Smart people of grapevine, what does religion and spirituality mean to you?

Religion in today's world means only one thing and it is Business. Man created God to keep fellow humans away from vices and to instill a sense of moral and fear so that they don't live a life the wrong way and that someone supreme from above is watching them and would punish them for their wrong deeds. And it was the same man who defined the rules on how to live and how not to live. The same man also created the concept of afterlife, hell and heaven and sold it. God had no role in this. Religion was largely supposed to be for community building but in today's scenario it is more of a cult that is egoistic, insecure, and spews hate. The whole purpose of religion has been defeated, again by the same man who created it!

If you are someone who has morals and lives your life with conscience, you don't really need a God. You are doing fine when nobody is watching. And you die when your heart stops beating. And that's it. There's nothing called afterlife. The people are you will cry for a few days and move on with the thousand problems they have in their lives. Religious epics/mythology were created by man to provide examples of good and bad. And even those characters (Gods) are not characterised as black or white. They have shades of grey as well. And that is life. If God truly existed and punished people for their misdeeds, it would have started first with those who made religion a business (eg: politicians and godmen). The one who makes a living using God's name very well knows what he is doing! The one who believes in God doesn't want to know what the businessman is doing.

You see the most religious of people living a hopeless life and dying a pathetic death. Treat people with respect, they will treat you the same way. God doesn't come down to save you. It is the chances you take and fellow humans who define your life. We're all living by mere coincidence.

As a smart person of grapevine, they mean nothing at all to me.

Tommy Shelby once said : "All religion is a foolish answer to a foolish question"

Spirituality for me is the Way of Knowledge (Gnana Marga), the Way of Devotion (Bhakti Marga) and the Way of Action (Karma Marga).

I believe at different stages of life, the proportion of the above 3 components can vary. If you can work on all 3, the best achievement as a human.

For me, spirituality & religion may or may not be overlapping things.

I was never a spiritual person but since my mom’s departure nothing is more important than to me other than spirituality. I embrace every day, every second and every moment now