Spiritual Without Being Religious

A question that causes discussion between people is whether a person can be spiritual without being religious. Many people will argue that it is impossible because they mean the same thing technically. However, I disagree, I believe that a person can be spiritual without being religious because becoming religious stems from being spiritual. The adjective ‘spiritual’ does not have the same meaning as religious in my opinion. To be spiritual refers to the human soul or spirit and how it is affected. People can want to improve their spirits and inner-being without running to God for it. They can better their spirits by doing simple things and do not need to rely on a higher being to help them connect with their inner selves. For instance, people

Karl Rahner states in Fear of the Spirit Thoughts for the Pentecost that “If we want to get rid of the impression of a secular world, we have to stop looking for the Holy Spirit only under explicitly religious labels our religious training has accustomed us to. (Rahner, 40) He is explaining that we do not find the Holy Spirit only under the confinement of the Church but all around us, just like how a spiritual person doesn’t look to going to church as a way to find peace. He states this to show how the two terms correlate to each other. He quotes “If we look out for inner freedom in which a person remains faithful to the dictate of his conscience... it is what we Christians call the Holy Spirit at work.” (Rahner, 40) Rahner is saying that a person who is in tune with his spiritual being is experiencing the Holy Spirit. However, while he calls understanding and working your own soul as the “Holy Spirit at work”, I believe that it is just you fully recognizing your ability to alter who you are emotionally and mentally. This doesn’t necessarily mean the Holy Spirit is at work because some people simply just want to better themselves without thinking of a higher divinity so how could the Holy spirit work if that person is an atheist? While Karl Rahner’s quote is a good argument, he is being general with the statement that simply because someone recognizes they have a soul they can change for better or worse that the Holy Spirit is in them. In my opinion, religiousness comes from being spiritual but have separate meanings from each