I believe this is a conclusion drawn when, for whatever reasons, one has grown tired of or disillusioned with organized religion.
I would consider myself in the category of "spiritual but not religious" and by that mean nature, life, the sciences, cosmology, deep time and such leave me in awe of it all.
I do not mean by that any connection with gods and their plans for mankind. I personally see no evidence of them nor their role in reality. And my views do not include, and never would again, include organized religion, creeds and middlemen who think they know.
You're experiences may vary and no doubt do.
I don't mind having not much hope in any afterlife nor do I fear or find it depressing to think there has to be "something" when there really isn't. Believing that something just has to be true does not actually insure that it is true.
I personally also don't find any great need for meaning as in "there has to be meaning in all this." There really doesn't have to be anything other than it just is. Any meaning to life is what meaning one assigns it minus the intentions of the gods, which I find missing in action everywhere and all the time.
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That said, Just what is Spiritual but Not Religious?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_but_not_religious
"Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), or less commonly "more spiritual than religious", is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not regard organized religion as the sole or most valuable means of furthering spiritual growth.
Historically, the words religious and spiritual have been used synonymously to describe all the various aspects of the concept of religion,[ but in contemporary usage spirituality has often become associated with the interior life of the individual, placing an emphasis upon the well-being of the "mind-body-spirit", while religion refers to organization or communal dimensions. Spiritually sometimes denotes non-instituionalized or individualozed religiosity.
The interactions are complex since even conservative Christians designate themselves as "spiritual but not religious" to indicate a form of non-ritualistic personal faith.
Anti-institutional and personal
According to Abby Day, some of those who are critical of religion see it as rigid and pushy, leading them to use terms such as atheist or agnostic to describe themselves.[
For many people, SBNR is not just about rejecting religion outright, but not wanting to be restricted by it.
According to Linda Mercadante, SBNRs take a decidedly anti-dogmatic stance against religious belief in general. They claim not only that belief is non-essential, but that it is potentially harmful or at least a hindrance to spirituality.
According to Philip D. Kenneson, many of those studied who identify as SBNR feel a tension between their personal spirituality and membership in a conventional religious organization. Most of them value curiosity, intellectual freedom, and an experimental approach to religion.
Many go as far to view organized religion as the major enemy of authentic spirituality, claiming that spirituality is private reflection and private experience—not public ritual.
To be "religious" conveys an institutional connotation, usually associated with Abrahamic traditions: to attend worship services, to say Mass, to light Hanukkah candles. To be "spiritual", in contrast, connotes personal practice and personal empowerment having to do with the deepest motivations of life.
] As a result, in cultures that are deeply suspicious of institutional structures and that place a high value on individual freedom and autonomy, spirituality has come to have largely positive connotations, while religion has been viewed more negatively.
According to Robert Fuller, the SBNR phenomenon can be characterized as a mix of intellectual progressivism and mystical hunger, impatient with the piety of established churches.]
According to Robert Wuthnow, spirituality is about much more than going to church and agreeing or disagreeing with church doctrines. Spirituality is the shorthand term used in Western society to talk about a person's relationship with God.
For many people, how they think about religion and spirituality is certainly guided by what they see and do in their congregations. At a deeper level, it involves a person's self-identity—feeling loved by God, and these feelings can wax and wane.
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Categories
- "Dissenters" are the people who, for the most part, make a conscious effort to veer away from institutional religion. "Protesting dissenters" refers to those SBNRs who have been 'turned off' by religious affiliation because of adverse personal experiences with it. "Drifted Dissenters" refers to those SBNRs who, for a multitude of reasons, fell out of touch with organized religion and chose never to go back. "Conscientious objector dissenters" refers to those SBNRs who are overtly skeptical of religious institutions and are of the view that religion is neither a useful nor necessary part of an individual's spirituality.
- "Casuals" are the people who see religious and/or spiritual practices as primarily functional. Spirituality is not an organizing principle in their lives. Rather they believe it should be used on an as-needed basis for bettering their health, relieving stress, and for emotional support. The spirituality of "Casuals" is thus best understood as a "therapeutic" spirituality that centers on the individual's personal wellbeing.
- "Explorers" are the people who seem to have what Mercadante refers to as a "spiritual wanderlust". These SBNRs find their constant search for novel spiritual practices to be a byproduct of their "unsatisfied curiosity", their desire for journey and change, as well as feelings of disappointment. Explorers are best understood as "spiritual tourists" who take comfort in the destination-less journey of their spirituality and have no intentions of ultimately committing to a spiritual home
- "Seekers" are those people who are looking for a spiritual home but contemplate recovering earlier religious identities. These SBNRs embrace the "spiritual but not religious" label and are eager to find a completely new religious identity or alternative spiritual group that they can ultimately commit to.
- "Immigrants" are those people who have found themselves in a novel spiritual realm and are trying to adjust themselves to this newfound identity and its community. "Immigrants" can be best understood as those SBNRs who are "trying on" a radically new spiritual environment but have yet to feel completely settled there. For these SBNRs, although they are hoping to become fully integrated in their newfound spiritual identities, the process of acclimation is difficult and often disconcerting.
