Spirituality…?
February 12, 2010It’s such a loose term, when you think about it.
What does it mean, exactly?
Can atheists be spiritual, even without believing in the supernatural?
Can you appreciate beauty without always thinking you can explain it, even though the culturally-dominant religious explanation might be beautiful, even if it’s absurd?
This video is by the excellent A Hughman.
Most people who think of themselves as athiests are actually agnostic…
Please elaborate, with definitions.
Atheism: the doctrine or belief that there is no God or disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.Agnosticism: The belief that there can be no proof either that God exists or that God does not exist.Depending on the person, this may mean they believe in the supernatural and/or deities but aren't 100% sure (due to lack of proof), or that they do not believe, but do not preclude the possibility. Both types of agnostic (and those somewhere in the middle) tend to be open to persuasion by hard fact.I think therefore that the answer to your initial question ultimately depends on your definition of the word "spiritual". Some would argue that to be spiritual implies a belief in something of incorporeal or immaterial nature – God, Devil, Angels, Ghosts etc. Others would claim that "spirituality" can be a state of mind – art, nature, love, lust, anger, longing – all parts of the innate spirituality of the human being. As such, I don't think there's any one answer – there's about 6.5 billion different answers.I for one say no. I believe spirituality is about a belief in some other plane of existence – be that realm inhabited by ghosts, demons, dragons, angels, gnomes or whatever, it is a non-corporeal realm (the dictionary definition seems to support this) and as such, an Atheist cannot believe (by definition) in anything spiritual.Which is why I say that most people who think of themselves as Atheist are actually Agnostic.
Thanks for your answer!I don't think that disbelief in the existence of god(s) precludes being open to persuasion by hard facts. There might be people out there who would call themselves atheists and then ignore any proof, no matter how conclusive, of the existence of god(s). I would consider these people to be arguing from a position of faith.The word Atheism is derived from the Greek word theos meaning ‘God’ and the prefix a- meaning ‘without’. All it means is that at this point, the atheist is without God. That’s it. If you're an agnostic, you're saying that the existence of god is unknown or unknowable. To my mind, there's little that separates that position from atheism. Being agnostic certainly isn't being religious, unless one is agnostic to every historical dead god except the one (or few) that one decides to have faith in. For this reason, I have trouble understandin the relevance of agnosticism. I'm sure there's something more for me to learn on this point.There's some consensus that spirituality isn't limited to the supernatural. That's why I linked the fine piece from Wikipedia, and a casual browse through dictionary.com bears this out. So I agree with you that there are a lot of usable definitions for the word.
I never meant so suggest that disbelief in god meant anyone would be unwilling to be persuaded, just that a more accurate description of their "spiritual" standpoint would be agnostic, since they're open to persuasion.I should have made one thing clearer – being atheist and being agnostic are not mutually exclusive, nor is believing in a higher power automatic barring from agnostisism.My assertion that atheists cannot be spiritual is based purely on the dictionary definitions – what one person says is "spiritual" and another says are going to differ (hence the statement that there are 6.5 billion different answers).If you want to take spirituality to mean something wider than a belief in a realm of spirit beings ("belief in a realm of spirit beings" being pretty much the dictionary definition, but I also don't think that society accepts such a narrow definition anymore) then the answer changes dramatically.Some people can have a "spiritual" experience whilst appreciating nature, art, love, sex, near death experiences etc etc – that are nothing to do with "belief in a realm of spirit beings". I really do think it's more of a matter of opinion/perspective than anything else.
I agree. Thanks for the discussion.
Dawkins thinks he's god
Dawkins thinks he's god