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.