When someone asks you if you’re religious, do you find yourself answering that you’re “spiritual but not religious”?
As humans, we have an innate desire to connect with the Divine, but too many of us have chafed under the rules, constrictions, and even distortions that can result when spirituality turns into dogma.
When I [Phil Bolsta] personally faced these constrictions, I felt compelled to take a new path. I was raised in the church but lost interest in Christianity in my adolescence — I chose to explore the teachings of other traditions and connect to the Divine in my own way.
And then I found a teacher, Andrew Harvey, who showed me that in many ways, Jesus was “spiritual but not religious,” very much like you and me.
Andrew describes the authentic Jesus as a brother on the path to becoming one with God, just as we are. Jesus was not a divine exception, but a divine example of what each of us can be when we connect with the Divine in our own way.
Listen to an inspiring 6 minute clip from Andrew here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlRrhfFigG0
Don’t miss these powerful points on religious life that Andrew touches on in the clip:
0:39 — An important distinction to make between the Christian religion today and its original message.
1:30 — The one thing it takes to come into relationship with the evolutionary mystic Jesus vs. the religious dogmatic Jesus.
2:47 — Healing the wounds of the past and “a religion gone mad.”
3:50 — The adventure of joining with your “soul-brother,” Jesus, and how it can help you start to live in deep openness and love in everything you do in life.
4:23 — The path beyond religion and how it was the real path of Jesus.
Graphic Artist: Heinrich Hofmann
Author of Article: Phil Bolsta
Originally published on the Shift Network Blog: https://blog.theshiftnetwork.com/blog/spiritual-not-religious-discover-true-spiritual-power-christs-teachings
If you feel you are re-evaluating your relationship to conventional religion or wondering what is the difference between being religious or being spiritual you may feel you are in a spiritual crisis…or a process of development that is very absorbing. Check out IMHU’s free course, “Spiritual Emergency: What is it?” or other courses we offer on spiritual topics that relate to psychology.