mostly pondering rather than typing cos last night I cut my hand open whilst cleaning out the dispenser drawer in my washing machine, managing to turn the machine on in the process, and jumping so much at unexpected imminent electrocution, I forgot to remove hand from the drawer before running away....
anyhow. A thought from Peter Owen Jones' excellent 'Around the World in 80 Faiths' made me think this week. Playing 'catch up' before the BBC remove earlier programmes from iplayer, I was struck by a comment on one of the earlier programmes. Referring to a country visited, he said 'it may be the most religious country on earth, but it also the least spiritual'.
Question of the week, therefore: if it's possible to be religious without being spiritual (no argument there!), is it possible to be spiritual without being religious (ie officially religiously affiliated)? My initial answer would be 'yes, of course', until thinking a little deeper, and wondering if being very spiritual would waken a hunger for such things as rites, ceremonies, communions, sacraments, (define them as you wish) shared with others in a communal experience, which would then, by definition, lead a person to an 'organised religion'.
It could be argued that participation in such services or communal events can detract from the spirituality of the rite or ceremony being observed; obviously all sorts of distractions, from mobile phones to unsettled children, to uninspiring sermons or talks can do that. Anyway, it's just a question going round in my head amongst all the other stuff stuck in there.
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