Spirituality

LaVidaLoca

A point Sam Harris is fond of making is that just cause one is Atheist, does not mean one cant be "Spiritual."

What, for you, is the meaning of this?

If you agree with it, how do you get your spiritual kicks?

Meditation? Yoga? A good shag?

Zombrex

Someone would have to define "spiritual" first ... to me it is just one of these nonsense words that is supposed to sound wonderful and mysterious but that actually means very little.

Charlie3dan

Yea I totally agree with harris there

People tend to think that atheists are devoid of any belief, which is absurd. It's just a belief based upon something more tangible than blind faith.

But there are things about everyone that are intangible, and anything you do in pursuit of something intangible can be regarded as spiritual. I guess that could be anything and it's not always easy to explain.

No matter where ya get it from, you dont have to think your spirit will live on when you're gone, or be reincarnated into something else, or be welcomed into heaven etc, in order to be spiritual.

Nevyn

I would personally say that spirituality is the need to reach out and connect to other people and the universe.

Zombrex

Thaedydal wrote: »

I would personally say that spirituality is the need to reach out and connect to other people and the universe.

Really?

To me "spirituality" seems associated with things like faith healing, or talking to the dead. It seems to be a catch all phrase for non-religious, non-organised, belief in the supernatural, particularly concepts like human spirit or the human soul.

Doctor DooM

How would you define spirituality? Would you say its being at peace with oneself, or as acceptance of the way things are?

Nevyn

Wicknight wrote: »

Really?

To me "spirituality" seems associated with things like faith healing, or talking to the dead. It seems to be a catch all phrase for non-religious, non-organised, belief in the supernatural, particularly concepts like human spirit or the human soul.

You are confusing spirituality and spiritualism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualism

How a person goes about exploring thier spirituality and how they express it varies widly from '**** happens' to people who follow a religion with a certain dogma or creed and express it via rites and rituals.

Often you get people brought up in a religion which is not compatible to their spirituality and it takes them a while to break away and free themsevles from it. Some go back to oganised faiths and some do not.

Pompey Magnus

Wicknight wrote: »

To me "spirituality" seems associated with things like faith healing, or talking to the dead. It seems to be a catch all phrase for non-religious, non-organised, belief in the supernatural, particularly concepts like human spirit or the human soul.

Same here. When I hear "spirituality" I automatically think of the "Mind, Body and Spirit" section of book shops which I always keep well clear of, always full of books about the Celestine prophecies or crystal healing.

Whispered

Thaedydal wrote: »

I would personally say that spirituality is the need to reach out and connect to other people and the universe.

+1

Zombrex

Thaedydal wrote: »

How a person goes about exploring thier spirituality and how they express it varies widly from '**** happens' to people who follow a religion with a certain dogma or creed and express it via rites and rituals.

Ok. I still don't know what that actually means though. What is my spirituality?

Are you talking about my outlook on life?

Dades

Wicknight wrote: »

Are you talking about my outlook on life?

Now you're thinking of your ethos. :pac:

Zombrex

From Wikipedia

Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and faith, a transcendent reality, and God. Spiritual matters are thus those matters regarding humankind's ultimate nature and purpose, not only as material biological organisms, but as beings with a unique relationship to that which is beyond both time and the material world.

The problem I have is that I don't think the "spirit" exists, at least not as some supernatural force. To me there is only the material world, and that is not a bad thing. The material world is great, and the human need to think of things in a transcendent way is a bit silly in my view.

pinksoir

I suppose spirituality could be described as a feeling of connectedness with the greater whole. A feeling of being more than just an individual.

I would argue that the term 'spirituality' refers to the right-brain functions. Perhaps athiests are seen as more logical, or left-brain centric and perhaps this can lead to ,at least the perception in others, the neglect of the right-brain, or spiritual side. Of course the right-brain is responsible for creativity, feeling and aesthetics which naturally atheists all cannot be void of. But maybe concentrating too much on analytics, logic and rationality (or left-brain functions) could result in a partial neglect for the right-brain. And the brain is like a muscle, it becomes weaker when it isn't used. Both sides do.

However, my main point was that spirituality could be considered a feeling of connectedness with the greater whole, or a loss of the sense of being an individual. This is necessarily an aspect of the right-brain. The feeling of self comes from the logical, analytical left-brain, whereas this feeling of greater connectedness comes from the holistic right-brain. Obviously we all perceive the world using both sides of the brain, so in that sense we are both rational and 'spiritual'.

I'd contend, though, that some people tend too much towards the right-brain holisticness (dodgy spiritualists, the religious, that sort of thing) at the expense of logic, but also that the reverse is true for people who tend too much towards the left-brain.

In my opinion, a balance and harmony should be sought for. After all both sides are equally important.

Cheers,
Karl

Red Hand

Well, I dislike the word as well, but on occasion, there isn't an applicable word to describe a feeling one gets. Say, in a Gothic Cathedral or something?

You can hardly say,

"Ah...my endorphins are entering my blood stream now, due in part to the influence of this beautiful environment on my senses.":)

LaVidaLoca

as I cant hear it in anything other than a smarmy Californian accent (preferably with whale song playing in the backround:

"Spur-choo-aliddy."

But you know what I mean.

For me a good does of nature usually does it: That state you enter on hour 7 of a long hike, where you stop thinking and just listen to the sound of the forest, or diving in the ocean, or in the post-coital glow, or at a really good gig, the feeling that your normal boring analytical brain has taken a rest and you can just 'be' *ahem"

stevejazzx

Wicknight wrote: »

From Wikipedia


The problem I have is that I don't think the "spirit" exists, at least not as some supernatural force. To me there is only the material world, and that is not a bad thing. The material world is great, and the human need to think of things in a transcendent way is a bit silly in my view.

The 'spirit' doesn't have to materially exist. It is just something that we can try to use to connect to things that we do not understand. So being spiritual might be just an extension of philosophical thought.

I completely agree that the wishy washy mumbo jumbo spiritualism of the modern world is just a rubbish way for rubbish people to talk crap all day long, but trying to feel spiritual as an alive and thinikng person is not imo necessarily a bad thing even if one isn't entirely sure what one is doing.

It's purpose is perhaps the realisation that there may well be grander forces at work in the universe, a sentiment which doesn't necessarily imply a God figure but rather one which is prepared to leave the possibilities open . Spirituality is therefore more suited to an agnostic viewpoint rather than a strict atheistic one.

In Sam Harris' case I imagine that he's intelligent enough not to dimiss outright certain areas that may be beyond our best current understanding. For me spirituality might be concerned with the idea that human beings are not the sum of thier physical parts. This is an a popular notion which belongs up there with other similar concepts like the 'soul' and 'love' etc. However I think that most people when pushed might be slow or reluctant to admit that their very essence can completely tied down to their physical manifestation. Most people seem to believe that a human beings can in some way tanscend this experience, by which I mean life. Now even a diplomatically put sentence like that might have some people on here raising eyebrows and that is exactly the problem have with 'spirtuality' as a concept; the further one is prepared to go to defend it as an idea the more ridicluous it might end up sounding to the realist.