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After going to an african Dance conference this past weekend, I got a chance to sit down and speak with some elders from the West coast of Africa. It was an open Discussion and dialouge, which is REALLY needed on a borader scale to dismiss some of the stereotypes we have of each other.

One of the elders who I was speaking to was a manfrom the Mandingo Tribe in Africa. From what he see's here in the Americas, he feels as though we try to compartmentalize Spirituality and the way of the Spirit into Religious Practice. The issue that comes of this is that people tend to mix up the concept of spiritual developemnt with the process of religious practice, i.e. The more a person knows about a certain religion, the more spiritual of a person they beleive they will become.


What is your take on this?

cosigns ... as long as they are truth. If you know the nature of man, then you can know the truth.

~bats eyelashes~ Can I hang out w/ you some time?

__________________
"A generation of people who refuse to be themselves.
The philosophy of 50 cent has them hook, line and sinker.
The young black men become like a sacrifice.
They love it; they living in a fool's paradise."
-Brother Valentino

You in a better place than me since they live up there!!!!

Considering the word Religion comes from the greek word religlio which means to restrain,hold back & bind. Those who beleif the more of a certain religion they learn makes them spiritual are really fools!

CO-SIGN.
Religion definitely restricts you. We must explore other belief systems in order to 'overstand'.

Hold on. who are you to say that though?!?! some people spend days upon end in the serivice of there church and studying what they consider to be the word of God with the thought of being closer to what they consider to be a supreme being, thereby doing the right thing for there spirit. How are they fools for doing so?

Might be possible!?

Man, from the advent of time, has always attempted to figure out the aspects of his existence and his surroundings i.e. cosmology and cosmogony. To answer the questions, who am I? What is my relationship to my surroundings? Where did I come from? Etc, and in his attempts, over time, have developed theories based on experiences and developed mores and folkways. These theories are the basis of religious practices/doctrine and would vary based on the community. Therefore I contend that man created religion. Some believers of various faiths would tend to disagree (which in most cases I believe could be attributable to the concept of Cognitive Dissonance). However, the bigger question is now, how do we define spirituality? And, is there a relationship between the two? Or is it two separate and distinct concepts? Some believe that spirituality is innate, i.e. wired in the human system. I read somewhere that Dr. Richard Alpert suggests the following on the topic “the spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can’t be organized or regulated. It isn’t true that everybody should follow one path. Listen to your own truth” The clear distinction here is “organized of regulation” which religion clearly is, but spirituality suggest something much more personal, vast and not constant. It suggests finding true self and as we all know this can be a life long journey. “Listening to you own truth” (spirituality) can be accomplished via religious practices…whatever you believe that “truth is”. Therefore, I believe that religious practices can be a tool in acquiring spirituality, but you don’t have to be religious to be spiritual.

If it's any help, for me religion is characterised by dogma; the set of rigid rules that keeps one within certain boudaries. On the other hand, a person who is truly spiritual is one who is sufficiently enlightened to transcend the various religions and still see the presence of the divine in all of them. Thus s/he is at home in a mosque as well as a mandir or church or palais. S/he may also be enlightened enough to discard them all and still be attuned to the presence of the divine from within

[QUOTE=Anaci 7]

[QUOTE=Anaci 7]Agreed!