| When we were children we were asked, Which | | | | First, both believe in a higher power of some kind. |
| came first, the chicken or the egg? If we based our | | | | Religion believes in God the Father or Jesus, or Allah, |
| answer on the creation story in the Bible, we would | | | | or Brahman, or Tao. Spirituality believes also in this |
| answer, Chicken. But if we based our answer on our | | | | God or it may conceive of God as a universal or |
| experience in raising chickens, our answer would be, | | | | primal energy. Both believe that such being possesses |
| Egg. | | | | power higher and greater than what we have. |
| The same can be said of the answer to the | | | | Secondly, both religion and spirituality desire to have a |
| question, Which came first, Religion or Spirituality? | | | | relationship with this higher power. Although the |
| In terms of our experience with religious books and | | | | nature of the relationship is different in religion than in |
| discussions, religion came first. It is only now that | | | | spirituality, the desire for this relationship is there. |
| more and more people are talking about spirituality | | | | Religion connects with this higher power with fear |
| and writing about it. In terms of the origin of the | | | | and trembling. Spirituality connects with this higher |
| reality behind those words or in terms of the object | | | | power with love and affection. |
| of our understanding, spirituality came first. The spirit | | | | Thirdly, both religion and spirituality have rituals and |
| was there before there was any religion. God was | | | | practices which deepen one's religiosity or spirituality. |
| there before there was anybody to worship him. | | | | Religion usually has sacred rites or sacraments. |
| We can even say that spirituality is an offshoot of | | | | Spirituality has meditation or yoga sessions. |
| religion. For many centuries people professed religion. | | | | Fourthly, both have respect for the sacred, the other |
| Some of them fiercely opposed religions other their | | | | worldly. This is not just respect for God. This is |
| own. Christians for many centuries opposed | | | | respect for the reality that is beyond our senses and |
| paganism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and any other | | | | reason. When religion pushes this respect to its |
| religion. This has happened also with paganism, Islam, | | | | extreme, it becomes superstition. When spirituality |
| and the rest with respect to the other religions. They | | | | pushes this respect to its extreme, it becomes |
| too opposed other religions. | | | | religious spirituality. |
| But more and more people discover that mere | | | | Fifthly, both have fear of failure. In religion this failure |
| religion cannot answer their deeper yearning for a | | | | is punished by hell fire or repetition of existence or |
| better experience of life. So, they turned to | | | | some other worse fate. In spirituality this failure is |
| something deeper and better than religion. They | | | | the inability to realize one's true worth or value and |
| found this in spirituality. | | | | the destiny of a life of meaninglessness. Hell, |
| Because spirituality in a sense is an offshoot of | | | | repetition of existence, non-existence, |
| religion, there is bound to be some similarity between | | | | meaninglessness are forms of punishment for failure, |
| them, just like the similarity between the egg and the | | | | either in religion or in spirituality. |
| chicken. | | | | |