Just Curious
 

Certainly in your lives you've come across people who say:

"I'm not religious. I don't go to church, but I consider myself spiritual.

What do you say to something like that?

"What do you mean by 'spiritual'?" would probably be my first question.

I think they would say they believe there is some kind of higher power out there. Most people idiotic enought to make such a statement probably wouldn't be able to elaborate beyond that.

Personally, I want to choke people who make that comment, because they are always the first to agree that a nativity scene should be removed from a city park, or "Happy Holidays" should replace "Merry Christmas" which seems to be the bread-and-butter battles of the New Atheism.

I think you're a bit confused. Spirituality doesn't mean the same thing as religiosity. Spirituality is about connectedness. One can feel a connectedness to the world, nature, fellow creatures and living things, your people, community, heritage, football team, your physical surroundings and lots of other things. Of course religious people tend to only understand it as a connection to an imaginary being and the community they share the delusion with.

I'd say "fuck off you thick trolling cunt"

You don't get to redefine "spirituality." It at least means something pertaining to the "spirit" realm. You can argue that there is no spirit realm, but you don't get to redefine spirituality to make your argument. Otherwise I could just say that atheists believe God exists. If words have no meaning, then they have no meaning.

Besides, you're not answering the question I posted. Perhaps you have no experience with it.:\

You can be "spiritual" without any need for a god. It is how you define spiritual. People using the term to describe some kind of parasitic entity are just as idiotic as those who claim to be part of some or other organised superstition. Pantheists do not believe in a god, but do enjoy a sense of spriritual awareness looking at something particularly beautiful, or hearing something that is again a pleasure to hear. Plenty of people enjoy this sense without thinking that it is a "spirit".

Speaking of not answering questions posted to one Eyegor: http://ravingatheists.com/forum/show...3&postcount=14

You don't get to think you're on that high road yet. Hop to it.

Since you didn't give a definition of spiritual, we'll take one from a dictionary (in this case thefreedictionary.com).

spir·i·tu·al (spr-ch-l)
adj.
1. Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material.
2. Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul.
3. Of, from, or relating to God; deific.
4. Of or belonging to a church or religion; sacred.
5. Relating to or having the nature of spirits or a spirit; supernatural.



So my guess is it's like saying "Well, I'm a fundamentalist (insert religion here), but I don't consider myself a douchebag".

Like you said, words actually have meaning, even if we try to change them.

I say we give Jerry, um, Eyegor, exactly 10 chances to either answer our questions or get banned. .

So, Egor, tell us about this religion of yours, and why you think it makes you noble.

What is your religion?

A collection of meaningless, made-up theo-illogical bullshit.
I guess this renders the definition of and any arguments relating to 'spitituality' a complete load of nonsensical bollocks.
But we already knew that.

First off, I thought I was being accused of being Gordon, now it's Jerry? Maybe intelligent theists all tend to sound alike. Second, I am not going to answer questions that are put to me in the form of hostile attacks. Ban me whenever you want. It's your forum, and I'm sure I do upset the applecart a great deal.

I don't have a name for my religion, but I can describe it. I am a monist. That means I believe that everything is God and nothing is not God. All that fundamentally exists is God. Everything was created by God and from God and therefore is of the substance of God. I agree in large part with Spinoza and his concepts of monism, attributes and modalities.

I believe human beings (and any other life forms like us in the universe, if there are any) are created to become God conscious of Himself from within His Creation. In other words, that's the point of our evolution. One of the attributes of God is consciousness and the human being is meant to be an expression of that attribute.

Where there is a lack of God-consciousness there is duality. A rock seems separate from God because a rock has no consciousness of God. Much like in a dream. Everything in a dream is really the mind of the dreamer, but because there is a lack of self-awareness in a dream, everything seems to be separate and individual.

From this understanding of God, love makes sense, as does honor, courage and dignity. :)

The martyr complex is strong with this one, too. What gives with the boner for banning?

Of which you have none. Well, if you can't be an example, serve as the warning!
:thumbsup: