My mom used to say that if I didn’t assign a religion to my children that they would have no community.

I now realize this is false; community is simply a combination of common values and unity. You can create this sort of arrangement in many different ways.

A neighborhood, a soccer club, playing bridge, etc…

But what’s missing is turning something like religion into spirituality.

Religion may have the ingredients for spirituality, but it does not necessitate it.

If you don’t have religion, then my suspicion is that you will crave spirituality in some way or another.

For me, that came in the form of mysticism.

But for someone else, it could be a destructive habit, such as drugs or alcohol or porn or…

I won’t argue that religion will save us from unhealthy spirituality. But I will argue that it is important for everyone to recognize what unhealthy spirituality feels like.

It’s insidious, after all.