What's the difference between faith and spirituality?
A question that seemed highly fitting for the section; what do you consider to be the differences between faith and spirituality?
I feel like faith is more closely related to your own self belief and the nature of free will. It’s a choice to believe what an individual feels is right.
My interpretation of spirituality is more physical in that its a part of us that also acts as our conscience although I’m still unsure what my view on conscience is yet.
I have no idea if any of that makes sense, but here it is anyway 😅
My interpretation of spirituality is more physical in that its a part of us that also acts as our conscience although I’m still unsure what my view on conscience is yet.
I have no idea if any of that makes sense, but here it is anyway 😅
Faith is probably our own beliefs which are gained from the world outside and not from our minds.
The world -> Our faiths/ beliefs.
Spirituality is probably the values we emit from our minds to the world outside.
Spirituality -> The World.
The world -> Our faiths/ beliefs.
Spirituality is probably the values we emit from our minds to the world outside.
Spirituality -> The World.
I've been pondering this ever since I first read this question and am still not sure! 
Part of me wants to say that faith is the gut feeling and spirituality is how we interpret/live out that faith? But I'm not actually convinced that that makes any sense at all 
Part of me wants to say that faith is the gut feeling and spirituality is how we interpret/live out that faith? But I'm not actually convinced that that makes any sense at all 
The answer is quite simple: spirituality is not necessarily linked to any kind of faith: spirituality can be considered as simply "inner life", so that even an atheist can be thought as having his own spirituality.
The problem is that today the word spirituality is subject to confusion: many people consider spirituality as believing in something supernatural, or religious, or esotheric; but this is a very narrow and limited way of considering spirituality. Today the meaning of the word "spirituality" is progressively widening so that any aspect of human inner life can be appreciated, studied, investigated, as an aspect of spirituality.
So, we can say that every kind of faith is spirituality, but not every kind of spirituality is faith. Faith is a subset of spirituality.
The problem is that today the word spirituality is subject to confusion: many people consider spirituality as believing in something supernatural, or religious, or esotheric; but this is a very narrow and limited way of considering spirituality. Today the meaning of the word "spirituality" is progressively widening so that any aspect of human inner life can be appreciated, studied, investigated, as an aspect of spirituality.
So, we can say that every kind of faith is spirituality, but not every kind of spirituality is faith. Faith is a subset of spirituality.
to me they are completely different. I am an atheist so I don't have a faith but would say I am quite a spiritual person. faith is about believing in a religious god who you want to think is good so you have this belief system in place to make a leap of faith over all your doubts about its existence and surrender your rationality to this apparently superior being. spirituality is a feeling of the mysterious, unanswered questions, beauty in the world, and just a feeling of things greater than yourself you can't understand.
Original post by GrowFree
The answer is quite simple: spirituality is not necessarily linked to any kind of faith: spirituality can be considered as simply "inner life", so that even an atheist can be thought as having his own spirituality.
The problem is that today the word spirituality is subject to confusion: many people consider spirituality as believing in something supernatural, or religious, or esotheric; but this is a very narrow and limited way of considering spirituality. Today the meaning of the word "spirituality" is progressively widening so that any aspect of human inner life can be appreciated, studied, investigated, as an aspect of spirituality.
So, we can say that every kind of faith is spirituality, but not every kind of spirituality is faith. Faith is a subset of spirituality.
The problem is that today the word spirituality is subject to confusion: many people consider spirituality as believing in something supernatural, or religious, or esotheric; but this is a very narrow and limited way of considering spirituality. Today the meaning of the word "spirituality" is progressively widening so that any aspect of human inner life can be appreciated, studied, investigated, as an aspect of spirituality.
So, we can say that every kind of faith is spirituality, but not every kind of spirituality is faith. Faith is a subset of spirituality.
Thanks for taking the time to post this - made a lot more sense than what I wrote and I appreciated reading it
I'd strictly consider faith as belief without evidence.
Spirituality is harder to describe but I'd consider it internal serenity (and the pursuit thereof) as well as connectivity with the natural world.
So as an example, I am an atheist, but I spent a few months in South Africa in massive nature reserves that were miles away from human habitation of any kind and something about the place left me with a resounding feeling of calmness and connectivity that I'd pretty much never felt before or since. To me the place felt spiritual, though I can't really put it into words. I wouldn't however have described the experience as supernatural.
Spirituality is harder to describe but I'd consider it internal serenity (and the pursuit thereof) as well as connectivity with the natural world.
So as an example, I am an atheist, but I spent a few months in South Africa in massive nature reserves that were miles away from human habitation of any kind and something about the place left me with a resounding feeling of calmness and connectivity that I'd pretty much never felt before or since. To me the place felt spiritual, though I can't really put it into words. I wouldn't however have described the experience as supernatural.
I think your definition “internal serenity” is somewhat wrong and somewhat correct.
The wrong sense is that even a person without serenity can be considered as living a deep and meaningful spirituality. We can think, for example, to people seriously engaged in efforts to bring peace and justice in the world, so that many times they are persecuted for this reason. In this case they suffer persecution, so that they have not much serenity, but they live undoubtedly a deep spirituality.
The correct sense is that these persons, even when they suffer hardly for persecution, keep some inner serenity, that is just what gives them the force to maintain their engagement in their ideal. This serenity could be unperceived even by themselves, but, undoubtedly, there must be inside them some hidden harmony that accounts for their perseverance.
The wrong sense is that even a person without serenity can be considered as living a deep and meaningful spirituality. We can think, for example, to people seriously engaged in efforts to bring peace and justice in the world, so that many times they are persecuted for this reason. In this case they suffer persecution, so that they have not much serenity, but they live undoubtedly a deep spirituality.
The correct sense is that these persons, even when they suffer hardly for persecution, keep some inner serenity, that is just what gives them the force to maintain their engagement in their ideal. This serenity could be unperceived even by themselves, but, undoubtedly, there must be inside them some hidden harmony that accounts for their perseverance.
Original post by GrowFree
The answer is quite simple: spirituality is not necessarily linked to any kind of faith: spirituality can be considered as simply "inner life", so that even an atheist can be thought as having his own spirituality.
The problem is that today the word spirituality is subject to confusion: many people consider spirituality as believing in something supernatural, or religious, or esotheric; but this is a very narrow and limited way of considering spirituality. Today the meaning of the word "spirituality" is progressively widening so that any aspect of human inner life can be appreciated, studied, investigated, as an aspect of spirituality.
So, we can say that every kind of faith is spirituality, but not every kind of spirituality is faith. Faith is a subset of spirituality.
The problem is that today the word spirituality is subject to confusion: many people consider spirituality as believing in something supernatural, or religious, or esotheric; but this is a very narrow and limited way of considering spirituality. Today the meaning of the word "spirituality" is progressively widening so that any aspect of human inner life can be appreciated, studied, investigated, as an aspect of spirituality.
So, we can say that every kind of faith is spirituality, but not every kind of spirituality is faith. Faith is a subset of spirituality.
I like this view on it, it seems to sum up the difference very well - thank you for posting your insight
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