by Grace Araujo Kolman

Created on: November 23, 2009   Last Updated: November 28, 2009

One day somebody asked the Dalai-Lama:

"What is Spirituality?"

He then looked at the person with his kind eyes and answered:

"Spirituality is what creates in us a profound change."

When I think about this thought, I realize how much we constantly experience physical, social, cultural, and psychological changes. It's part of our nature. Some changes are superficial, but others have the power to bring life new meaning and new beginning. The last ones are spiritual changes.

Although profound changes might occur in the context of religion, it's important to make a distinction between religion and spirituality. Religions teach us its credos and doctrines. We admire its temples, churches and music. They are also great source of virtue ethics. Finally, religions work with the divine, the sacred, and the spiritual, but they are not the spiritual. Spirituality is different.

My feeling about religion is that it is placed in the intellect, spirituality we experience in our gut. If religion doesn't bring the inner change we are aching for, it can't be called spirituality. A shoe without its sole it's not a shoe anymore, since it lost its worth. Spirituality brought me back to life again. I was sad, and God was accompanying me in my sadness. He was healing my soul.

I lived a Catholic faith most part of my life. My devotion to the church brought me joy, disappointment, and sadness. Although I never lost a sparkle of my faith in God, my religiosity was in peril. And here I want to separate spirituality and religion.

I don't believe they are the same. My spiritual experience never failed me, but religion did. In order to maintain the family tradition, I kept my Catholicism, but I was not convinced that it was the right attitude.

Without being in touch with the sacred, it's very difficult to recover from emotional or physical distress. When we are "in love" or "in frustration", a strong spirituality can bring us back to what is really important in life. My personal history helps me to understand the struggles, fulfillment, and joy that a fruitful spiritual life offers to each of us.

The best seller author Breggin says, "The basic or universal needs are psychological, social, and spiritual." It's true. I know, and you probably also know people who have a comfortable life, and are socially successful.

Although some of us may experience a good level of professional or personal happiness, we may still struggle to find our way of being in the world. And if it's so, if right now you sense an emptiness in your chest, and a pain in your gut, it is maybe a good moment to connect again to your spiritual being.

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