Often I hear people say, "I'm spiritual but not religious." I get what they're saying, that they have a reverence for highter ideals and the wisdom of nature, but don't want to associate with the limitations and stigma of organized religious traditions. There can be a real freedom to explore and experience a personal sprituality, but this also has a downside.
The more 'etheral' and ungrounded an idea of spirituality becomes, the more it loses its connection to the soul. Ideas tend to exist in the realm of the ego, and can be subject to personal prejudices and the more logical aspects of the mind. The soul, on the other hand, is a more mysterious entity with it's own needs and yearnings, many of which are not rational and don't always make sense to the intellect. Many wind up with a watered-down spirituality that believes in "the universe" but not god. Likewise, the more the existing religions shroud themselves in fundamental belief systems, the more they isolate an individual and prevent one from having a personal experience of the divine mystery.
Perhaps what's needed is a more balanced approach to the problem: a personal spirituality that also grounds itself in the murky region of the deeper soul, and, religion that pulls its self out of blind faith into the light of consciousness, and also appeals more to the rational part of our being. There are advantages and pitfalls with either extreme. Both can learn from each other, keeping their respective cores, but also incorporating the best the other has to offer.
