I used to label myself as “Spiritual, But Not Religious.” It’s a whole category of people. A whole tribe. #SBNR. Maybe you’ve found yourself in that particular tribe as well. Maybe you‘re there now.
Well… Now that God has deepened me into this journey, I’m noticing something. Though I thought I was (adamantly) free from religion during that chapter of my life…
I was religiously non-religious.
Humans are religious creatures. We can’t help but be religious in a multitude of ways. The word religion is derived from the Latin word legere. This is also where the word ligament comes from.
Lowercase-r religion is like our existential ligament system. Religion is the way in which we hold our lives together in this chaotic world.
Yes, we have the brand-name uppercase-R religions of the world. But what I find fascinating are all of the lowercase-r ways that we’re religious without even knowing it.
Do you go do yoga with others? Or do you attend silent retreats? How about golf (this is a lowercase-r religion of mine)? Have you ever been to a Dallas Cowboys or Chicago Bears game? (Soldier Field is certainly a religious cathedral if there ever was one.)
Do you live with the notion that you need to #hustle harder than everyone? Or that you have to drive a crappier car and live with less means than the people around you? Do you think that every ethnic minority group is out to get you? What about that activist bumper sticker on your Toyota Prius? Do you think that corporations should be given free rein no matter what?
Do you think that to be Religious is outmoded but to be non-religious, spiritual, or agnostic is ‘good’?
These are all religious tenets.
We are all religious.
Even the religiously non-religious.
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This post was previously published on Jonas Ellison’s blog and is republished here with permission from the author.
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