Your take on "spirituality"

[widdershins]

I often see people mentioning spirituality in atheism and recently saw a claim that everyone should be spiritual, whether religious or not.  The problem is the definition of the word "spiritual" is so muddled, confused and poorly defined when they use it that I have no idea what the hell their talking about.  As far as I can figure, going of the definition of spirituality, it is woo.  It deals either with religion specifically, the soul or "the human spirit", which does not appear to be using the same sense of the word "spirit" used in "team spirit", but more something akin to a soul.

So, what the hell is spirituality?  Do I need it?  If I reject all woo, which I do, can I even get it?  Do I maybe already have it and not know it?  What does it mean to be "spiritual", exactly, and why would one think I need that?  What benefits would there be to being "spiritual"?  In short, what the hell are they talking about?  It seems to me that an atheist denouncer of all things woo like me not only could not be spiritual and still be an atheist denouncer of all things woo, but I wouldn't even want to be.  I don't want to pretend ouija boards work.  I don't want to pretend that I am expanding my soul to become one with the universe (though I might try this one if they ever make it legal, if you know what I mean).  I don't want to "channel my energy" through rocks that have power because they have the two most important qualities for rocks to have power; 1) they're pretty and 2) they're cheap enough to be obtainable.

What do you guys think?

[Plu]

I have no idea what "spiritual" is, so it seems pointless to even have a topic about it to me.

[Sleeper]

Gotta be honest, this was the first thing I read when I opened the thread...

...1) they're pretty and 2) they're cheap enough to be obtainable.

...and I thought it was a thread about girls who claim to be "spiritual." A little disappointed.

I don't think "spiritual" means anything. It's a term for people who reject religions but aren't brave enough to reject the supernatural. Still need their crutch.

[stromboli]

I consider myself "spiritual" because I am overjoyed by things like beauty in nature, and am awestruck at the grandeur of natural wonders like the Grand Canyon and such like.

Honestly I think spiritualism is the wrong word. Might be uplifting or awe inspiring or something. The problem is that spiritual is too closely identified with religion. Another word or term might be more accurate.

I make bread. That's kind of spiritual, seriously. You take water and flour and yeast and mix it, wait eight hours and then add more flour, warm water and some other ingredients and then bake it. You get this warm goodness that has taste and texture and flavor from what are separately mundane ingredients. It is remarkable to me that a baker can create so many amazing things from a few basic ingredients and yet create an endless variety of flavors, textures and so on. Just the fact that a bacteria can make simple flour and water act a certain way is really cool and interesting.

It is how you view things. Shit I find spiritual is probably "meh" to another guy.

[Shiranu]

I don't think spiritual has to have any relationship to supernatural. It can be interpreted as a reverence for a state of mind, the universe, etc. Nothing supernatural in that.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I feel "spiritual" when I look up at the nighttime skies and feel so small against the vastness of the Universe, and still am a part of it.  I get the same feeling when I'm at the beach, and ponder the waves, having rolled in upon that particular shore for hundreds of millions if not billions of years, and no two waves have ever been alike.  I feel overawed when I think about the fact that every molecule in our body heavier than helium was manufactured in the deaththroes of a star which spewed its ashes, and energy, out to contribute to the making of the Earth.

Woo need not apply.  I don't need to invent magical sky-fairies in order to be stunned by the grandeur of the Universe we inhabit.  

As Freeman Dyson once wrote, "We are the Universe, pondering itself."

That's as spiritual as I need to get.

[stromboli]

I feel "spiritual" when I look up at the nighttime skies and feel so small against the vastness of the Universe, and still am a part of it.  I get the same feeling when I'm at the beach, and ponder the waves, having rolled in upon that particular shore for hundreds of millions if not billions of years, and no two waves have ever been alike.  I feel overawed when I think about the fact that every molecule in our body heavier than helium was manufactured in the deaththroes of a star which spewed its ashes, and energy, out to contribute to the making of the Earth.

Woo need not apply.  I don't need to invent magical sky-fairies in order to be stunned by the grandeur of the Universe we inhabit.  

As Freeman Dyson once wrote, "We are the Universe, pondering itself."

That's as spiritual as I need to get.

Yeah. going out to sea from Holy Loch when I was a seaman on the bridge was amazing. Just the endless expanse of ocean and the power of the waves was awe inspiring, to say the least. If I had been some other rate like a Bosun's Mate that worked topside on a boat, I might've stayed in for a career. I really loved the ocean.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I define it simply as the sum total of your accumulated knowledge and experiences and emotions wrapped up in Saranwrap[sup:38eqrrre]TM[/sup:38eqrrre] when you die and your kids shove it in the back of the fridge and forget about it sooner or later.. It might also be wrapped up in tin foil and made into cool hats too..

[the_antithesis]

[youtube:pz01jljt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z_e17GJ_Ao[/youtube:pz01jljt]

[youtube:pz01jljt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksMAnAnxGSQ[/youtube:pz01jljt]

[SvZurich]

It's feel-good woo without the dogma of religion.

[NitzWalsh]

I avoid the term spirituality because of the feel good woo associated with it. It's too closely affiliated with religion and new age crap for my comfort. If I want to say something about a connection to nature, I'll call that biophilia or awe or some such thing.

[Brian37]

"Spirituality" is really nothing more than confusing our electrochemical reaction in the brain which stimulates the "pleasure" reaction in our brains. It is basically mistaking our "sense of awe" for magic.

It is a bullshit word and has no basis in biological reality. It is simply credulity in the form of woo.

[WitchSabrina]

It's feel-good woo without the dogma of religion.

well.........that IS true............in a nutshell!  well done you.  lol

[widdershins]

I see a lot of "sense of awe" definitions here, and that is one of the things I read with other people trying to define it.  I think the confusion is that people are using what they think the definition of the word should be sometimes and the actual definition of the word other times.  I don't mean going back and forth.  What I mean is one person will use what they think is the definition, another will use the actual meaning.  And I think this is where all the confusion comes from.  It has become a fluff word without clear meaning, much like the common use of the word "theory".

Anyway, I think I understand enough now to discuss this intelligently, should it come up again.  Having looked up the actual definitions for it I don't believe "sense of awe" or "an action I find immensely pleasurable" really fits the actual definition, which appears to be completely woo, but rather the mis-definition, which appears to be a catch-all for "feel good".  I guess, should it come up again and someone suggest I should be spiritual, I will have to ask the person using it what they mean by the word before I either disagree with them or tell them the correct word they should be using to prevent confusion.  It looks, to me at least, like the actual word is 100% woo related, but not everyone is using any actual definition of the word.

[stromboli]

Right. this this this and this, all the above. Point is we are capable of having a sense of exalted feelings that are brought on by something out of the ordinary, something beautiful or rare. I am astonished and elevated by the craftsmanship of a Rembrandt painting like the Night Watch, and totally "meh" at a Jackson Pollock. And like I said, the word spiritual is too often linked to the supernatural or religious.

Synonyms: discarnate, asomatous, divine, ethereal, extramundane, metaphysical, rarified, supernal. Choose one.