“If one is religious but not spiritual, it will not enhance mental health,” says therapist C.A. Larson. In Episode 194, C.A. joins Susan and Cynthia for a conversation at the intersection of religion and spirituality. What are the differences between the two? How do they function together, and separately? And what influence might each one have on our overall wellbeing?

Notes & Quotes:

From C.A.: Interested in joining a faith journey group? Please email me at calarsoncounseling@gmail.com.  I will be doing an in-person group in Scottsdale, AZ once a week for 8 weeks in the fall, and will also form a Zoom group if there is interest for those who can’t attend in person.

This Hunger for Holiness, Barbara Brown Taylor with Krista Tippet, On Being podcast, 4/6/2023

“The Gospel and the Church” (Original 1984 Version), by Elder Ronald E. Poelman
The Gospel and the Church, by Elder Ronald E. Poelman, 10/1984


“Religion is one of the safest places to hide from God.” —Richard Rohr

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” —Joseph Campbell

“I’ve been offended by the category of the nones, N-O-N-E-S, because it sounds like a null set…..The whole way for many years that people who were embedded in church communities dismissed the spiritual but not religious was being frivolous, non-committed individualists who just wanted to design their own religion. And now, lo-and-behold, it turns out they’re really part of an evolution we’re in the middle of. And I hope we find a word better than “Nones” to describe them, not only because they’re now 30% of the US population.” —Barbara Brown Taylor

“Fear Expressed Allows Relief.” —Anne Lamott

“We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world.” —Marcel Proust

“Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learned here. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life.” —Marianne Williamson