Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I ask this in all sincerity. I claim to be a spiritual person, because I appreciate and am deeply moved by art, music, the wonders of the world around me, the good deeds of some men and women, and the amazing confluence of events that allowed us to be here.
To others, perhaps it requires a belief in a supernatural component, something I, and most atheists, do not hold with. There's simply too much hard empirical evidence against those ideas. and so, that part, to me, is unnecessary. To others, though, it's apparently a key constituent. As in: One MUST believe in something inexplicable.
In your opinions, can a person live happily and successfully without those particular beliefs, or are those folks, like me, necessarily evil if they don't hold with the supernatural? And thus bound for a supernatural "hell"?
What say you all? Define/explain to me. Always willing to learn and discuss!
A ton of hot chicks I come in contact with claim that they are "spiritual but not religious"
I see that phrase all the time when I'm looking at singles ads and women are describing their religious beliefs. Of course if a hot chick makes that claim it's easy to overlook.
I just see the word spiritual as a vague reference that someone often uses when they have certain religious beliefs but couldn't possibly explain them in any detailed or coherent manner because they really don't know what they believe in the first place. The word does seem to suggest the existence of something other than the physical world that we can sense, in other words the spirit world, but it's clearly open to interpretation and I suspect that it's meaning varies a great deal from one person to the next.
I ask this in all sincerity. I claim to be a spiritual person, because I appreciate and am deeply moved by art, music, the wonders of the world around me, the good deeds of some men and women, and the amazing confluence of events that allowed us to be here.
What you'fe feeling here is emotion, no spirit.
Quote:
To others, perhaps it requires a belief in a supernatural component, something I, and most atheists, do not hold with. There's simply too much hard empirical evidence against those ideas. and so, that part, to me, is unnecessary. To others, though, it's apparently a key constituent. As in: One MUST believe in something inexplicable.
hard evidence? where?
Quote:
In your opinions, can a person live happily and successfully without those particular beliefs, or are those folks, like me, necessarily evil if they don't hold with the supernatural? And thus bound for a supernatural "hell"?
To even have and show these qualities is proof that Christ lives within you. You can put him "out of your mind" all you want to, but your actions show his love, therefore, You are of Christ. If you didn't have those qualities then you are most certainly of the Devil.
One can be Spiritual without being Religious and I stated before in other posts. You see religion as a man-made culture based doctrine that guides its people in the practice of spirituality, however it has its faults, because it is a man-made culture based doctrine it is subject to some of the rules and the taboos of that particular culture that it is built upon, whereas Spirituality is natural, we all have it within us whether we know it or not and it's really rather simple, we want to live a good life and do right by others, we want to have friends in a social life and want the best for our family and friends, that does not require religion. I am reminded of a post that Fullback32 had posted in another thread, his words were: [we can recognize the Creator from what we see around us. We can see the Creator in the mountains, the trees, its spirit in the animals, on the prairie and in the wind. In our way, each person comes to the Creator alone.] To those of us of the Native American cultures this a Spirituality. It is the respect of one another and respect for all living things.
A good test for your spiritual potential, come on out to the most spiritual area of the country, the desert.
In fact, go straight to Death Valley, first.
Experience sunrises and sunsets out here in the desert sometime. You'll need someone to remind you haven't left Planet Earth. Seeing a sunset against the Funeral Mountains out there will leave you speechless!
Just viewing a sunrise every morning, even here in Las Vegas, leaves me spiritually enriched. A nice brief vacation from Planet Earth.
As a christian the belief that the Holy Spirit dwells within me that leads me to truth is one aspect of spirituality. By the way in the steps albeit revelations toward truth often takes a few bumps of error to arrive at Gods intended message. Anotherwords, to lock into my form of spirituality I need fellowship with like believers (study), self study,thinking and prayers for understanding. It also implies a control over my canal nature (avoid sin as much as possible), establishing a "consistant" walk ,grow in my daily walk with Christ, and unlike religion where humans try to work their way to God my spirituality leads God to come to us via the only mediatorJesus Christ. Spitiuality I believe is mans attempt to connect with numerous enities that
provide peace of mind,a focus on self worth,a consciousness whereby a person finds a oneness with the sea,forest,heavens(stars),animals,the sun ,moon,a charasmatic guru, new age stuff.
Another spituality has to do with clinging to specific or variety of religious faith issues or doctrines some suspect of being pagan in origin yet still em-
powering. I won't name religions or spiritualists but the former has manufactured many manmade beliefs and doctrines and the later tends to
be in an odd religiousity mentality whereby they see the virgin Mary on a window stained by ironized water or praying to many mediators circumventing Jesus.
Rifleman, I think that spirituality can mean very different things to different people. For myself, I think that is the the main point though and what spirituality means. Religion, is doctrine or its insideous partner dogma. Religion is people playing "follow the leader" both figuratively and literally.
Spirituality, in my opinion, is one's personal set of beliefs concerning the sacred. It is belief and practice without the need to sway others or otherwise coerce them towards your way of thinking. People who are "spiritual" tend to follow their own path (whatever that may be) and not be concerned about what others think about that path and not see any real need for communal expression of faith (though some "spiritual" people may do so anyway). Since no one really "knows" the true nature of the divine (if it even exists) and since it has, so far, refused to make itself known in a clear unambiguous way (if it even can - suggestive of more of a force rather than some anthropomorphic "god"), we humans have one of three choices:
1) Ignore it and believe it does not exist - atheist
2) Speculate about it and claim no knowledge - agnostic
3) Come to certain beliefs about it and live them out in our personal lives without a necessary need for corporate behavior and a live and let live attitude - spirituality
4) Follow a set of rules and written guidance that takes the mystery out of what, if it exists, has to be the most powerful thing in the Universe (or beyond it -- however you look at it). - religion
This is just how I see it. Obviously, my beliefs concerning these things are very much shaped by my Comanche culture. Had I grown up in another, I am sure that I would see things differently. BUt that pretty much makes the point doesn't it?
The following from UCLA may describe some "spiritual" things that an atheist could partake in.
>> Spirituality in Higher Education >> (http://www.spirituality.ucla.edu/about/spirituality.html - broken link)
These include inner-life/contemplation, connectedness to others, inspiration, creativity, values, and purpose. I suppose an atheist could also partake in the theological virtues of hope and charity, if maybe in a different way.
Traditionally though I don't think an atheist, in the sense we mean the word, could actually be spiritual because "spiritual" involves a belief in the soul or spirit. Granted an atheist could actually believe in the soul or spirit. For example one could believe that the soul is an energy/force from living things that does not require a God or gods. I have read at least one atheist, James Tiptree Jr, who clearly seemed to believe she would become a spirit. However these days when we say "atheist" we tend to mean either "philosophical materialist" or "rationalist atheist" and nothing else. I think nowadays we use "non-theist" to mean someone who believes in things beyond science, but does not believe in God or the Gods. Like how many Buddhists are non-theists, but may truly believe in reincarnation and so forth. So boiling that down to its essence a "non-theist" could be spiritual, but I don't think an atheist really could.
Still I have read enough atheists that I think there have been atheists who are mystical. They contemplate *"realities" beyond themselves, believe in a force or forces greater than themselves, and desire to connect to greater things. However "greater things" in this instance means something purely explicable by science, like humanity or the biosphere or space. So in a sense science can be a profound mystical experience involving contemplation of higher things beyond the immediately visible.
See you later or never
*Multi-dimensional space, a universe with different constants, life on another planet, etc.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Spirtuality: What Exactly is it
