The real question for me becomes: What is a practice, and what is a religion? A practice is a living thing. I feel like religion in some ways--and I hate to say it--is dead. It's dead because it's not evolving. Religion implies an agreed-upon creed, and somebody is in charge. If you're doing something because someone told you that's how it's supposed to be done, but it doesn't feel good to you, then you're still being led by someone else versus being led by your own self-direction and standing in your own power of growth, intelligence, understanding, and compassion. And that's what a spiritual practice is. It's self-directed.
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