REFLECTIONS

Physican and psychotherapist Rachel Naomi Remen says,

"The spiritual is not the religious. A religion is a dogma, a set of
beliefs about the spiritual and a set of practices which rise out of
those
beliefs. There are many religions and they tend to be mutually
exclusive.
That is, every religion tends to think that it has dibs on the
spiritual --
that it's 'The Way.' Yet the spiritual is inclusive. It is the
deepest
sense of belonging and participation. One might say that the spiritual
is
that realm of human experience which religion attempts to connect us to
through dogma and practice. Sometimes it succeeds and sometimes it
fails.
Religion is a bridge to the spiritual, but the spiritual lies beyond
religion."