This has always been a crystal clear thought for me but it seems many seem confused and/or deluded between the two states. So let us explore them briefly and I will attempt to present why one is better or more universal than the other. Firstly, being religious can mean many different things to different people since there are so many religions to consider. And I don't believe it's fair to consider the major religions of the world only either because that's still not inclusive enough. So, the point is that being religious for a Catholic can be very different than being religious for a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist (and so on) depending on what aspect of religiosity the person puts emphasis on (this is where subjectivity comes in you see). This is where the definition of being spiritual needs to be made so that we have something to measure up to. In my limited understanding, I have observed that being spiritual entails being in contact with your human side, your morals, ethics, having a genuine caring intent towards individuals and communities alike. That is where it begins (for me), and it also leads to being in a state of wonder which fuels you to strive for becoming better. Now, I know what you're thinking.. This is all nice, and poetic but I don't feel like being in contact with my human side every day because something/someone's ticked me off! I'm saying that's completely fair and the beauty of it is that the things I've mentioned are in a cyclic chain and trigger one another. So, why is that a big deal? Consider this, spiritual experiences are not limited to anyone believing in any faith at all. This may seem as a tall assertion but you should know that all major scientists that first came in contact with new findings describe their experiences as something spiritual. So, an agnostic astrophysicist can be on top of a mountain observing and exploring the night sky while sheets of clouds unfurl on the land under the mountain and this surreal moment can be defined as a spiritual experience! The observation to be made here is that being religious is in fact a subset under being spiritual because religion is not able to reach out to those atheists, and agnostics that are out there witnessing extraordinary things. As a side note, I'd like to add even though there is a majority of religious people on comparison to agnostics, we as humans should realize that we do spend a great part of our life coming to terms with our own existentialism queries and of our religious faiths so lets do ourselves a favour and understand that we really are all in this together and we all deserve these experiences and motivation to be better.
