Spirituality for Athiests..

[Waldo]

 

He's an Athiest, and talks about Alan Watts (in a very positive light); and I think this must be one of the first Athiests that I really apprecieate and pretty much agree with his insights. Very refreshing.

 

One thing he does is to differentiate spirituality from religion; and I think that's a very good thing, for anyone to do that. Often, I think people have a difficult time differentiating between the two. In some ways, I'd even say that religion can be un-spiritual; in that it leads you away from having a direct connection with reality, rather, it bamboozles you with concepts..

 

Anyhow; if you consider yourself to be an Athiest; and want to check out the video and leave your comments; go for it. It'd be intereting to hear peoples' thoughts.

[epiphany]

Have always enjoyed listening to Alan Watts.

 

I agree that institutional religion can be seen as un-spiritual, because it turns spirituality, exploration of the self and consciousness, philosophy etc. into a set of doctrines. "This is your spirituality", "this is your philosophy" etc. sold to the bewildered in a nice neat package.

 

I think you have to look within yourself, beyond the ego, to discover who you really are, which could be called "spirituality". There are many external symbols and distractions that intend to separate you from your true self, usually when you're being sold something (religion again is a good example) and I think it's easy to get caught up in someone else's idea of "reality" based on what they stand to benefit from painting the picture for you.

[Waldo]

Hey epiphany, thanks for the response; pretty much agree with everything you've said..

 

I'm quite suprised at the lack of response to the thread though, esp. given such a cunning thead title. I can only imagine that with both athiests and religious people, there is some difficulty with or resistance to seperating religion and spirituality.

 

Then again, maybe Sheff Forum isn't the ideal place to discuss such things?!..

[purdyamos]

Hey epiphany, thanks for the response; pretty much agree with everything you've said..

 

I'm quite suprised at the lack of response to the thread though, esp. given such a cunning thead title. I can only imagine that with both athiests and religious people, there is some difficulty with or resistance to seperating religion and spirituality.

 

Then again, maybe Sheff Forum isn't the ideal place to discuss such things?!..

 

 

I think it's more to do with the fact that the guy in the video was a boring windbag.

 

Why not just link to some Alan Watts himself? He was a brilliant speaker.

[epiphany]

Hey epiphany, thanks for the response; pretty much agree with everything you've said..

 

I'm quite suprised at the lack of response to the thread though, esp. given such a cunning thead title. I can only imagine that with both athiests and religious people, there is some difficulty with or resistance to seperating religion and spirituality.

 

I think there is a problem for many people in defining exactly what spirituality is and perhaps it is seen as slightly taboo among atheists. Obviously it comes from the word spirit, which has many different connotations, but suggests a kind of "supernatural" presence. However, I don't think atheists should necessarily feel divorced from the process of exploring concepts of spirituality just because they (rightly) reject the dogma of institutional religion.

 

I don't see spirituality as having anything to do with gods, faith or religion of any sort. It's a very personal, independent thing and I think it has more to do with exploring consciousness and inner symbolic concepts than, say, following a set "path to enlightenment".

 

Even just contemplating "who am I?" can immediately bring you into a realm of spiritual and philosophical meditation. It's a shame if people don't find the time in their busy days to just strip away the ego and think about the purity of their being amidst the bright lights and material bombardment of modern life. They may find it helps give them an empowering perspective on life...

[f0rd]

Hey epiphany, thanks for the response; pretty much agree with everything you've said..

 

I'm quite suprised at the lack of response to the thread though, esp. given such a cunning thead title. I can only imagine that with both athiests and religious people, there is some difficulty with or resistance to seperating religion and spirituality.

 

Then again, maybe Sheff Forum isn't the ideal place to discuss such things?!..

 

Maybe because it's 01:22 in the morning.

 

Edit, I shall watch the video, but currently I am watching what is going on in Iceland, if anybody cares there has been an Eartquake under Helka, one of the volcanoes not errupting, and if it goes off it has the potential to be a bit devastating.

[Kingmaker2]

Maybe because it's 01:22 in the morning.

 

Edit, I shall watch the video, but currently I am watching what is going on in Iceland, if anybody cares there has been an Eartquake under Helka, one of the volcanoes not errupting, and if it goes off it has the potential to be a bit devastating.

 

Iceland is an island that has volcanic eruptions on a regular basis.

Helka erupts fairly regularly and usually doesn't cause much devastation.

I'm not sure why you are so obsessed by these Icelandic volcanic eruptions, they are nothing new.

 

If you really want to get concerned about potential volcanic devastation then watch out for Yellowstone.

[Digsy]

 

He's an Athiest, and talks about Alan Watts (in a very positive light); and I think this must be one of the first Athiests that I really apprecieate and pretty much agree with his insights. Very refreshing.

 

One thing he does is to differentiate spirituality from religion; and I think that's a very good thing, for anyone to do that. Often, I think people have a difficult time differentiating between the two. In some ways, I'd even say that religion can be un-spiritual; in that it leads you away from having a direct connection with reality, rather, it bamboozles you with concepts..

 

Anyhow; if you consider yourself to be an Athiest; and want to check out the video and leave your comments; go for it. It'd be intereting to hear peoples' thoughts.

 

This concept your toying with already has a name.

Greater Jihad.

[purdyamos]

Maybe because it's 01:22 in the morning.

 

To be fair, it wasn't posted late at night and is a few days old. I'm really interested in this too and I like epiphany's answer. I think it's a pity rational-minded people are so wary of being open to concepts and terminology that have been associated with religious belief. There's still a primitive division between 'religious' and 'materialist' in many people's minds, supposedly with nothing much in between.

 

Edit, I shall watch the video, but currently I am watching what is going on in Iceland, if anybody cares there has been an Eartquake under Helka, one of the volcanoes not errupting, and if it goes off it has the potential to be a bit devastating.

 

It's certainly shaping up to be an eventful summer, on every front...

[medusa]

I'm atheist (humanist actually) but I'm very much a spiritual person. I just don't regard 'spirit' or 'soul' as something which is related to any higher being. To assume that those who don't believe in deities suddenly stop having any sort of spiritual or soulful feelings or experiences is simplistic in the extreme.

 

My spirit is one of the things that has kept me going through all these years of ill health, even though it's not that easy to define what I mean by 'spirit'.

 

EDIT- and yes, that video is very poorly presented, lacking in script and too boring to maintain even my attention for nearly 20 minutes (and I'm able to keep my attention span working for a 2 hour biochemistry lecture!).