From the beginning of human civilization, religion has always been a vital component of

our human condition. It gives us a system of orientation on what we should live for or
die for. Our constant pursuit of religion is a search for answers to our existential and
spiritual burdens. Thus, religion functions as an anchor at the core of man's existence.
Most of the time, it is religion that provides meaning and sense to our daily existence.
Humans, as journeying beings – homo viator – always seeks to find something – or
someone – greater than ourselves. Hence, we give in to a specific religion that fulfills
our search for the certainty that determines the course of our lives. God made us, and
we make religion to help us in our quest for answers. 
Perhaps, when you were younger, you tend to ask your parents or yourself the
questions, "Where did everything come from?" and "Who created us?" These questions
only go to show that at a very young age, we acknowledge the fact that we are not
independent beings who can exist without a creator. Logical thinking would always bring
us to a concept of a maker that we often identify as God. This is the very reason why
human civilization has established countless religions throughout thousands of years.
The German philosopher Erich Fromm argued that religion is an expression of our basic
human needs, and all cultures will always have it. We can never get away from it
because it is an inevitable truth of our existence.
Looking at the world's history, it is difficult to not notice how religion has affected our
contemporary lives, whether in a good or a bad way. There even came a point in the
western narrative where religion became the end-all and be-all of everything. What was
considered as true was what the religious teachings prescribed. However, today,
religion as an institution seems to be caught in a kind of stalemate. In this age of
religious extremism, environmental exploitation, racial discrimination, and family
disintegration, the religion most often gets the blame. Admittedly, religion has been a
real factor in shaping conflicts in world history, and it continues to be. Besides, religion
plays a central role in the conflict. Some claim religion to have hampered a nation's
growth – it is a roadblock to progress. Religious doctrines, beliefs, and practices cause
grave misunderstanding among cultures and nations. But this is only brought by the
misconception that one religion should be above the other. Religion is so beautifully
woven into a society that it addresses questions that we, as humans, cannot find an
immediate answer to. Religion is simply misunderstood today. To talk, therefore, about
religion is deemed of utmost importance – religion yesterday, religion today, and religion
tomorrow. This course should be able to make you realize that religion, when properly
understood, can be the solution to the many problems it has itself caused. 
Aside from religions and their respective traditions, this course should also be able to
elucidate on religious experience. The notion of "religious experience" that will be
discussed in this subject is less of the mystical side of religious experience and more of
the day-to-day religious experience, or the daily experience of God in ordinary life. With
this approach, we must go back to our raw experience and see everything as
manifestations of something greater than ourselves. The religious experience should be
a day-to-day experience. To experience God daily, even in the most ordinary things,
can never be discounted.
Spirituality is treated almost in the same way. We will talk about spirituality not in the
strict, monastic sense, but more on the simple way of life of the ordinary believer. The
discussion dwells mostly on the ideals that believers follow to live a good life, by living
the teachings of their religion. Spirituality here is treated as a path with different
signposts, stopovers, and layovers, but still leads to the same, single destination.
This subject does not aim to expose various religions to be subjected to comparison.
After all, no religion is better than the other; rather, to see each religious tradition as it is
and to find similarities with other religious traditions. This way, we may be able to find
that which is greater than ourselves, regardless of our religion. 
Furthermore, religions, religious experience, and spirituality must be understood with
care. A single misstep can lead the believer, the family, and the society in the wrong
direction. But with influence on both the personal and the societal level, religion, when
properly understood, can transform the believer and eventually move society forward. In
every religion, there is an element of transcendence and a vision of searching for the
deepest values of humanity that can only be found through an authentic connection with
the destination, the Supreme Being – God. 
Ladies and gentlemen, let us now embark on a journey towards our goal in knowing
religion.

The terms theist, atheist, and agnostic are often related to the discussion of religion.
However, they are almost always misunderstood and interchanged. 

 The term theist may simply refer to a person who believes that there is a god. St.
Thomas Aquinas, would be a great example of theism who proved the existence of
God through his five arguments.
 An atheist is the opposite of theist. Atheists do not believe in the existence of god
(but the funny thing here is that once an atheist already thought that god does not
exist, an idea of god already exists in his/her mind; hence, contradicting his/her
belief that there is no god). A famous scholar named Bertrand Russell openly
confessed his atheism. He expressed his atheism in his work Why I am not a
Christian.
 Lastly, agnostic refers to a person who believes that the existence of a god is
unknowable by the human mind. Agnosticism is not the same with atheism because
the former believes that a god may or may not exist while the latter readily dismisses
the existence of God. The agnostics believe that our minds are not capable of
knowing a supreme truth like the existence of a god. The notable person for
agnosticism is Ernest Renan with his famous quote “Oh God, if there is a God, save
my soul if I have a soul”. In this quote, you can see the uncertainty of Renan. This is
common to all agnostics.
There is much controversy and little clarity as to the etymology of the word "religion,"
and this topic has been debated since then. One such perspective was presented by
the philosopher Cicero who proposed the Latin word “relegere,” which roughly means
“to read or go through again in speech or thought.” On the other hand, the most
commonly accepted etymology is the Latin word “religare,” which means “to bind.”
However, Cicero and other early etymologists all share in the idea that religion is a
system that binds a human person to a social, moral, and legal duty or contract, and
compels that same person to follow or avoid particular courses of actions.
          The said definitions of religion only provide us with its nominal meaning, but do
not give us a full and real understanding of the concept. In other words, they only
explain the word "religion," but never made us understand what the concept actually
means. Maybe that is the funny thing about religion. We keep trying to give it some
meaning but it still, up to this day, remains as a mystery waiting to be discovered.
Numerous scholars, philosophers, sociologists, theologians, etc., attempted to explain
to us what religion is. For example, the German idealist Immanuel Kant said, "religion is
the recognition of all our duties as divine commands." For Kant, religion is never
separated from ethics as a way of life. Also, Emile Durkheim, a French scholar,
described religion from a sociological perspective. He defined religion as, "a set of
ceremonial actions, assembling the group, heightening its emotion, and focusing its
members on symbols of their common belongingness.” Further, Karl Marx would say
that religion is the opium of the masses. According to him, religion, just like opium,
clouds the mind of the people to not recognize the oppressions existing in society.
These are only some of the definitions of religion and there are thousands more out
there.
         The discussions about religions have indeed come a long way. However, no
matter how hard these scholars try to explain religion to us, we will never understand
the concept if the definition does not fit our context. It is like the scene of a baby boomer
trying to explain how life must be lived to someone who belongs to the generation Z. It
will only remain unknown and misunderstood. In this journey in knowing religion, we
must not fall into the trap of subscribing to only one definition, or else we might just end
up imposing the prejudices and biases of the person explaining the concept rather than
knowing the concept for what it is. Hence, I encourage all of you to suspend all your
prior knowledge and judgment on religion to know the essence of the object we are
trying to explore. To know the meaning of religion, it must first be lived, explored, and
experienced. In this way, we might be able to create a fuller understanding of it. Alluding
to the ideas of William James, we must first acknowledge the fact that in our journey in
knowing religion, likely, we might not find a single essence or explanation. However,
that does not mean that the journey is not worth taking because every meaning we find
is equally important. Hence, it will take an open mind to understand religion.
I hope that at the end of this course, albeit given only six weeks, you will be able to find
your unique definition of religion using the basic knowledge that you will be able to
learn.
Here are the fundamental features of religion:
1. Cosmological Dimension 
Religion is an avenue to answer big questions about our existence. It provides
explanations about our faith, the universe, creation, nature, meaning, and form of the
universe and the place of humanity in it. Religion tries to put meaning into the world.
Religion achieves this through myths, theories and visions of the creation, nature,
meaning and forms of the universe, and our place in it.
2. Soteriological Dimension
Religion provides a scheme for salvation. Most religions, if not all, have their
soteriological or salvific dimension. It tries to give an answer to the question “what
happens after death?” and how do we make sure we have  a good destination when we
die, e.g. heaven and earth for Christians, samsara and moksha for Hindus, and nirvana
for Buddhists.
3. Anthropological Dimension
While religion teaches us to live together properly, it also teaches us that there is more
than this mundane world. It encourages us to seek beyond the finite human experience
and aspire for what is greater which our mind could not comprehend. 
4. Symbolic Dimension
Religions have symbols and rituals. Symbols are signs used for sacred objects or ideas
and are used to give meaning to human behavior. Religious rituals and practices are
prescribed, repeated behaviors with desired and intended outcomes for the enrichment
of the religion and the person. Symbols and rituals help in creating a sound tradition and
transform through religious tradition, e.g. cross for Christians, “om” for Hindus, and male
circumcision of Jews.
5. Moral Dimension
Every religion provides a moral compass. All religions have a sense that there is a right
way to live and act – morality. To live a moral life is to live out the precepts of the
religion. The idea of good and evil has been an effective doctrine in providing us with
moral guidance. It must be noted, however, that the major religions vary in their
definitions of what constitutes a good life, and the line between moral philosophy and
religion is far from clear.
6. Organizational Dimension
All religions recognize an authority. Religious matters are often settled by religious
authorities. Most religions today are headed by priests or pastors who undergo years of
training and education to fulfill their religious role as leaders. In other religions, the
emphasis is placed on an internal authority and personal understanding of how to live in
the world.
7. Theological Dimension 
Religions introduce the existence and nature of a supreme being. This is the defining
feature of religion. A god is the primary object of all religious practice and devotion. The
understanding of a particular religion mainly involves the necessary knowledge and
appreciation of the supreme being or beings. All forms of religious devotional systems
are considered expressions of the divine.
Maybe most of you, if not all, have encountered the term religious experience. These
two words may sound so simple but if we pay more attention and reflect on it, we may
realize that these two words are not as easy as they appear. What is a religious
experience? Which experience is to be considered as religious? Do you strictly need to
witness a miracle or see God face to face so that you can say that you have had a
religious experience? These are only some of the questions surrounding the concept. 
To understand religious experience, let us first define the two words separately. The
term "religious" may refer to divinity and something holy or sacred. Hence, it does not
refer to the profane. It may also refer to a set of beliefs. On the other hand, the word
"experience" may be defined as something that occurs in life and often subjective in
nature or something personal. Thus, when put together, religious experience may mean
as a personal experience that pertains to an encounter of the Supreme Being which is
understood within a religious framework. 
Moreover, we may attribute the coining of this term to our good friend, William James,
who had made a lot of contributions in the field of philosophy of religion. James
provided a clearer distinction between normal experience and religious experience.
According to him, what distinguishes religious experience is that it is transcendental and
it blocks everything away when you experience it. While, transcendental means is what
takes us away from our normal physical experience. It makes us feel that we are
connected to the divine one. Further, religious experience blocks everything away
wherein you would only want to focus your attention and engage only on that particular
experience. Religious experience is just a very distinct and unique experience that just
takes you out of yourself. 
Perhaps, in our modern society where science and technology have greatly advanced,
saying that you have encountered something religious is more challenging than it was
hundreds of years ago. Imagine telling your friends that you encountered God, or you’ve
witnessed a miracle happen, like water turning into wine. Your friends might only think
that you are delusional or that you are just having a schizophrenic episode. Ultimately,
they may judge that you are in need of psychiatric treatment and are meant for a
sanatorium.
This should not be considered a problem because religious experiences are really
difficult to understand and even sometimes impossible to be grasped by our limited
minds. In fact, according to Rudolf Otto, religious experience is not something readily
given to everyone because it is not something that is obvious. It takes effort and a great
deal of remembering to be conscious of it. Religious experiences are not obvious when
they happen. Most of the time they occur when we are unaware. To give you a concrete
example, even just the simple event of meeting your crush can be also considered as a
religious experience if it leads you to transcendence or when it takes you out of
yourself. 
Therefore, it is not the recognition we get from our religious experience that is of
importance here. Also, it is not to find out the reason or the cause of the religious
experience that we exhaust with. What we should pay attention to are the
consequences of our religious experience. As the saying goes "It is not about the roots
but it is all about the fruits."  These religious experiences are important because of their
transformative power. It is about how they affect the lives that lead us to devote
ourselves to religion more fully. A popular example would be the story of Paul on his
way to Damascus. If that did not happen, then Christianity might not be the way it is
today. Another would be that of Siddhartha Gautama or more known as Buddha. If he
had not experienced Nirvana, Buddhism might never have existed. For basketball
fanatics, the story of Jayjay Helterbrand may even qualify as a religious experience.
Helterbrand formerly got addicted to drugs and women, but he changed and started to
become a faithful believer because of a miracle that happened with his sick daughter.
Even the story of Pacquiao can also be a good example.
Spirituality, just like religion and religious experience, is a concept we often hear but
barely understand. To understand what spirituality is, let us first discuss what spirituality
is not.

1. Spirituality is not similar to spiritism, or the belief that spirits exist apart from
matter. It is the conviction that when the spirit splits from the body, the spirit haunts
the world as ghosts. 
2. Spirituality is not the same as Spiritualism, or the belief in the survival of the
human personality and in communication between the living and the dead. An
example of spiritualism is the use of a Ouija board.
3. Spirituality is not mesmerism or animal magnetism. Mesmerism is an activity that
is performed that makes the subject dazed and be subordinated to the operator.
4. Spirituality is not hypnotism. 
5. Spirituality is not similar to religiosity. Religiosity is oftentimes confused with
spirituality. Religiosity concerns itself with religion, traditions, and beliefs. Hence, it is
man-made, external, and visible to the eye. Religiosity is the outward show of
religion.

So now, what is spirituality? A quick answer to the question is that spirituality is

concerned with the problems connected with the spirit or soul. This definition
presupposes that we are embodied spirits. It means that we are composed of a body
and a spirit. In addition, according to Sawan Ashram, "Spirituality… is the science of
developing higher consciousness in Man on the level of the soul, and making one
transcend from mere body consciousness into cosmic consciousness, to enable one to
understand the working of the divine plan." Simply put, spirituality pertains to "self-
realization" and "God-realization." Man has the innate ability to transcend from the
physical world to a higher dimension of life, which is the spiritual world. It is a personal
quest to seek something beyond the physical world. Thus, self-transcendence is very
essential in understanding one's spirituality.
To put things into context, this example might help. Imagine that you have every
material thing that you would want and need. You have a nice house and a car. Your
bank accounts are loaded with money. You can afford to go to different places. You get
to eat whatever you want whenever you want. However, all of these nice things do not
guarantee you a happy and contented life. There is something that goes beyond the
material realm because we are embodied spirits. This is perhaps a manifestation of our
spirituality. We always seek something beyond what we can see, touch, hear, smell,
and feel. We have an inner dimension where we experience reality.
Spirituality can exist without religion. A person does not have to believe in any religion in
order to pursue spiritual growth. However, we may say that both religiosity and
spirituality would grow more if they are practiced together. The terms “religious but not
spiritual” and “spiritual but not religious” are becoming a trend today. The problem with
the former is that there is a practice of religion but lacks an internalization. An example
of which is a person who attends worships regularly, but does not embody the teachings
of their religion. On the other hand, the danger with the latter is that everything is
possible if spirituality is not guided by religion. However, if spirituality and religiosity will
be practiced together, it would produce a better outcome. Spirituality can give better
meaning to religiosity, while religiosity can guide our spirituality.

“Spiritual But Not Religious” is a Prideful

Thing to Say
The fashionable doctrine of “spiritual but not religious” condemns every
religious doctrine but its own.
Matt D’Antuono

I get the sense that it is fashionable to say, “I am spiritual but not religious.” People nod their heads
in agreement and think how open-minded spirituality without religion allows people to be.
Spirituality, after all, can take so many different forms and is free from rules and judgment, but
religion tends to be dogmatic and restrictive. The spiritual person seems to have reached a state of
humility in recognizing the sameness of all religions, while the religious person seems to operate on a
prideful rigidity of doctrine and morality.

The problem, of course, is that the caricatures of the spiritual free man and the religious slave are
themselves the result of judgmental pride and a lack of critical thought about what the terms
“spiritual” and “religious” might mean.

The word “spiritual” can have two meanings. It can refer to the spiritual part of reality, the soul, as
opposed to physical reality. In that sense, we are all spiritual, but also physical, because we are both
body and soul. I have no quarrel with people if they claim to be “spiritual” in this sense, as long as
they are not claiming to be merely spiritual so that they deny the reality of the body.

The second meaning is “relating to religion or religious belief.” This seems to be closer to what
people mean. They like to operate in the world of ideas about religion without choosing any
particular religion. God, the soul, practices of prayer and meditation are all up for grabs, but no one
set of ideas is more or less true than another. It is all mystery with no reality, as opposed to a
mysterious reality. It is kind of like someone saying that they like dealing with the ideas of
mathematics without committing to any of them as actually descriptive of physical phenomena.

As far as mathematics goes, there are pure mathematicians who deal only with mathematical ideas,
but it is not the case that “anything goes” when it comes to mathematical descriptions of the real
world. Speed really is the ratio of distance to time or it is not. It is the same with spirituality and
religion. There really is a God, or there is not. Humans really do have a soul, or they do not. Jesus
really was God, or He was not. Spirituality seems to not care about what is really true when it comes
to these most important issues or else imagines that there is no truth. It is like saying that you like
trains, as long as they are not on any tracks. Religion without spirituality, on the other hand, is like
the tracks without the train: all direction and pointing without actually moving closer into
relationship with God.

As Martin Buber wrote, “the spirituality that represents the spirit nowadays is so scattered weakened,
degenerate, and full of contradictions that it could not possibly do this until it had first returned to the
essence of the spirit: being able to say You.”

The irony of the humble appearance on the face of spirituality without religion is that it actually
represents a summit of pride; it is the position that casts condemnation on every set of beliefs and
then seeks to create its own, as if the reality of God could be created in the image of the spiritual
person. In this way, the spiritual but not religious avoid connecting truly with God. It is a feel-good
smokescreen for isolation from any encounter with the true Eternal Thou.

And that brings us to the meaning of “religion.” It comes from the prefix re-, which means “again,”
and ligare, which means “to bind” or “connect.” Religion is about binding ourselves to God again. It
recognizes that something is wrong, that we are disconnected from God in a fundamental way, but
that we need to become reconnected. A religion is about getting back to an encounter with God. If
there are rituals or practices in a religion, it is because they are part of the process God has ordained
for a relationship with Him. If there are doctrines and statements of faith, they are meant to be
expressions of the truth God has communicated to us.
Perhaps one of the biggest differences is that the religious person has discovered a truth, while the
merely spiritual person tries to create his own truth or doesn’t care. In the end, it comes down to what
is true, and a religion is for those who recognize that they do not have the spiritual insight to invent
their own spiritual dogmas and practices. A merely spiritual person claims to have the wisdom to
determine his own path, often regardless of logic or the full counsel of many of the people from
whom he pulls his ideas.

In this module, we have tried to elucidate different concepts such as religion, religious
experience and spirituality. We have learned that there are many ways to define each concept,
that is why it is necessary for us to keep an open mind in order to understand them properly.
The study of religion is harder and more technical than we think it is. However, as we move
along our discussions and start studying a particular religion, these concepts will hopefully make
more sense to us.