Spirituality, religions and fundamentalisms

"Spirituality is awareness of the water in the ocean, and religions are the currents in the ocean that fish can choose to swim in to go faster and further than they otherwise could. Fundamentalisms are aquariums that keep fish confined." – Roger Wolsey

I think it is an apt description of the nature of spirituality, religions and fundamentalism. It reminds me of a similar parable by Anthony de Mello about a fish wanting to find the ocean, and going about asking where the ocean is, until one day it realises it is already in the ocean. That is to me spirituality - an awareness of the water in the ocean. 

Religions to me, on the other hand, are subjective mental constructs and spiritual practices meant to help people become aware of the water in the ocean - to realise God or Divine is already in us, with us, around us and as us, in the here and now. 

Finally, fundamentalism is creating walls of an aquarium, as the quote says, and limiting the divine to a particular time and space and to a particular creed for an elect group of fishes that like to feel exclusive to experience that oh-so-elusive divine that comes once in a while and disappears when they think they miss it.