Lilly

I'd like to know if it's possible to have some kind of spirituality (and I'm not talking about religion, right?) and be an atheist at the same time.

I've been wondering about it for quite some time now. So any ideas / thoughts would be great.

koros

What do you call "spirituality" ?

Koros

lastnightonIo

A true athiest is as bad as a religious zealot--they are so convinced they know the truth that even if hard evidence did exist for a god or soul or netherworld or what have you, they would find a way to convince themselves it was false.

That said... those who find the world's religions full of faults and generally foundless, can still harbor a certain sense of self-spirit, I think, though they may each call it by a different name.

I know that nobody else is me, and the "me" that makes the choices for this body I call soul. And there are a lot of questions I still have regarding the interactions of energy and matter, and the makeup of our thoughts...

I think what the athiest and agnostic keeps in place of spirituality is curiosity and wonder, and a love of the senses.

Walross

Nice generalization . Too bad you're quite wrong about that. I can't speak for other "true athiests" (sic), but for me, atheism was a result of being convinced that I don't know the truth about many things. Nice try.

This, however I agree with, and was well-said .

In answer to Lilly's question...atheism is merely the lack of belief in a god. It doesn't rule out spirituality per se (especially depending on how you define it). You'll probably find that many atheists are just as skeptical of spiritual claims as they are of deities, but not all. Regards,

Ross

xorbie

I would consider myself "spiritual" but I'm not sure everyone else would. :shrug:

Joel

Random

I am disinclined to believe in the supernatural due to persistent absence of any sort of definite evidence. I'm still slightly superstitious - it's a hard habit to shake. But I do meditate, appreciate art, and occasionally get carried away by the realisation of what a strange and amazing place the universe is. And I have plenty of wild hypotheses about how it works, and how the human mind interacts with it.

Dunno... is that spiritual?

Postcard73

I don't know about other atheists, but I am definitely not spiritual at all. I do think it would be helpful for you to define "spiritual", but I doubt it would alter my answer.

Starboy

Let me see:

1) No - The INCORPOREAL part ruled that out.
2) No
3) No
4) Maybe, but very vague. Two people in a drinking contest might qualify for this.
5) No

So unless we are redefining the english language in order for atheists to call ourselves spiritual I would say that a spiritual atheist is an oxymoron.

Starboy

Godless Wonder

The very word spiritual is a turn off for me. Brings to mind mystical hokum. If I hear someone say, "Oh, it was a very spiritual experience, blah blah blah . . ." I can't help but think, "oh, they're one of those 'spiritual' people."

I suppose one way to look at it is a 'spiritual person' would be one who is capable of getting more out of an experience than is actually there to be had.

Blackness

According to the definition Starboy posted, no, I am not spiritual at all.