The Difference Between Religion And Spirituality

The human being as a spiritual being is the image of God (the Supreme Being, the

Cosmic Energy, Allah and etc.) and she /he is constantly seeking to express his or

her spirituality through religion throughout the annals of human history. Homo

sapiens have an urgent quest to understand and relate to the world. Our world

comprises of our solar system which is made up of the sun, the planets, the moons,

meteorites and the unseen world. We are always in search to comprehend and answer

the fundamental questions of life, namely, 1) how did we get here? 2) what is the

meaning of life? 3) where do we go after death? 4) how are we supposed to relate to

ourselves and the environment?. Our penchant quest for answering the four

fundamental basic questions of life has been expressed through religion. Every

religion throughout history has sought to answer these four basic questions of

life. Religion can then be classified as the the cement of human society that binds

groups of people together to create a homogeneous society. However, if a given

society will create a humane society is solely depends on those religious leaders

who have been entrusted to answer or interpret the four basic questions of life

stated earlier in this treatise. The written and unwritten codes of conduct in a

given society stems from the religious pronouncements or doctrines and such

religious ideas sublimely creates the social construction of reality in that given

society. Such religious ideas permeates through the whole spectrum of human

experience in that society, such as education, jurisprudence, economics,

philosophy, science, culture, and rest of human experience. Religious beliefs form

and shape cultural practices and a revised customary codes are engendered as well

as its moral codes.

In fact, morality is defined here as behavior according to custom. However, if a

moral code in a given society will create humanness or human misery rests solely

on the religious leaders of that country.The moral codes in a given society

subliminally influences the jurisprudence of that society because politicians and

lawyers who enact the laws for that country are mostly influenced by the social

norms of that country, due to the fact, they do not live a vacuum. Those who

benefit financially from the proliferation of religious centers and its

concomitant crime wave in the country are the so-called men of God and the

politicians, the ruling elite. There must be constant critique of our customary

moral codes to transform or reject the codes that do not promote humanness in

society.To create a humane society is to enact laws to protect and seek the

interests of the less fortunate in society. It must be also made clear that there

is difference between morality and ethics. Morality is the behavior according to

custom, and ethics on the other hand is the behavior according to reason. Ethics

must always guide us in our quest to create a humane society.

This writer then vehemently insists that every religion is a pure human product

and none of their religious canons or books miraculously fell from the sky.

However human beings can attain divinity and do self-critique of his or her own

religious tradition because humans are divine by their nature. It is then very

dangerous and suicidal to leave religious doctrines in the hands of the so-called

men of God who are not capable of doing self-critique on their doctrines or

placing an analytical knife on their own pronouncements. It is then the bounden

duty of the Flowering-Spirit Advocates to redeem the so-called men of God and

society as a whole from self-destruction.

Whereas every religious doctrine and its moral codes that emanate from such

doctrine is a pure human product it behooves on all religious leaders to accept

Flowering-Spirit Criticism to prevent their belief systems from creating human

squalor and degradation in society. Morality in society engineered from religious

doctrine subtly finds its way in the jurisprudence of the country and it becomes

the law of the country. The laws in the country are constantly seeking the interest

of the socially connected in society. You must understand now how a peasant who

steals a bunch of plantain goes to prison for six months in Ghana but the

politician who steals our money and takes bribes to prevent Ghanaians from living

as human beings and lead many of our people to their early graves are not

prosecuted at all. Our Jurisprudence is always seeking the interest of the powerful

in society. The case in mind is the land laws in Ghana,the jurisprudence in Ghana

follows the so-called, common law of the United Kingdom, United States of America,

Germany or the Roman Common Law. In Ghana, if a person owns a land the individual

does not own the mineral rights to the land; however, in America if a person owns a

land she owns whatever is under the land. Unfortunately, Ghana is is still using

the colonial laws enacted to protect the interests of the powerful, politicians

and the foreign mining companies in Ghana at the detriment of the environment and

the rural folks. Do we understand our Independence? Why are alien laws are still

on our books after over fifty years of Independence?

Religion as it exists in Ghana today is spiritually bankrupt, and the positive

correlation between the proliferation of religious centers and crime wave is

staring on their faces but they can not see it. Unfortunately, so many people

equate going to church or the mosque everyday and praying many times a day lead

the one closer to God which is far from the truth. The pervading religiosity in

Ghana lacks Spirituality and the thrust of their sermons is how to get rich quick

by all means necessary. People want to get rich so fast without working for it.

The populace see politicians who were not property owners before their

appointments now own mansions and fleets of the the latest cars within three

months of their new appointment. Where did they get the money? The have have

stolen our money meant for development and they are not answerable to anybody.

There is not a single road network that runs from the south of Ghana to the north

of the country that a vehicle can go fifty-five kilometers per hour, and the only

access road from Accra to Navrongo is a death-trap that kills and maims Ghanaians.

How can a rich country like Ghana does not have a single Express-Way running from

the capital to the northern border of the country. What is is wrong with our

politicians? Are they not ashamed that The Black Star of Africa does not have a

single passable road that runs from the south of the country to the northern border

of the country? These politicians have to be Spiritually bankrupt to live in such

miserable existence. Stop disturbing God for praying to Him to stop accidents on

our roads in Ghana. God has already given you the brains to build better roads to

prevent accidents. These politicians regularly go to church or the mosque but they

careless about the welfare of Ghanaians and they are the living-dead, Spiritually

bankrupt.

This writer posits that there is a huge chasm between Spirituality and Religion.

Spirituality commands us to touch the otherness and to be in tune with our

environment. Human Beings can only know God through their harmonious co-existence

with nature. Spiritual people are compelled by the Higher Power to seek the

interest of their fellow human beings and it is through such encounter that they

can attain Divinity, like Osiris, Isis, Imhotep, Jesus Christ, and many others to

be in tune with God, Allah, The Supreme Being, The Cosmic Energy and many different

names people call her or Him. It is only when one is in touch with nature that the

one can have meaning in Life. Spiritual people who become politicians serve their

fellow human beings and they are commanded by the inner power to use the countries

resources to construct passable road networks in Ghana to prevent untimely deaths

of Ghanaians. Spirituality compels us to recognize the the presence of Divinity,

God in everything around us, the stars, the sun, planets, moons, mountains,stones,

animals, human beings, trees, plants, rivers, and oceans. It means we are mandated

not to cut down trees to deforest our virgin forests for peanuts at the detriment

of our people.

Successive Governments since Independence have had the policy of total

annihilation of our virgin forests because we have allowed the religiosity of

domination over nature to inform our jurisprudence to create laws to allow alien

interests to destroy our virgin forests due to over lumbering.We have now even

gone further to allow alien interests to do surface mining to destroy our flora,

rivers, and to turn our virgin forests to deserts. Are we not Spiritually bankrupt

to accept our own annihilation?

Any trace of Spirituality that was embedded in the prevailing religious

organizations in the country is eroded away and they are just going through

meaningless rituals, where people assume that the more they attend religious

meetings the closer they will get to God which is far from the truth. Their

religiosity does not denote Spirituality, thus, their social behavior in terms of

their relationship to their fellow human beings and the environment is

diametrically opposed to their own religious pronouncements or doctrines. However,

an individual can be both religious and spiritual at the same time. Unfortunately,

the numbers of those who are both religious are few and their numbers have no

impact on the larger society where most religious organisation in Ghana are

teaching many Ghanaians to get rich quickly as possible without working for it.

This social construction of reality which has emanated from the religiosity in

Ghana is demonic and it leads to self destruction. The prevailing religious

organizations in Ghana have failed to quench the Spiritual thirst of Ghanaians and

Africa as a whole. The only solution to our spiritual bankruptcy is African

Spirituality. The proliferation of religious organizations with their doctrine of

get-rich quick by every means necessary has engendered crime wave in Ghana and

Africa as a whole. Spirituality on the other hand will transform Africa to find

herself to create a humane society and get us closer to God, The Cosmic Energy. It

is the contention of this writer that every religion is a pure human product and

all religious doctrines are man-made; therefore, they are mutable to create a

humane society.