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What does it mean when someone says they're "Not religious, but spiritual"?
What does it mean?
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Want to answer more questions in the Miscellaneous category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Spirituality?
Well, here's one thing it could mean.
Imagine you had a goal, one you were sure was right. (i.e. convicting a man guilty of a horrible crime) If you stopped trying to achieve your goal despite believing that what you were pursuing was right/necessary, then that would be giving up, unless it were no longer possible at all to achieve it. But what if you discovered that your original goal was wrong (i.e. a prosecutor realizes the man he was trying to convict is in fact innocent). In that case, once the realizes the truth, it is no failure on his part to stop pursuing his original goal - because they would never have pursued it in the first place had they known then what they knows now. The same idea applies when a person has similar changes of heart or mind - it can be evidence not of failure of giving up, but of the person's internal growth and maturity. This happens in some of the best fictional stories where a villainous character has an epiphany, is able to see his or her actions as other see them, and has a change of heart and mind - accompanied by a change in behavior.
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Let's think about it. As humans we constantly gather info, evaluate the facts, and thus make 'evaluative decisions'. Sometimes the decision is undeniably 'Drop this and walk away. It's over'. Are we then 'giving up'? Most certainly not! Consider your actions as investements. Investing your time and resoucres in a project and hoping for a good return. We all like a good return for our efforts, eh? Like financial investments. Financial or otherwise, there will come times when we reach a 'tipping point' A pivotal moment. That point at which we are, in truth, never going to even recover the value of investment we have already expended on this project. Never mind even thinking about showing any gain or profit! Then it's time to acknowledge and act on 'truth'. If it's a project or desire which is very precious to us we can be very reluctant to 'give up' on it. But we must. To coin another phrase, sometimes we must relinquish any hopes of finding a cure and make our priority simply to 'stop the bleeding'. Possibly a good measure is this. What if it was a loved and valued friend laying all the same details on you? Would you advise them to keep hanging in there and hoping against hope? Or to get yourself out of this now and forget about it? Would you try and comfort and soothe them with just dreams and wishes, or go straight to the truth at the heart of the matter?
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Sounds like you have a wise person you hear from often in your life. However, you ask us to explain quotes and idioms all the time. I have never known someone to have so many needing explaining. I am betting you get these phrases from someone older than you, perhaps a parent, aunt uncle or grandparent. It really is best that you ask them what they mean. It seems many of these are tied to helping you make the steps necessary to move on with your adult life. No one says it easy but there is much wisdom in what this person or persons tell you. Just ask them to not use idioms or phrases as you are not quite sure exactly what they want you to compare their lesson or advice to in words you understand. It is good to learn new stuff. All I will say is that they want you to make good decisions and know you are at an important crossroads. So ask them to explain this to you. I am sure they can. Don't be afraid to ask, this is how we all learn, by asking when we don't understand. In your case, it seems you are hearing a lot of things you don't understand so you need to let the person know to speak more plain instead of cute easy phrases
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It means that they don't adhere to any one doctrine or organized religion. For example someone could follow the teachings of Jesus and NOT be Christian, catholic or whatever sect. They could definitely be spiritually aware and learning from many different teachings and religions but not pinned down to any label or core set of beliefs. It means they practice these things but don't need a religion or want to be affiliated with one.
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I rather agree with MrKaman. It sounds to me like a contradiction of terms. Rather like saying "I am six feet two inches in height, but I'm not a tall person." I should definitely get him to expand on what his particular brand of spirituality entails and is based around. It will almost certainly map onto some existing belief-system with a reasoanbly good fit. Mainly because in the long history of mankind most have been tried. It is quite common now for people to reject formal and established religions in favour of (much cooler!) miscellaneous 'spirituality'. Most of the beliefs currently in vogue are inter-denominational, pretty non-specific and unlikley to cause any real cultural clashes between people who are fairly 'luke-warm' about religion in general. Unlike the formal ones, which can cause significant issues. Like air-strikes!
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It generally means that they believe in some supernatural thing but not a standard organized religion.
It is very vague and if someone says that I would recommend asking follow up questions.
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It may mean slightly different things depending on the person saying it. In general, not just myself but others I've observed who believe the same, are people who never adhered to any organized religion, or used to and now no longer do. By organized religion, I mean a structured system of faith or worship, especially one followed by a large number of people, such as Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. A person who considers themselves spiritual believes that their religion or spirituality rather to help distinguish, is a personal path to Deity, a personal relationship with what they call God or in some cases Goddess and some as God and Goddess. I have studied enough theology and people to have formed this personal belief of whom you might find calling themselves Spiritual rather than Religious.
Here's my idea of that:
Church going christians who became disillusioned by the churches form of belief or treatment from so called Christians.
People who were forced to attend church as children
Those raised in a Pagan practicing household or who have as teens or older, decided for themselves that some form of Paganism is what feels right for their personal relationship with Deity.
(The original term for Pagan only meant the un-churched, non church going when Christianity was spreading over Europe and the world. A pagan is not a Satanist. Those are two very different things. A pagan is usually a solitary believer. I have found under the term Pagan, those who are Wiccan, Druid, those who don't identify with either, and some who switched from following Christianity 100% to still believing with half the theology of Christianity and now embracing in addition lots of the beliefs of Paganism. To Christians, anyone not baptized into their belief system is considered a Pagan. So no matter how Spiritual a person is, if they adhere to a Dharmic religion, which falls under some types as Hinduism and Buddhism. There is a group who also fall inbetween, those here in the USA following particular Yogi's with a blend of beliefs in Jesus as well that seem to have a blend of Buddhism with aspects of Hinduism mixed in. I have a family member of that belief. So I can say they are children of God, like pagans I also happen to know, children of God who despite the path they are on, still act very often like Jesus, no matter who they call their Deity role model. I believe all God wanted was for people to have individual relationship with him. It makes sense. Think of a family unit, siblings and your parents. What if you never talked to your parents, never acknowledged or interacted with them unless it was in a family reunion type of setting with all your siblings, their spouses and kids, and cousins, etc... If the only time you actually related to your parents was at this big group setting, you really would not have a relationship with your parents anymore. This is what is the bigger thing at issue, the personal relationship. People have a beed to band together with others of a same belief. So even those who call themselves Spiritual have this need but any get togethers of a group setting and something organized, is not the focus and what is stressed more is the individual path or relationship with God.
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