Religion: My Personal Etymology

This is a topic I’ve been thinking about putting into words for a few weeks now; I have a vague idea of it even before the Pre-Writing Challenge forced me to advance plan some of my posts. When I did my survey one of the responders wanted to know what tradition I was coming from, what would I be teaching? And I realized if I wanted to talk to you about your spiritual lives then it would probably be helpful for you if you had some idea of what my spiritual life looks like.

I know that there are pre-defined meanings for the terms we use to refer to spirituality, but I find what the dictionary says has very little relevance when faced with our own personal definitions. It doesn’t much matter what the word “God” really means – you’ll always understand it through the shading that your own experience provides. Here’s a few of my own interpretations as coloured by my own personal history and experience.

Religion – re·li·gion
Pronunciation: \ri-ˈli-jən\
Function: noun
The word “Religion” always conjures up Christianity in my head. I was raised by parents who chose not to really show or teach me anything about religion (my mother had been raised Anglican, and at one time wanted to be a nun, but she didn’t pass that on to me), though I did have clear connections to something bigger than myself and the idea of God.

At fourteen I attended a youth event with a friend who went to a local Pentecostal church and ended up accepting Christ as my saviour that night. That experience had a huge sense of Presence for me, and I can’t deny that something was different when I left the church with my friend. I stayed in the Pentecostal denomination for the next dozen or so years. Married the older brother of a youth group friend and found a new church in our new hometown.

All of my spiritual foundation is built out of Christianity; I read the Bible frequently and often see correlations with it in my current learning and thinking; things line up in comparison to the truths I knew and understood through that structure. To me Religion provided just that: structure.

About five years ago I felt an overwhelming directive to leave the church. I’d noticed a pattern in my life that when I slipped away from church attendance my spiritual life wouldn’t just blossom – it would explode. My study and practice habits expanded until I felt like I “needed” to be in church again. Then, within a matter of time of regular attendance my social life would be full (I’d have tons of obligations), but my own spiritual nurturance eventually faded to a trickle. Lots of things were happening in my relationships in the church and in my heart and I felt the clear instructions: Time to go.

I formally left the church with an open mind and an open heart hungry to only know God more and not worry about cultural conventions. Cultural convention, structure and expectations are all ideas firmly lashed to the idea of religion for me. Even though Christianity is my automatic lens for considering it I see the same things in all religions, all paths and I know religion isn’t what I’m looking for.

What the “real” dictionary says: Merriam-Webster Online, Etymology Online Dictionary

Spirituality – spir·i·tu·al·i·ty
Pronunciation: \ˌspir-i-chə-ˈwa-lə-tē\
Function: noun

I know quite a few people who’ve left the church and I’ve found that my experience has been different in one key way: I left with no anger or resentment. I had no particular issue with either the people, the church itself, or even God that drove me away – I just left because it was time to. There was a very clear image of hitting a glass ceiling in my own growth and experience of God within the church (religion) and it seemed I had gotten as much as I possibly could out of that system.

To me Spirituality is the essence of our lives – it is our connection to God. The more I’ve explored, studied, and met with God the more I’ve come to the conclusion that Path, Tradition (Religion), or lack there of are, for all intents and purposes, irrelevant. It’s spirituality that matters; even living within one tradition or another you must have a living and thriving – or at least an attempt at one – spirituality (or connection).

It seems clear to me that the reason the statistics for abuse, etc, remain unchanged within a church; that the unchanged (or seemingly unaffected) lives; and the worst examples of every kind of fanatic can be explained by a lack of true connection and practice within individual lives. An adherence to Religion doesn’t change lives, an adherence to knowing God does.

From the outset of my exodus I was clear with myself (and the Divine) that all I wanted was truth and relationship – to experience reality in the way it was meant to be seen and felt. That meant moving through a lot of old structures and exploring even more that I had never heard of, or been afraid of. I trusted God to guide me and keep my feet on the path. And my resulting philosophy is that each of us (culture groups more than individuals, but that to) were given a piece of the truth, something that combined with all the others would bring heaven to earth. Within every Path I find truth (and a whole lot of foolish or outrageous crap too) and so the real Truth is to find and walk my own path – which also means never judging your path…

This to me is real Spirituality and the purpose that can drive and enrich all our lives.

What the “real” dictionary says: Merriam-Webster Online, Etymology Online Dictionary

God
Pronunciation: \ˈgäd also ˈgȯd\
Function: noun

Clearly I believe in God; that is to say, I believe in a Supreme Being or Presence that is larger than all that we know and understand and is intimately woven within and connected to all creation. To me the word means all of these things and could easily be replaced with Divine, Deity, Limitless (my favourite), Goddess – or any of the other name specific terms used in Traditions like Judaism Islam, etc.

I normally use the word God for two primary reasons. First, because it is the term of my foundational Path; I’m used to it and comfortable with it, it’s a habit. That doesn’t mean though that the word conjures up the stereotypical Christian God (old guy big beard who judges us from the sky) for me, or that that is what I mean to imply with it.

Second, I figure the bulk of you are more comfortable with it, and at least you all have some general idea what I mean. I know that for some people the word itself is a turn off, and I don’t want you to tune out just because of the word, but I also find that words like Goddess, Spirit and Universe are interpreted in more negative ways – or written off – much more broadly than the word God.

For the sake of the “personal” aspect of this current etymology I find myself more and more drawn towards the expression of the Divine as Goddess (which shouldn’t surprise you too much with all my past posts on Feminist issues) and it’s to that term that I most relate at this point in my journey.

What the “real” dictionary says: Merriam-Webster Online, Etymology Online Dictionary

Way

Function: noun

I’d like to quickly touch on this word too seeing as it’s so integral to my spiritual philosophy. Within Asian Traditions and spirituality the different Traditions are often referred to as “The Way” – they actually use the idea in other areas too, such as marital arts (although, true martial arts are a spiritual path so I suppose that’s not all that different). They mean that this is “The Way” that you live – it is within the guidelines of this way that you choose to live, to express your being, and to interact with creation and creator.

My Way isn’t just my religion, or my tradition (that is to say, it’s not just the framework that defines or clarifies my belief system) it is also my way of living. My Way is how I find myself most easily connecting to God (like Nature, Dance, Meditation), it’s how I integrate my spirituality into my real life – how I make it practical – and how I live out my belief system in the world. In short, my Way describes both my beliefs and how those beliefs are changing me and the world.

I believe we are all on a Path of one kind or another; whether we are consciously choosing it or not. We can’t help but be, because our Way is how we express ourselves (and God) in the world.

What the “real” dictionary says: Merriam-Webster Online, Etymology Online Dictionary

Your Turn
What is your spiritual language? When was the last time you thought about what you believed and why you believed it? What do these words mean to you; what is your personal etymology?

Interested in learning more about how to consciously walk you Path? I’m putting together a 12 week course for women on practical spirituality, on getting more connected to our souls, spirits and bodies, and on how to be more true to ourselves by being true to our Paths… Want to know more? All the info goes live tomorrow (Weds, March 31st) so stay tuned!