Question about 'spirituality' for atheists?

Question

Do you consider yourself to have a spiritual aspect to your life? Maybe like a sense of 'oneness with the cosmos'.

Do you still think it possible that a part of you/your consciousness continues after death in spite of the non-existence of a heaven and hell?

Thanks :-)

Yuri - you're correct. I'm a Christian who is exploring Zen - which is partly why I asked this question.

Zeno - 'cosmic consciousness' was merely an example of my own. I'm asking for YOUR personal views. I don't see what you find so complicated about the question.

Answer 1

I kind of like to tie in my spirituality in a philosophical way. I consider myself spiritual, just not necessarily in the orthodox way of worshipping a God.

I don't believe there is life after death, but then again, who am I to know? No one knows. No one has come back from the dead to tell who's right and who's wrong, and therefore there is absolutely no support either way. It's just a crappy, morbid game of Russian Roulette :D Except I'm an Atheist, so I lose no matter what, haha.

Answer 2

No. And no atheist I know or have heard of, would.

Atheists are not atheists because they don't believe in the bible, or they hate 'god' or any number of other reason thrown about here.

We are atheists primarily because we function within a rational and reasonable reality. This reality simply shows no evidence for spiritual, paranormal or supernatural events. Therefore is is highly unlikely that an atheist is going to accept something of which there is not a shred of evidence.

Anecdotal stories do not count.

Having said all that, Carl Sagan, one of my favorite atheists, did seem superficially to have a sense of 'oneness' with the Universe. To a certain degree he is correct and that was his true meaning. We are all made from the stuff in stars, and as matter cannot only change form and never cease to be, in some way there can be a 'oneness'.

It is however, on a molecular or atomic level, far, far from consciousness.

Answer 3

I don't know what you mean by 'oneness with the cosmos'. It sounds far too vague to be of any use.

When you're talking to an atheist, you'll need to make your self clearer about what you mean by particular words. In fact, ask different religionists and they will have a different idea of what 'spiritual' means - or what 'god' means!

In answer to your second question, there is no evidence that anything continues after death, so I don't waste my time thinking whether any part of my consciousness continues to exist, even if there was some hypothesis about how this might happen.

Answer 4

i begin my spirituality
in science
for i absolutely refuse
to bend to superstition
or to mere tradition

damn anyone
or any institution
that claims i am evil
for expecting
proof and having faith
in my senses
and use them
to temper
my passions

the grandest part
of faith in my senses
is my acute awareness
of just how limited
they all are
even with a brain
to organize
this riot of perceptions
coming at me
every second of living

so when i see huge bones
sticking out of the ground
and a book written
thousands of years ago
doesn't mention them
am i supposed to disvalue
the evidence of my eyes?

please don't even ask me to
because it's useless
to you i might be faithless
to myself
i'm full of hope

and the best part
of that hope
is knowing
that the answers
are ahead of us

so here's what i know
about human spirit

we dream
we hallucinate
we witness loved ones' last breaths
we will never fully accept
the notion that our being
is only food for worms

if thought itself is energy
and energy is conserved
there can be no lost information
in the universe
no matter how many
black holes
so maybe thinking
is how we make spirit
where only change is immortality

and if it's a seamless universe
then everything
affects everything else

i love the old guy
who asked if the limited
can contain the unlimited
humbling, isn't it?
the living infinite
right at our fingertips

http://www.odysseusepcimythhero.com

Answer 5

My consciousness will cease when my brain activity ceases at death. I feel no sense of "oneness" with the cosmos, nor do I feel a need to feel that way. In the end, as they say, we are all star stuff. Everything was here for billions of years before I was born, and after this very brief life is over, it will go on for, I assume, billions more. That's it.

Answer 6

I'm a naturalistic pantheist and an atheist which means that "I believe in God/dess but spell it N-A-T-U-R-E." It is sort of like a nontheistic and rational "pagan". It's paganism for the 21st century and is even more earth-centered than "mainstream" paganism which focuses on magic. It is very eco-centered and Green in focus.

Knowing of the interdependence of nature (food cycle, etc.) as well as the interdependence of actions (ancestors' past actions affect my current circumstances and my actions will affect the circumstances of my descendents) fills me with a sense of gratefulness which I demonstrate both through my actions as well as concrete actions of respect and honor.

We celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. Some of us even do rituals - for myself I have developed offeratory rituals to honor Nature and the ancestors, Sacred Meal ritual, and chanting and meditation practices. These are available in the files section of the public pantheist groups here on Yahoo and on Beliefnet.

Check the links below for more information on pantheism:

Answer 7

Being American, i think I do experience the might desire to label myself. the undertaking is i do no longer likely comprehend what label that would desire to be. i assume i might desire to be an Atheist as i've got not got self belief in "God" and the bible. I see that as in basic terms a fairytale with existence classes, very like Grimm's' fairy-memories in case you will. yet I do have self belief specially, nicely an mind-blowing style of, Pagan ideals. and that i'm very scientific in my thinking to boot. i think of issues may be greater suitable without the labels yet all and sundry needs to categorize all and sundry so perchance there might desire to be an "undetermined" section for persons like me.

Answer 8

the word spiritual is just as confusing as the word god

each person has their own definition

I look at it that each person sees a different angle of 'god' to include atheists who view what they see / understand as spirituality and connectivity at least with other people and just learning to love and commune together more than fighting over who is right

we all know, no one is right.....look how many times a bible has been edited, or a muslim can take it differently as a jew can take it another way and a christian can take it yet another and hindus altogether another way

Answer 9

I'm a fan of the many-worlds interpretation and quantum immortality. All possibilities exist simultaneously, though I can only be aware of one moment. When I "die," it's no different than no longer being aware in a past moment. I become aware of another moment, another world, another possibility, an alternate timeline in which I did not die.

It explains why I've survived so many things which should have killed me, why I've had so many "miraculous" lucky breaks. I'm dead in an infinite number of possibilities, and alive in an infinite number of possibilities.

Answer 10

some people see things that they can't explain and say "Wow! It must be God!"

I think these people are cretins, with very little imagination. I mean, come up with something original!

There is a great deal I can't explain, but I don't jump at religion to explain it. Face it, people have been around a hundred thousand years... religions? About 5% of that. It's really not that big a section of our history, yet it dominates our culture. We have bombs and crusades and inquisitions. Holy wars out the wazoo.

Sorry.