not preachy and churchy moralisms about drinking and smoking and sexing; with Spirit found in everyone's Heart, not anything done in this or that church". Within this frame of reference, Mahatma Gandhi is spiritual; Khomeini is religious.

The Dalai Lama, Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), Nurcholis Madjid, Romo Mangun, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Emerson, Victor Frankl are spiritual. K.H. Zainuddin MZ, Amien Rais, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson and many other Bible-thumping evangelists on television are religious.

The religious and the spiritual can be found in every religious tradition or lack thereof, and their true identity is readily revealed with every word they utter and every sign of false pride or insecurity they project.

The religious lack depth, but the spiritual are indeed deep, like a never-drying well. The religious are often irrational, the spiritual are transrational. The religious do not believe in the omnipotence of their God, although they appear and claim to staunchly do so, hence the need to rush into the streets to defend Him.

The spiritual do not see anything or anyone to be defended as this and that is a false distinction. As the Upanishads put it, "Wherever there is other, there is fear".

Out of this fear grows resentment. As Wilber put it, "If we are going to insist on identifying with just the little self in here, than others are going to bruise it, insult it, injure it. The ego, then, is kept in existence by a collection of emotional insults, it carries its personal bruises as the fabric of its very existence. It actively collects hurts and insults, even while resenting them, because without its bruises, it would be, literally, nothing."

One does not have to have a religion to be spiritual but one definitely needs to cling to a superficial and literal interpretation of a religion to be religious. The religious do not believe in equality of all mankind; the spiritual feel a strong connection with and marvels at the whole universe.

The religious see others who do not share their beliefs as potential enemies; the spiritual do not see relevance in categories and labels. The religious insist that those who do not believe in their version of God are destined to be burned in hell for ever after, no discussion. The spiritual find virtue in every religion, tradition, culture and people.

The religious shove religious dogma down your throat. The spiritual meditate, hold dialogs and discuss. The religious often revel in "divine" and "sacred" destruction.

The spiritual nurture, construct and allow growth. The religious insist on superficial sameness and conformity, but the spiritual celebrate differences and freedom of expression and the intellectual quest while deep down they are all one and the same. Religiousness is often fascist, while spiritualness is intellectual humanist.

The religious are easily incited even by a simple innocent gesture because, as previously mentioned, their very existence depends on injury and insults. The spiritual are contemplative in all of life's ups and downs. People who are religious feel the need to show their piety, while those who are spiritual are content with what they know about themselves.

The religious worship a petty, discriminatory, whimsical and vindictive god, while the spiritual find God in the core of their beings. The religious have produced countless wars and bloodshed throughout history. The spiritual do not believe in the illusory glory of war. The religious manipulate religion for their own gain. The spiritual are too decent to preach what they do not believe or practice themselves.

Religiousness is mythical while spiritualness is mystical. Mysticism is evolutionary and progressive, not evolutionary and regressive.

The Dalai Lama said, "My religion is loving kindness." Gus Dur is not guilt ridden to find solace in a Hindu temple. Romo Mangun, a Catholic priest and Gus Dur's "most beloved brother," dedicated the better part of his life for the well-being of poor Muslims. Amien Rais cried that "our patience has worn thin, we should defend our brothers". Zainuddin MZ called for Muslims not to vote for nonbelievers simply because they are not people of equal worth. Pat Robertson pities the "pathetic, stray" Hindus for not (exclusively) taking the sacred blood of Jesus. We can easily sift the chaff from the wheat.

What we desperately need is not a religion, but a spiritual movement based on a perennial philosophy -- a perennial universal meaning that transcends all the tremendously varying esoteric or mythical aspects of religions. Religion divides while spirituality unites. Religion is dogma while spirituality is experience. Is it a call for a synthesis of many different religions?

The answer is not a simple yes or no and it depends on each individual's perspective: different people have different levels of readiness. Different people find different security in different dogmas or sets of beliefs. Only one thing is eternally true; that truth can only be found in the deepest core of our own beings. Truth is not found in the streets, in the boisterous speeches of priests or monks or ulemas, from holy books, or is it from people of authority. The only advice is if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.

The writer is director of the Satori Foundation, a center for the study and development of human excellence through training in mind programming and meditation techniques.