From a young age, I saw and placed importance on spirituality

The words of Lizzo—“From a young age, I saw and placed importance on spirituality within religion.”—speak with the quiet strength of one who has walked through belief and found its heart. Her words reveal a wisdom that transcends dogma, a truth that many forget as they grow older: that spirituality is the living flame inside the vessel of religion, and that without it, the vessel grows cold and empty. Lizzo’s reflection is not merely about faith as ritual, but about the deep current that flows beneath it—the invisible connection between the soul and the divine, between human longing and eternal mystery.

From her youth, she glimpsed what many never see: that religion, though built from rules, customs, and words, is only a doorway. Beyond it lies something vast, tender, and alive—the spiritual essence that gives all rituals meaning. To see this at a young age is to awaken early to truth. Where others may have seen commandments, she saw compassion; where others memorized verses, she felt vibration; and where others feared divine judgment, she sensed divine love. This insight—so natural and yet so rare—is what her words offer us: a call to rediscover the spirit within the structure, to remember that the outer form of religion is only a shell, meant to protect the inner pearl of experience.

The ancients too understood this distinction. Socrates, though accused of impiety, was in truth one of the most spiritual men of his age. He spoke not of temples or offerings, but of listening to the daimonion—the divine voice within. Likewise, Lao Tzu, the sage of the East, said, “The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao,” reminding us that the truest path cannot be confined by words or institutions. Both men, like Lizzo, perceived that spirituality precedes religion, that the experience of the sacred comes first, and that religion is merely its translation into human form. Yet when people cling too tightly to the form, forgetting the flame, the form becomes idol and prison.

To understand spirituality within religion is therefore to practice discernment—the art of seeing what is eternal within what is temporal. It is to attend a church, mosque, temple, or synagogue not for performance or approval, but to touch something beyond human comprehension. It is to sing hymns not because one must, but because one feels the universe singing through them. Lizzo’s insight, born in youth, carries the humility of one who has looked beyond appearance. In a world often divided by creed and doctrine, her words are a reminder that the divine speaks many languages, yet its voice is one.

We may see this truth reflected in the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, who, though raised within the strict bounds of the medieval Church, found his true faith in simplicity and love. He spoke to birds, embraced lepers, and rebuilt crumbling chapels with his hands. In doing so, he revealed that spirituality does not belong to grand cathedrals alone—it dwells wherever compassion breathes. The Church gave him form, but his spirit gave it life. So too, Lizzo reminds us that to truly honor religion, one must seek its living soul—the spirit that uplifts and unites, not the letter that divides and condemns.

From her perspective as an artist, Lizzo’s reflection also holds another meaning: that spirituality fuels creativity. Just as religion without spirit becomes hollow, so art without spirit becomes imitation. Her music, infused with joy and healing, flows from that same awareness she discovered in youth—that divine spark that moves through all creation. By embracing spirituality within religion, she learned not only to worship the divine, but to express it—to make it sing through her life and work. This, too, is the task of every human soul: to turn inner light into outer expression, to become a vessel through which the sacred may be heard.

Let this be the lesson for us, O listener: seek not merely the forms of faith, but its living presence. Kneel if you must, but remember that true reverence is not in the posture of the body but in the openness of the heart. Study your scriptures, but also study the silence between the words, for there the eternal dwells. Do not scorn religion, nor cling to it blindly; instead, let it serve as your ladder to the heavens—but once you glimpse the sky, remember that the ladder was only the beginning.

For as Lizzo teaches through her simple, luminous words, the sacred is not confined to any one temple or doctrine—it lives wherever the spirit moves, in music, in kindness, in truth, in joy. To find spirituality within religion is to remember that love is the law written before all others, and that every faith, in its purest form, points us back to the same source: the infinite heart that beats through all creation. Let us, then, honor not only the walls of belief, but the light that shines through their windows—for that is where God, eternal and unseen, waits for us still.