Soul Bloom: Rainn Wilson & Rick Glassman Discuss Spirituality vs. Religion
In the kickoff episode of Rainn Wilson’s new podcast Soul Boom, he invited actor and comedian Rick Glassman to discuss various topics, including the importance of being present for actors, being diagnosed with autism later in life (Glassman), and the increasing number of people identifying as spiritual but not religious. Rainn shared his experience that many in the comedy world are hesitant to engage in spiritual conversations due to past experiences with religious individuals eager to convert them. This led Rainn to seek a clear distinction between spirituality and religion. Glassman suggested that spirituality might be considered the “philosophy and intention behind religion, rather than necessarily the miracles of it.” Rainn agreed.
Glassman’s effort to focus on the driving force behind the formation of religions is key. As I continued listening to the episode, I thought about my own experiences, both academic and personal, and eventually added my own comment to the chat:
Religion vs. Spirituality: Religion tries to bottle up the magic of divine encounters into rules and rituals, aiming to create a group identity and posit answers to questions about the past and future. It has also been used to protect initiates from powerful forces they do not understand. This focus on structure often feels stale and constricting to those searching for direct spiritual experiences in the here and now.
Before I dropped out mid-semester to pursue my own path, I remember taking a master’s level course entitled “From Prophetic to Priestly.” The course described the natural lifecycle of religious movements. Initially, many movements center around a charismatic mystic seeking a direct experience of God. People are drawn to their charisma, and if their spiritual innovation offers novel answers to modern life’s pressing questions, they can gain a following.
Soon, the following grows, evolving to the point where formal structures become necessary. “We can’t keep doing this in our house; we should really build a church,” someone suggests. And, as the saying goes, “Give a pig a pancake, and it will want syrup” — the same rule applies to churches: with buildings come committees, and with committees, rules. This growth continues until the rigid nature of priestly organizations becomes too confining to adapt quickly to modern life. This is where spiritual entrepreneurs and revolutionaries step in, sparking reformations, such as Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg or Bobby showing up with an electric guitar to the First Baptist Church in Little Rock.
So, what am I saying? Being aware of the patterns and systems that run our lives and this planet is key to consciously participating in them. You may find yourself in a religious system that has become rigid, but your life is in flux, and the system no longer provides the answers or direct access to the divine that it once did. It may be time for you to shift your practice, spending less time dependent on someone else’s formula and more time in the kitchen experimenting with your own concoctions.
Perhaps you’ve been disillusioned with organized religion and shunned all spiritual activities that involve community participation — I can relate. However, going it alone might be a reaction to spiritual trauma, potentially reinforcing an egoic sense of separateness. For you, it might be time to reintroduce a little structure into your spiritual life.
At the end of the day, religion and spirituality appear different, but they do not need to be defined in opposition (ironic, given that I kind of did in my original comment). They should be seen as waymarkers in each generation’s spiritual lifecycle, as new batches of humans explore the deeper aspects of life and connect with their own souls and the overarching soul of the universe.
The fact that people are en masse seeking a more direct spiritual experience tells us that the dominant priestly class of American religions has become calcified. The larger consciousness is seeking spiritual prophets and innovators to reinvigorate the Great Work with adaptations attuned to the times.
