Spirituality 'understood by what it is not' by Urvi Singhania | Sep 21 2014 | 2 hours ago

Christopher Newport Religion Prof. Graham Schweig gave a lecture in Newcomb Friday titled Spiritual but Not Religious. Schweig, who earned a doctorate degree in comparative religion from Harvard, is an author, a scholar and a yogi. His books, including his translation of the Bhagavad Gita, are widely acclaimed.

His talk focused on the distinction people make between spiritualism and religiosity. Religion, derived from the word religare, meaning to connect, is something understood by all. However, he said spirituality tends to be understood by what it is not, hence spiritual but not religious.

He highlighted the nature of religion and spirituality as an art, rather than science, as religion cannot be objectified.

What one loves is not debatable, Schweig said. What one holds as truth is not arguable; how one acts out of faith is non-negotiable.

He likened religion to art in a picture in a frame or silence surrounding music, saying religion helps people put their world in context.

He went on to briefly narrate the tale of Six Blind Men and the Elephant, where each of the men thought the elephant was something different including a fan and a wall rope depending on the part of it they touched. Individually, in Schweigs opinion, they were all correct in their own ways, calling truth a matter of perception.

Schweig said different religions do the same thing thinking their religion is the whole, rather than a part of a whole.

God is too big to fit into one religion, he said.

Schweig also spoke about the differences in religious beliefs between the West and the East.

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CNU Prof. Schweig talks religion and spirituality