How can one be spiritual? Where does an atheist spirit goes when they die?
2006-09-16 02:22:02 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
In my view, "atheist" = "unbeliever"
= "someone who doesn"t and won't ever trust any kind of religious & spiritual belief".
So, a "spiritual atheist" would be an oxymoron.
say "agnostic" instead = "a non-religious believer". Lots of agnostics are spiritual, even though they spit at religions.
Agnostics don't spit at spirituality that much, even though they claim the opposite. They do believe in "something beyond" but they criticize the way religious people explain this.
2006-09-16 02:34:38 · answer #1 · answered by Axel ∇ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An atheist simply doesn't believe in a god. There isn't sufficient evidence, so there is no belief. Contrary to what many think, there is no need for an atheist to disprove that a god exists, anymore than a Christian needs to disprove that the world is ruled by intelligent termites. The burden of proof is always with the person making a positive assertion.
An atheist can recognize the mystery of life, and marvel at how everything learned deepens that mystery, pushing "final" causes further into the distance. An atheist can recognize his or her own limitations, and seek to grow, perhaps even by developing contact with "higher powers." This is an atheist spirituality. How is it different from "regular" spirituality?
The difference is that an atheist feels no need to pretend to understand the mysteries - no need to create gods and religions to explain them. Contacting "higher powers" can simply be tuning into subconscious resources through meditation or other means. Are these "higher powers" nothing more than electrical patterns in our brains? We don't know, and we don't have to know to tap into them.
Is it that atheists don't want to know? It is the opposite. "Understanding" by forcing religious explanations on things short circuits any search for the truth. How can you understand and integrate new evidence when you are no longer questioning? Better to simply use spiritual tools like "intuition" and let them be understood - or not - with time and real evidence.
Look to the past, and we see how narrow-minded people were, and how little they understood compared to us. We will appear that way to people in the future, as they will to people further into the future. We are growing in our knowledge and power, but like that spiritual computer, our circuits are in a box that we need to grow out of. Seeking the way beyond that box is what makes one a spiritual atheist.
2006-09-16 09:32:04 · answer #2 · answered by Ivy Leaf "PERFECTION" 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Admiring and respecting the awesomeness of life, nature and the universe constitute spirituality IMO.
I don't need a deity to do that.
As for where a spirit goes after death, that assumes there is some on-going conscious ness that just uses our bodies as a container. I'm not sure that's true. So basically -- I don't know don't care. It isn't relevant to my current state of being. And boy, what a comfort THAT is after years of the "you could go to hell" stories.
2006-09-17 00:20:24 · answer #3 · answered by KarenK10 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Someone who believes that the soul is not derived from a god or gods. Atheism just depends on your interpretation on the existence of a god, it has nothing to with other spiritual matters. The jury's still out on whether there is a spirit and if so, where it goes, so there's not telling on your last question.
2006-09-16 09:28:17 · answer #4 · answered by Dan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
being spiritual doesn't necessarily mean you believe in a God
but that you believe in the spirit of mankind ... that which makes us who we are ... that makes us all equal yet the individual
a spiritual person would be more concerned in making each day wonderful .. being there for others .. and appreciating the beauty in the world
spiritual people can be found in all religions .. but not every religious person is spiritual
but a spiritual person .. needs no religion
2006-09-16 09:26:43 · answer #5 · answered by Peace 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Belieiving that human consciousness may survive bodily death doesn't necessarily entail belief in god as traditionally conceived. There are many religious naturalists (Ursula Goodenough, Henry Nelson Wieman) who have eminently spiritual worldviews. There are empirical data suggestive of reincarnation (see Ian Stevenson), but none, I am afraid, suggestive of the god of traditional theism.
2006-09-16 09:25:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
without religion one can be very spiritual and free to discover things that are profound
spiritual is not limited to a box of afterlife, 'god' or a hell
spirituality is very profound
embrace this life and see how spiritual you and I are, see what wonders we can share by expanding our definition of life until it encompasses entire planet
religion is dead, fixed and drags you in it's inflexible chains of rule and dogma
spirituality soars freely like the wind in the word in spir ation ...the wind beneath our wings and moves our hearts
a mystery but not limited to one definition or perception
2006-09-16 09:26:17 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Same place all spirits go - oblivion as the spirit is just a mental construct of brain function. Once dead, no more brain function, no more spirit.
2006-09-16 09:24:54 · answer #8 · answered by bonzo the tap dancing chimp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the christians say we have hot holiday in hell so we all carry sunblock and run for the sun beds before the christians get there the islam lot sends the christians thats why we run for the beds and put our towels on them
2006-09-16 09:46:10 · answer #9 · answered by andrew w 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to the UU link below.
2006-09-16 09:25:08 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋