5×7 gouache painting on paper

Religion is a container, it creates boundaries, a mold. And while these boundaries can be really good as children who are learning good vs. bad, as we grow up we need to learn about dualities and the spectrum of grey. I believe in boundaries. They hold things, they can keep us safe, but if we let them, boundaries can strangle us. And in my experience, the way I’ve seen religion used is taking the oxygen right out of the room.

Spirituality, on the other hand, is the water inside the container, and it’s meant to flow, to move, to spread. In many ways it’s like the divine feminine. It needs to move, to create, to flow.

When the container of religion is broken and spirit is set free, something beautiful happens. Oxygen is put back into the room, life can flourish, and we discover new parts of ourselves.

Maybe it’s not that the container itself that is bad. Maybe its that the container needs to be more like a river bed–allowing ebb and flow, rising and lowering tides, extreme forces that sculpt, and gentle streams that feed. I think the container of current day religion is simply too small and we need to open it up so that our spirits can truly thrive.