Is Atheism the opposite of spirituality?
- added April 23, 2008
- 6 responses
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- jahbini
- added this
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- Religion (1883)
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Atheists reject 'God' and the concept of 'God.' Religious folk say that means they reject spirituality. What say you?
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atheism isn't the opposite, it's the lack thereof. The term does not mean ANTI-theist; it means NOT theist. Similar to Asexual reproduction; NOT sexual reproduction.
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- magnusdeus
- 5 months ago
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Agreed. I reject "God" and "spirit" equally, for no greater reason than they make no sense to me. I am not, however, against the ideas; both have potential benefits. Though I disagree with the label "atheist," any atheist DOES reject spirituality, but does not necessarily oppose it.
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Interpreting another's beliefs is a dangerous thing, I'm certainly not attempting to tell either of you what you believe or not, just attempting to get a handle the varieties of these deeply personal experiences.
With that said: While atheism is often meant to reject gods altogether (ie a belief that there are NO gods), It can also be taken to be simply the rejection of a belief in any god. If I am interpreting correctly, Magnusdeus is of the latter interpretation.
Dco, you state that they make no 'sense' to you (maybe like a magnet and a piece of wood?) and therefore can really have no impact on your essential nature and actions. Is this like 'God may exist, but can have no impact', or something else?
For me, the spirit (whether it is immortal or not, I don't care) is that which is lacking in the dead, and present in humans while alive. And spirituality is simply examining the aspects of that spirit. We might like to think that belongs to the domain of psychology, but much of it seems way beyond those guys.
Whether spirit in this sense is connected to a God concept is quite another deal. Whether Terry Schiavo had it is also quite another question. Also whether it is present in other animals, plants, rocks, stars or unknown entities is also another deal altogether. All valid questions, but since they are 'un-testible' and like the question of the existence of God, we may not need to go there today, OK? -
What you have essentially said, is that you have many questions, but don't need any answers to them. This seems incredibly ignorant to me. We, humans, are curious by nature. We have an unending quest to discover the reality of our surroundings. It seems to me that concepts such as God and Spirit are just new names for the unknown, rather than actual answers. You attempt to define your terms in saying "that which is lacking from the dead, and present in humans while alive," and several other things. My problem with this is that any definition you offer uses other abstractions. Elaborate on the concept. I do not say that "God may exist," because, to me, God is fundamentally irrational. It's all well and good to postulate that God is possible, or that we have souls, but my dilemma is that I see too many holes in the logic, and cannot "believe" in the absence of evidence. It is not a decision, whether someone believes in God or not; it is the product of their perspective. You can accept the abstract far more readily than I. I don't quite understand what you meanwhen you say that psychology can't handle this examination. Again, elaboration would be appreciated.
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I find the talks between Eckhart Tolle and Oprah are extremely worthwhile on this subject. If you are not an Oprah fan pick up Tolle's book "A New Earth" -
ugh boy here we go again
my 3 cents:
IF one could grant a glance at the notion being "spirituality is the control of thought to transcend the physical but feel real good in return." Always striving to help the neigbor, saying hellooohhh, thank you, squashing all hatred (last I checked we're all getting taxed, already)
So, people that don't have a spec of thought in regards to 'higher power(s)' yet think A WHOLE LOT about their planet and the inhabitants; does that make them - - - - ? -
(insert trumpets here) - - - - -
SPIRITUAL ! ?
(deeper brass here) - - - - --
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- macosveteran
- 4 months ago
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