Why Seal Says He's 'Constantly Striving To Connect' To His Spirit

Grammy award-winning singer Seal can now add actor to his already accomplished resume with his newest role in the two-hour live musical event of "The Passion." The show where he portrays Pontius Pilate will tell the story of the final hours of Jesus Christ's life. Given the religious-theme of his upcoming performance, the soulful musician recently shared with HuffPost Live host Alex Miranda on Wednesday his relationship with religion and faith.

He said he admires religion for being a "wonderful thing" that can help people connect with themselves. He also described his views of religion in the context of his devout friends, whom he said he reveres.

"It never ceases to amaze me how solid they are," he said. "And not only solid but solid in times of adversity and how connected they are as a family. And I attribute that to their religious faith."

He added that he is very supportive of the positive uses of religion to better one's life. But he recognized there can be instances when religion is used for reasons that probably aren't born from the purest of intentions. "It's when it's misused as a form of control and people sort of take it to extremes and bastardize religion," he said. "That's when it kind of gets out of control and that is probably why you are seeing a shifting in the landscape of non-believers."

But as far as his own faith practice goes, he said he's skeptical of calling himself a "spiritual person" because of the possibly negative connotations of coming across as "holier than thou." Instead, he said he is "constantly striving to connect" with his spirit.

"That's what I try to do as much as possible because when I do that, when I feel that I'm connecting with my spirit, I feel more clarity," he said. "I feel better positioned to make good decisions."

"The Passion" airs on Fox on Sunday at 8 p.m. Watch the full conversation with Seal here.

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