Atheist Spirituality

[Christa]

snip

A few years ago, I disliked the term spirituality applied to myself - it sounded too woo woo. But upon examining it, most of what people think of as spiritual experiences have to do with feelings of awe, feelings of connectedness, and an inclination to self-exploration. These things are not the exclusive province of the religious, it seems they are part of the human experience.

/snip

I listed some things atheists might find spiritual which include:
Empathy
Learning
Self-exploration
Nature
Service to humanity
Music
Love

(I wanted to include mathematics but that might just be deeply meaningful and emotional to me because I'm a little bit autistic.)

I'm curios as to what things you might find spiritual, not in the sense of spirits and supernatural hooha but in terms of profound, life affecting emotional impact.

http://atheisttoolbox.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10433

Any ideas? This is from my website and I am curios to know what you think?

[enlightenment]

1. I consider those things what they are. Full stop.

None are 'spiritual' unless the individual chooses to apply that perception to them.

Life affecting does not equal spiritual. The need to seek 'meaning' and apply special status to it is purely personal.

I prefer to keep things simple. I like things (many things) and dislike other things (not so many things). I enjoy the things I like and don't enjoy the things I don't like.
I can listen to music, observe nature, learn, serve, even spend introspective time examining myself without assigning a meaning to the action/interaction beyond pleasure (or displeasure, on occasion).

[Odin2005]

2. A good book on the topic is "The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality" by Andre Comte-Sponville.

And I have no qualms with calling myself a spiritual atheist.

[onager]

3. I like Teller's take on that.

Of "Penn and..."

Sorry for the length, but I think this relates well to your post:

Teller was interviewed for the Summer 1998 issue of the New England Skeptics Society newsletter. Here's an excerpt:

NEJS - (Chris Carter, creator of the X-Files) said something in this article I'd like you to respond to: "I asked if they believed in God, and they said no. And I asked: Do any scientists believe in God? And they said: 'None of the important ones.'

I just found that somehow, I don't know, very disturbing. I think that the need to believe is, in fact, even with the most hardened atheist. I think that there must be at some point in their lives a need to at least search for some kind of personal answers for existence itself." I thought that was very interesting -- as if atheists aren't looking for some kind of personal answers for existence itself.

Teller - Atheists do look for answers to existence itself. They just don't make them up.

NEJS - Well, what do you think about that comment -- the need to believe being with even the most hardened atheist?

Teller - I think he's wrong. I might qualify as the most hardened atheist, and I have not the slightest need to believe in stuff that is not in some way verifiable.

I believe in art, mind you. I don't believe that art is supernatural.

I think that beauty and humor are wonderful things, and quite important to us -- in fact, one of the major distinguishing features between us and some of the lesser species. My mother, who is 89 now, says "Oh, you know, I see these old people going to church, and I really envy them. It must be so consoling for them to be able to believe in that stuff." (Laughs) I think she genuinely envies people who are suckers in the sense that there are some things that might be a little easier to confront. It's not going to change her point of view, because it doesn't make any sense to her. It seems like nonsense. And it is! (Laughs)

---

Penn recounts a 1998 appearance on Donny and Marie Osmond's syndicated talkshow: We were asked to do autographs for Donny and Marie. I wrote, "There is no god," and Teller wrote, "He's right."

:rofl:

http://www.celebatheists.com/index.php?title=Teller

[Chowlie]

8. That is an awesome quote. nt

[regularguy]

4. I try to avoid the term "spiritual", since

it doesn't seem to have an agreed upon meaning. I'm not sure that there needs to be a blanket term to cover empathy and self awareness and appreciation of nature and things of that sort. Woowoos (is that a derogatory term? I figure its better than "people who believe in bullshit") sometimes use that term in a slippery way to imply that if you aren't "open minded" about things that are plainly nonsense than you can't be empathetic or have an appreciation of life or whatever since it all falls under the rubric of "spiritual". So that's why I avoid the term.

I happen to find the natural world vast, complex, and infinite in its mystery and joys. Life itself is the miracle. To be "spiritual" (in the woo sense) is to climb up on the mountain of gold provided to us (by nature or a "creator" or whatever you want to call it) and say "hey is that speck of dirt way over there a penny?"

Or something like that. :)

[and-justice-for-all]

5. I really do not care much for that "spiritual" tag...

I understand that one can be deeply moved by something, but I do not call it a "spiritual" moment.

[Deep13]

6. Harris uses that term in the book The End of Faith.

He is careful to explain that he is not implying any sort of supernatural or divine meaning to the term. I keep this in mind when people talk about spirituality. Still, spiritual literally means pertaining to spirits, which has a strong supernatural connotation, if not denotation. So, for myself I tend to use more specific terms that do not have that dual meaning when speaking of the human need for a transcendent experience. I would describe that state of mind as the feeling I get when I walk into a really dark field on a clear, moonless night and there are so many stars that I can no longer make out the constellations.

[Iggo]

7. What do any of those have to do with spirits?

Other than "Nature", it's just stuff that humans do.

[GliderGuider]

9. I'm a strong atheist who also self-identifies as spiritual.

A lot depends on how we define those words, though.

I'm a strong atheist in that I believe there is no god. By "god" I mean "a discrete supernatural entity with some kind of control or influence over reality".

For me, "spiritual" means "having a sense of awe or wonder that is underpinned by beliefs that are not objectively verifiable". In this sense, my spiritual feelings add to the normal wonder I feel when looking at or thinking about purely natural phenomena like molecular structures, sunsets, night skies or nude pictures of Sarah Palin.

An example of the spiritual feeling I'm talking about would be something like the sense of "interbeing" described by Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Thanh -- the idea that everything exists because of everything else, or that everything exists within every other thing, or that there is no "this vs. that". This is not objectively verifiable (though hints of it exist in some interpretations of QM) but I find it a useful internal organizing framework for my responses to the rest of the universe.

The experiences of samadhi or nirvana have nothing to do with gods, but as anyone who has experienced them can attest, they are deeply spiritual.

I don't feel the need to be totally objective about things that are purely subjective.

[Nevernose]

10. First time I saw the Grand Canyon, my kid's birth, hanging out w/ my aging father

All of these are what I think of as "spiritual," though there is clearly nothing related to spirits or the supernatural about these events. Maybe my own personal definition of "spirituality" could be described as "an extreme sense of wonder." At my more jaded moments I might describe it as "an appreciation of events beyond the mundane." Sometimes I'm awestruck at the ability to instantly discuss an issue of the day with almost anyone alive, anywhere on the planet, for instance. When my parents were in high school, for instance, this was the stuff of magic and science fiction.

Then again, I used to drop a lot of acid, so what do I know?