Following the spirit and not the words

In any religion, it is very difficult to follow words from a religious book. Only saints can follow such a path. For ordinary men, it is better if they try to folllow the spirit of the saying and not the literal words.

What is happening in islam, if I am correct, is -

1. First ordinary people try to follow the literal words, they preach/spread the teachings of islam in a litreal way.
2. They fail to follow because of various following reasons -
* The words are meant to 'lead an ideal religious life' and has very hard, difficult, restrictive laws.
* The words are said in a context and it is not proper to apply the words in every case.
4. Due to this, the islamic people seem like 'hypocritic' to themselves because they fail to follow what they preach.

Any religious book is meant for leading an ideal religious life and it is not possible for the ordinary people to follow all the things that are said in the religious laws. Ordinary people need to follow the spirit of the religion.