If you’ve ever described yourself as “spiritual but not religious,” you’re certainly not alone.

In fact, it has become one of the defining ways many people identify their spiritual lives today. They may meditate, practice yoga, spend time in nature, explore mindfulness, read books from many wisdom traditions, or simply feel there is something deeper than the material world. Yet they don’t necessarily identify with a single religion or tradition.

Several years ago, this phrase became unexpectedly important to us at Dharma College.

At the time, we were carefully examining our mission and asking ourselves a fundamental question: Who are we here to serve?

One afternoon, we welcomed a guest from Apple who was curious about the dharma and interested in learning more about our programs. We had a wonderful conversation exploring Buddhist teachings, meditation, and contemplative practice.

As we were wrapping up, she shared something that stayed with me.

She explained that while she loved many of these teachings, she preferred finding her own path. Rather than belonging to one tradition, she enjoyed gathering wisdom from different teachers, books, podcasts, retreats, and practices that resonated with her personally. She felt she could create a complete spiritual life by bringing together the pieces that spoke most deeply to her.

Her words gave me pause.

My own experience had been almost the opposite.

I grew up immersed in a Buddhist community. My father was a Buddhist teacher, and many of life’s deepest questions were explored within a living tradition. Rather than assembling a path from many different sources, I inherited one that had already been carefully developed over centuries.

Neither approach is inherently better.

But I realized that they represent two very different ways of entering spiritual life.

Our visitor also helped me recognize something important.

The world had changed.

People today often don’t begin with institutions. They begin with experience.

They may first encounter meditation through an app.

Mindfulness through work.

Compassion through psychology.

Yoga through physical practice.

Neuroscience through podcasts.

Only later do they discover that many of these practices have deep roots in contemplative traditions stretching back thousands of years.

This realization led us into months of research.

We wanted to understand what people truly meant when they described themselves as spiritual but not religious.

Again and again, we found common themes:

• People were not rejecting spirituality.
• They were searching for authenticity.
• They wanted direct experience instead of dogma.
• Practice instead of ideology.
• Inquiry instead of certainty.
• Community without exclusion.
• Wisdom without unnecessary barriers.

In many ways, these aspirations resonate deeply with the dharma itself.

The Buddha consistently encouraged investigation over blind belief. His invitation was never simply to accept teachings because they were ancient or because someone in authority proclaimed them. Rather, he encouraged people to explore their own experience with curiosity, discernment, and compassion.

This insight helped reshape how we understood Dharma College’s mission.

Instead of asking people to fit into a particular identity, we began asking a different question:

How can timeless wisdom meet people exactly where they are?

Whether someone identifies as Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, spiritual but not religious, or with no label at all, we all share the same human questions:

• How do I suffer less?
• How do I cultivate more peace?
• How do I develop compassion?
• How do I live with integrity?
• How do I flourish in an uncertain world?

These are profoundly human questions before they are religious ones.

Ironically, one of the most beautiful aspects of the dharma is that it gently invites us to loosen our attachment to every identity—including “spiritual but not religious.”

Labels can help us find one another.

But eventually they can also become another story about who we think we are.

The contemplative path continually points beyond those stories.

It invites us toward something far more immediate:

• Awareness itself.
• Presence.
• Compassion.
• The luminous clarity that many traditions describe but none can fully capture.

At Dharma College, we are less interested in asking people to become something new than in helping them uncover what has always been present beneath the layers of habit, fear, and identification.

Perhaps the deepest spiritual journey is not adding another identity.

Perhaps it is discovering the freedom that exists before any identity at all.

This understanding has become central to our mission:

• We welcome lifelong Buddhists.
• We welcome curious beginners.
• We welcome people who have left religion.
• We welcome people who have never considered themselves spiritual.
• We welcome people who simply know there must be another way to live.

The practices of mindfulness, compassion, contemplation, and inquiry belong to all of humanity. They are not confined to one culture or one tradition. They become alive each time someone sincerely turns inward and begins paying attention.

If you’ve been searching for a path that is grounded in timeless wisdom while remaining open, practical, and deeply relevant to modern life, we invite you to join us.

Kathleen’s classes at Dharma College offer a welcoming space to explore contemplative practice without requiring you to fit into any particular label or belief system. Whether you’re just beginning your journey or have been exploring for years, you’ll find thoughtful guidance, supportive community, and practices designed to help you cultivate greater clarity, compassion, and balance in everyday life.

You can find out more about her class:

https://dharma-college.com/the-mind-suffering-and-freedom/

Perhaps being “spiritual but not religious” is not the end of the journey.

Perhaps it is simply the place where the deeper journey begins.