2007-05-14 21:24:06 · 15 answers · asked by Axe 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Thank you in advance for your answers.
2007-05-14 21:29:21 · update #1
An atheist only disbelieves in God- other than that they can hold any number of beliefs. I believe in the survival of consciousness after death and that spiritual enlightenment is a state of being humanity can attain through their own strivings.
2007-05-14 21:27:06 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
There is nothing that prevents an atheist from experiencing love, ecstasy, rapture and awe; atheists can value these experiences and seek them regularly. What atheists don't tend to do is make unjustified (and unjustifiable) claims about the nature of reality on the basis of such experiences. There is no question that some Christians have transformed their lives for the better by reading the Bible and praying to Jesus. What does this prove? It proves that certain disciplines of attention and codes of conduct can have a profound effect upon the human mind. Do the positive experiences of Christians suggest that Jesus is the sole savior of humanity? Not even remotely — because Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and even atheists regularly have similar experiences.
There is, in fact, not a Christian on this Earth who can be certain that Jesus even wore a beard, much less that he was born of a virgin or rose from the dead. These are just not the sort of claims that spiritual experience can authenticate.
2007-05-15 04:37:12 · answer #2 · answered by element_115x 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes.
Spirituality is one's experience of something beyond one's self. Anyone can have such an experience. Some use religious language to describe the experience and others do not. Some use religious techniques (prayer, mass, puja, etc, etc, etc) and some do not. Religion is a set of tools to help a person to such an experience and to give them symbolism/language to explain it. Spirituality is the experience itself. A person can be spiritual and not belong to a religion. A person can be spiritual and not define what they experience beyond themselves as God. If others do, then that is okay. As a Hindu I believe that all people discover the universal truths by looking into the innate nature of our inner Self and that it doesn't matter what religion a person is or whether or what they call God by or if they even believe in God, the fact is that when we look inward into our inner Self, we all discover....we all experience the same universal truths. That's spirituality.
Excellent question.
Peace be with you.
2007-05-15 07:32:17 · answer #3 · answered by gabriel_zachary 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have never had a formal religion... nor did i ever plan on being spiritual...
but still... without ever trying... sprirituality found me in the most unexpected ways... i dont know if it was god, the spririts, or just me being crazy but there have been several instances where i have felt spoken to/through... the message is nearly always the same... the message is always love, peace, unity, and a feeling letting me know that its all really going to be okay no matter what....
never saught it.. but its seems nice...
peace and love to you
2007-05-15 04:34:19 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. If people stopped labeling things so much, we could expand all possibilities. Also, people need to learn to deal with oxymorons and contradictions. The world is not binary - you can be X and Y and they are not mutually exclusive. If someone wants to label themselves a non-Believer in God but is spiritual then that's cool.
2007-05-15 04:27:34 · answer #5 · answered by cobblestonehero 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They sure can.
In fact there are many acounts of people in the Bible seeking spirits and being spiritualists. They had the wrath of God abiding on them but, nevertheless they could still do so.
I guess we need to see what you mean by being "spiritual".
2007-05-15 04:26:38 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
well, buddhism is atheistic, and they don't have any acceptance of the existence of the spirit soul. so for them, nope.
Because God is the Supreme Spirit Soul, denying His existence i think precludes any meaningful spirituality, although I'm sure they will disagree......
2007-05-15 04:28:05 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
i think so. our spirit is our personal, invisible self that inhabits our body. what we think, feel, etc. anything that enriches or explores this can be spiritual. nature walks, meditaion...whatever enlightens you
2007-05-15 04:29:01 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sure. You can be spiritual without god.
2007-05-15 04:26:59 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
At least that is a first step - congrats.
2007-05-15 09:47:11 · answer #10 · answered by kin_2 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋