[nowheretorun]

i hope this is acceptable to post, if not, i apologise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion

[Dancer_in_the_light]

Again, this article says that some people see religion and spirituality as one in the same (or at least inextricably connected) and some people think that they are opposites, providing no real answer or set of guidelines.

From the religion article:
"Religion is often described as a communal system for the coherence of belief focusing on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine, or of the highest truth. "

From the spirituality article:
"A perceived sense of connection forms a central defining characteristic of spirituality — connection to a metaphysical reality greater than oneself, which may include an emotional experience of religious awe and reverence, or such states as satori or Nirvana."

You can see how similar these ideas are.

[nowheretorun]

certainly there is an overlap... God appears to be a connecting factor, yet, God does not seem required for either interestingly enuf...

these debates get very tiresome imo... of course we want to become clear about a topic, and so we discuss it...

i am reminded of a hypothetical individual i was told to imagine at one point in a certain career i had...

the term is 'least sophisticated consumer' it applies to a person with such minimal amounts of comprehension that even the simplest words and ideas confuse ..

are we like this when it comes t Spirit?

Spirit is truly magnificent and probably totally incomprehensible to humans imo...

when i think of Spirit, i think of Love...

when i add to Love the names , places, and faces of history, i have an organized memory of spirituality..

i may prefer to remember those elements of the spirit in a variety of ways ... i would be practicing my own spirituality to do so...

if i asked others if they shared my belief system, then organized it, created a set of laws that were required to be a part of the worship practice and invited many members to join me, i have crossed the line into religion...

that is my view....

religion requires scriptural law based on canons and texts that define what the religion is all about... members of an organized religion are expected to behave in a manner which is communally accepted and proscribed..

in my view, the practice of spirituality is more free form and contains no laws or requirements of certain behavior.. it is more free form and can be built upon the love of a snail if one so desires...

of course there will be disagreement with this definition...

i can promise you i will not be one to get into argument or debate about the definitions... days, weeks months would pass without agreement... individuals inviolved in organized religion are very well aware that it is an organized religion....

one is organized and large.. the other is personal and adaptable..

[DocJohn]

Yeah, I'm not sure how many different times and different ways I have to keep saying the same thing here --

No Religious Talk. Period.

Thanks,
DocJohn