Originally published on Dr. Z's Two Cents, August 13, 2025.
Welcome back, Blog Reader! Today's two cents is brought to you by GUSS; that is, God, Universe, Source, and/or Spirit. Basically, whose I am, along with how and why I am able to show up to my life as I do in 2025.
First, I would like to distinguish how I relate to two words: religion and spirituality.
I view religion and spirituality similarly to how I view attachment and commitment.
I experience attachment as a fixed concept...with few, if any exceptions for the unwritten life rules that everyone should just know, apparently. Over time, I've recognized that many of my early attachments also carried an underlying authoritarian sort of quality to them. Gross.
As I started making intentional moves along my healing journey circa 2016, the idea of surrendering various attachments to people, places, things in my life sounded like something for losers who loved losing (how judgmental of me!).
Subsequently, for years I spun my mental wheels trying to avoid being a loser and toughing life out. I tried SO HARD to maintain attachments I had collected over the years, regardless of the impact on me. But alas, the more I tried to avoid being a loser, the more I lost, in every sense of the word. Ouch.
Flash forward nearly ten years...
I've also learned that commitment is a beautifully fluid concept, filled with gentle pause, curious observation, mindful intention, and love.
So, what do attachment & commitment have to do with religion & spirituality in the delightfully spicy mind of Dr. Z, you wonder?
TBH (to be honest), religion gives attachment, while spirituality embodies commitment.
At this point in my life, I align with spiritual practices more than any organized religion.
I grew up Catholic, and I believe in Original Jesus; you know, Jesus H. (Hallowed be Thy Name) Christ. I'm sure you've heard the lore of the Middle Eastern fellow, equal parts human & divine? The one who called out hypocrisy in all its forms and called in all those who were on the fringes of society? The one who was eventually put to death for embodying the mystical intersection of divinity and humanity? I believe in His existence and legacy, both of which continue to be misunderstood and weaponized to this day.
Due to human interference/interpretation since the beginning of time, I've come to have a complicated relationship with organized religion in general.
Most notably because of the ongoing, inhumane exploitation and oppression of a disproportionate amount of Black and Brown communities and other marginalized folks across the globe in the name of 'god.'
Miss me with that crap. God is Love. What is love? (Nope, not the '93 Haddaway song which may or may not have immediately come to mind...oh, baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more...)
*clears throat*
Love is essentially extending good-will to others.
We (the collective we) need to embrace critical thinking when it comes to discourse about religion and spirituality. These concepts are NOT mutually exclusive, so let's stop pretending that they are.
[IMAGE FROM ORIGINAL POST]
Attachment becomes suffocating over time. Commitment is inherently expansive and encourages growth.
Remember FGOs from my first post? Well, my growing catalog of FGOs, despite having been some very challenging times in my life, each one has let in so much LOVE into my life, more than I ever thought was possible.
Commitment ends up being focused on mutual benefit, action, and trust, instead of being attached to how people are/things come to be. That's where surrender comes in.
Turns out, surrender is the furthest thing from losing. In fact, the act of surrendering is the catalyst which allows us to "offer up" those pesky attachments that we collect along the way, before we develop the discernment to recognize what is and is NOT ours to carry into our futures.
Attachments to nouns become burdensome. Commitment to values brings ease and allows for peace to enter the chat...the kind of peace that transcends human understanding. That is, divine moments in our human experience.