Why You’re Spiritual Even If You Don't Know It

I used to think that religion was for idiots and spirituality was for hippies. I was a teenager who wanted to believe that the only things that were real, were the things I could see. Perhaps I was spurred on by the fact that my brief stint with Wicca in the 8th grade did not bear the fruits I desired. More likely, being “atheist” was considered cool and I worked desperately to cultivate an air of calculated indifference on these matters. (I failed quite spectacularly at that, by the way. I care too much.) But more than anything, I felt abandoned and wanted to remain depressed.

Like anyone who naturally favors extremes, it was only a matter of time before I exhausted that and came to believe that a power greater than myself may indeed exist. The only problem was that no religion aligned with what I intuitively felt, leading…