Religion is the experience of the encounter with the Mystery, which is then crystallized into the different religions. Religion is “the link which, transcending time and space, unites Man with God”. But “to understand what religion is, we must know what religions, religious phenomena, are”.
For Panikkar, religion has a triple meaning.
Religion can mean religiosity, the religious phenomenon as a fundamental human dimension. The human being is, above all, homo religiosus; religion is the most adequate category for defining Man (animal religiosus)” (Religión y religiones). Religiosity is an anthological phenomenon according to which every human, insofar as he is human, has a dimension that separates him from the animals and makes him aware of the infinite, the unknown, that which no word can describe, the ineffable, that “something more” (Nueve apuntes para una reflexión sobre la religión). This is religiosity, which, as a human dimension, we all have in common. Religious practices are the expressions of human religious feeling, crystallized in concrete manifestations of word and work, through rites and actions of all kinds.
Then we have religiology, the study of religion and religions, reflection on the phenomenon of religiosity. “Since we are intellectual beings we develop an interpretation of this phenomenon and extract from it diverse theologies, religious systems, systems of beliefs”. As we have already seen, belief should not be confused with faith: every man has faith. Nonetheless, beliefs are the intellectual articulations of this faith, which is the birthright of all humanity.
In a third acceptation, religion can mean religionism, which may be understood as Man’s sense of belonging to a given group; the need to join together in associations, to be part of a community. This is a sociological reality – although, as Panikkar expresses so well, “without religiosity as a human dimension, religionism is reduced to the superficial” (Nueve apuntes para una reflexión sobre la religión). Without religiosity, religionism has no roots and immediately degenerates into a superstructure or superstition.
We must not mistake religions – as has happened on more than one occasion – for a mere sociological phenomenon. All three of these senses of religion are necessary, and therefore we cannot separate them. There is no religion springing from religiosity that does not express itself in a certain way and create a certain community.