Is There a Difference Between Religion and Spirituality???

[Kweku_Omowale]

religion is based on indoctrinatrion,not all religious people are spiritual,people
irmao ak,religion is different than spirituality,because,memorizinga whole heap of books,dont make us spiritual,it is our lifes journey and experience and insgihts that make us who we are and what makes us spiritual,the yanomamis of the amazon forest,are not religious,the first afrikans that landed in brazil,were not religous,but spiritual,however,the mix of the indigenous people
with afrikans,gave rise to new system in brazila blend of afrikan spirituality and indegenous beliefs,which are almost the same

[IfasehunReincarnated]

Originally Posted by Rekhati

ETA: Its not the ATR perse that is Christian like. Its the people. Many are not looking to transcend.

I agree. This is why I say "many don't realize this is a spiritual science." This is a conversation that I have w/ a few elders and some initiates my own age. People are the problem. The Deities don't have a problem.

Now what I will say is that retreat from the situation defeats the purpose. (1) Spiritual systems are in place to elevate us. We dont come to them perfect. So when you meet someone that is "off track" and involved in ATR, you sigh relief cause they could be across town kicking w/ some negroes or some white folks, praying to Jesus. anyone expecting to find a group of all-perfect people when they enter ATRs is being realistic. we come looking for the process of perfection, the process of elevation, the process of love & fellowship. we come to grow. and we should choose communties/temples where the process is traditional and lineage based.

1,000 years ago some people had to cultivate certain behaviors and guidelines for interaction then help socialize their community. It took time. The other difference is that we socialize against the slave mentality and they didnt have an outward enemy to worry about. The goal is still the same. So the presence of colonized minds within ATR communities & temples isnt a problem because as long as their have been humans there have always been some that were not as developed as others. As conscious Afrikan centered people we need to get involved and resurrect our traditions properly and over time (over time i say) relegate the colonized, scared, eurocentric, arabcentric, power hungry etc to the background. The Deities and Ancestors have our back. Its nothing but to do it.

(2) Fellowship is the heart of Afrikan existence. We have to fellowship! We have to fellowship on politics, social structure and spirituality. And we have to taken advantage of our Ancestors knowledge. We have to study tradition, adhere to lineage and advance their knowledge to new heights. Fellowship is key. When we run away from Afrikans we leave ourselves in a bad way and them in a bad way. Every conscious Afrikan has something to teach another non-conscious Afrikan that "happens" to be involved in ATRs and vice versa. We need one another.

Again, we WILL make progress. Things WILL get better. And there are LOTS of devotees and priests working towards this end. But as an old man told me out of the blue one day, "you got to be on a team to play the game."

Community is our strength. ATR communities must be improved if they are lacking and supported when they are on the right track. The options are "solo" and "reverting to judeo-christian" mess - neither of which is spiritual elevated nor useful to ending oppression of Afrikans.

[Kweku_Omowale]

the first afrikans that landed in brazil were not religious,the indigenous people of the amazon were and arent religious,the blend of afrikan spirituality and indigenous system gave rise to umbanda and kamdomble,yanomamis have their own spiritual system as well,the beauty of it all,is that the combination ofa system,that respect,nature,and the creator,is what makes us spiritual beings

[Escobar]

Almost everything we as humans do is collective...Religion is just our colective spiritual endevor

[IfasehunReincarnated]

Not all religion is a collective SPIRITUAL endeavor. Many (read: most) religions are EMOTIONAL and INTELLECTUAL and POLITICAL endeavors.

[Escobar]

Originally Posted by IfasehunReincarnated

Not all religion is a collective SPIRITUAL endeavor. Many (read: most) religions are EMOTIONAL and INTELLECTUAL and POLITICAL endeavors.

The spiritual endevor influences the other aspects of life...All aspects are part of the larger spiritual endevor

[GT4LIFE]

Spirituality, religion, both of dem is just words. No words can't describe JAH. Not even the word JAH.
On the other hand... "In the beginning was the word. And the word was with JAH. and the word was JAH."
It's all a bit paradoxical isn't it?
That is the nature of the I&Iniverse

[IfasehunReincarnated]

Originally Posted by Raqin Escobar

The spiritual endevor influences the other aspects of life...All aspects are part of the larger spiritual endevor

The reality is that spirituality never enters the minds of what most 'religious' people do. They make their political and emotional and intellectual decisions without any input from the Creator or the Ancestors whatsoever.

[Escobar]

Originally Posted by IfasehunReincarnated

The reality is that spirituality never enters the minds of what most 'religious' people do. They make their political and emotional and intellectual decisions without any input from the Creator or the Ancestors whatsoever.

Well i think religion is the collective spiritual endevor...And this influences all aspects of life such as politics, etc etc

[Kefentse_Bandele]

i know some crazy ass christians, crazy ass muslims and crazy ass initiates. what u profess

does not register with me. But what u practice and its meanigfulness to the liberation of

Afrikan peole is of relevance to me. as stated earlier...religion-and even sometimes our own

spirituality-is the opiate of the people. and may i add is the dam holding back the floods of

revolution!

"OOOh Imma wait til Ogun signals me...ooooh imma wait til the comet shoot across the heavens like zumbi..ooooh imma wait til allah signals me 4 jihad..ooooohh imma wait til jesus return...ooohh woe is me, woe is the sad Afrikan!"-Kefentse

Isnt Obasanjo an initiate?

[Kweku_Omowale]

Originally Posted by Kefentse_Bandele

i know some crazy ass christians, crazy ass muslims and crazy ass initiates. what u profess

does not register with me. But what u practice and its meanigfulness to the liberation of

Afrikan peole is of relevance to me. as stated earlier...religion-and even sometimes our own

spirituality-is the opiate of the people. and may i add is the dam holding back the floods of

revolution!

"OOOh Imma wait til Ogun signals me...ooooh imma wait til the comet shoot across the heavens like zumbi..ooooh imma wait til allah signals me 4 jihad..ooooohh imma wait til jesus return...ooohh woe is me, woe is the sad Afrikan!"-Kefentse

Isnt Obasanjo an initiate?

yo kb,i like ur sense of human bro lol,yeye! some people gonna wait till jesus help with afrikan liberation,some people will and be continue to wait for the pie in the skies!

[New Dwaben Chief]

This is crazy, because I was entertaining this thread in my mind minutes before I even saw it....lol!!



Dr. John Henrik Clarke said

I did not lose my concept of God. I gained the concept of spirituality, which is higher than the concept of religion. I learned that spirituality was here before religion, and that people, who did not understand either, turned spirituality into religion, and turned the religions against each other..."

[IfasehunReincarnated]

Originally Posted by Kefentse_Bandele

Isnt Obasanjo an initiate?

He was an initiate, but many Kings do not actively involve themselves in spiritual or religious matters. (which is a breech of their obligation) Tell me what is it that you know about Obasanjo that wasn't written in a book? Be careful to not conjure up a name of a person that is very capable of reaching out from the beyond to touch you. He aint no ordinary "dead man".

You general sentiment is true, save one point. Orisa, Loa, Neteru etc don't hold people back or cloud their minds. Orisa BEEN telling us to fight for our freedom. Its the people that are the problem. And its the westernization in their psyche that makes them a problem. I'd like to go further but the God in me says the attempt would be a waste of good time spent doing other things.

Sidebar: Did you know that Ogun has a gentle side as well?

[Kefentse_Bandele]

Originally Posted by IfasehunReincarnated

Sidebar: Did you know that Ogun has a gentle side as well?

oh yes...all the orisas are balanced. and also have feminine attributes

Uhuru

[Akyeame Kwame]

Originally Posted by Kefentse_Bandele

i know some crazy ass christians, crazy ass muslims and crazy ass initiates. what u profess

does not register with me. But what u practice and its meanigfulness to the liberation of

Afrikan peole is of relevance to me. as stated earlier...religion-and even sometimes our own

spirituality-is the opiate of the people. and may i add is the dam holding back the floods of

revolution!

"OOOh Imma wait til Ogun signals me...ooooh imma wait til the comet shoot across the heavens like zumbi..ooooh imma wait til allah signals me 4 jihad..ooooohh imma wait til jesus return...ooohh woe is me, woe is the sad Afrikan!"-Kefentse

Isnt Obasanjo an initiate?

u r wise!

AK