Religion and spirituality are often mistaken for one another because there are similarities between the two belief systems. Ask yourself these three questions to determine whether you are a spiritual person or a religious person.
How Do You Perceive Your Place in the World?
Most of the world’s religions offer structured teachings and principles, also known as dogma. Spirituality, on the other hand, emphasizes the connection between the self and the universe, prioritizing concepts that focus on self-discovery along a path of endless possibilities.
Your view on fatalistic philosophies can say a lot about your preference for religion or spirituality. If you are someone who prefers to blaze their own cosmic trail, you may lean toward spirituality. However, if you find solace in the idea that your life’s journey has been predetermined or otherwise defined for you, you may take comfort in the symbolic rituals and pedagogic texts of religion.
Do You Rely More on Faith or Intuition?
Faith is described as a strong belief in the supernatural regardless of empirical evidence. Intuition is a deep understanding of a situation without the need for explanation or further proof. Both faith and intuition are similar in that they do not require real-world experiences for personal validation, but they originate from entirely different sources.
Usually, people are told to have faith by religious authorities or by sacred texts. In other words, faith is derived from one’s external environment. Spiritual people like Gale Tobin often describe intuition as something that comes from within the self.
Do You Believe in Divinity or a Formless Higher Power?
This question is a telling one. If you believe in a deity or in many deities, it is very likely that you have a religious bent. This does not mean that you have to believe in divinities from just one religion. It is very common for people who are religious but not a part of organized religion to borrow from a variety of traditions and practices to fashion their own unique beliefs.
If you are a spiritual person, you most likely believe that the divine and the mundane are not entirely separate. Many spiritual people believe that universal energies can be found in the natural world but do not believe that definitive deities are responsible for that power.
Now that you have reviewed these questions, take some time to reflect on your answers. If you fall somewhere in between, that is totally normal. Hopefully, you will now have better insight into your own beliefs about life’s important questions.
