can an atheist be spirtual?

even though religion and spirtuality often go hand in hand it doesn't neccesarly mean you need religion to be spirtual, right?

 

An atheist does not believe in God. That says nothing about believing in souls, spirits, or even a pan/en/theistic view of the world.

Yes atheists can be spiritual.

But generally atheists are not.

 

well hikaro said it. i don't believe anyone knows what a god is, other then some definician we set up and invent ourselves. and what is the point of that?


to quote what i said myself about sprituality in another thread:
"religeons have temples and churches. spirituality has every squaire inch of land, water, air and space. religeons have gods, spirituality is a universe that hugs us back, whether it has gods or not."

so the questions are entirely seperate. someone who believed there had to not be a diety could still believe in all sorts of nontangable esotericness. personaly i don't believe there HAS to be OR NOT BE, anything, even ourselves.

what my gut and my experience tell me is that there is something, no one knows diddly about it, and whatever else about it, it doesn't have all that much to do with our daily lives and what we togather do with and to our world.

=^^=
.../\...

 

Agreed. I find most atheists I meet are not spiritual, just like most theists I meet are not spiritual either.
I don't believe in a 'God', but don't see how it could matter whether I did or not. I do, however, strongly believe in the soul, spirits, and the afterlife. I could be wrong in that belief, despite how firm my belief is.
My fiance is a good example of what I see as a spiritual atheist. She doesn't believe in anything paranormal at all. She does allow the possibility of it, but has seen nothing which would support anything like that being real.
Still, to me, she is the most spiritual person I know. Spirituality, to me, is not about one's beliefs, but about one's intent or motives. To me, a 'live and let live' atheist seems more spiritual than a 'theocentric' theist. So, if theists are 'souls', does that mean atheists are 'a-souls'?

 

I like that definition.

 

Me too Hikaru, that is a great definition... and I have seen many things in my life that support it. I have been 'hugged' lots. I also like the biblic 'sow the wind, reap the whirlwind'. And the Anais Nin quote, 'We do not see the world as it is, we see the world as we are.'
Over the time I have spent at hipforums, I have really enjoyed the posts and views Hikky has shared here. In my opinion, Hikky expresses a very spiritual outlook. He may not always agree with my stance, thankfully, but I can't recall reading anything by him that was not gracious, thoughtful, and accepting.
'Kind words may be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.' Mother Teresa
In my life, the universe has hugged me even when I know I did not deserve it.

 

Spirituality is the misidentification of a human being's natural ability to be in harmony with himself and his environment. Its a natural functioning of the brain.

Religion and spirituality are attempts to satisfy that base potential for harmony. They fail by Externalizing and personifying what naturally exists inside(god, soul), creating dogma of any sort, by thinking that they are right, putting faith in bullshit and not recognizing that power of the placebo effect (new age medicine), creating false hope (afterlife, personal gods, importance) and other crap. Mainly I think Ego is the problem and maybe LANGUAGE entirely. Seperating the content human animal from his natural habitat by changing his mental structure, emphasizing the distinction between himself and everything else.

i mean thats what i think anyway

 

I may be wrong here, but I think bhuddists seek spiritual enlightenment without necessarily promoting the idea of a deity. If I am wrong about that then let me know and I will read more than the paragraph of knowledge I have on this subject.

Otherwise I would say there is a spirituality without a theist doctrine to accompany it.
It is a fact that regardless of whether a god invented the universe or whether some other process created it. There is the spirituality in us to respect it and to want to understand it. That spirituality is also what drives people to respect for life and for the values of others (well except theists of course, whom they tend to sneer at and ridicule).

Hikaru, If you are implying that atheists can have a panentheistic view and still claim to be atheist, either your definition of panentheism should be revised, or the definition you have of an atheist.
I would not say the two are compatible. Though I do accept that generally
you do have an extremely good grasp on these things so if I am wrong could you point out my mistake please
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheist

 

I am reading a book on Pantheism right now, so I checked out Panentheism, and in the book I have, the definition of a panentheist does include a belief in God, and is incompatible with atheism. Of course, the only difference between theism and atheism is that atheists just believe in one less God than theists. I decided to read up on Pantheism to see if my beliefs agree with them. But, it appears that for the most part they do not. Most pantheists do not believe in supernatural phenomena, and though they consider the universe to be divine, they generally don't believe in mystical experiences. I'm not finished the book yet, so I may still find that there is a group within pantheism that I do fit, but so far it doesn't look like there will be.

From what I know about Buddhism, belief in a deity, and adherence to any particular religion is not what is important. Becoming more compassionate, and being kind to others seems to be what they see as the more critically important goal to pursue. I heard it put this way, 'Don't worry about God, God is unknowable. Don't waste your time on learning about God, but instead focus on helping your fellow man, because you can never comprehend God anyway.'

 

what is the book called and who is it by? sounds interesting

 

"The elements of pantheism" Paul Harrison, Element Books Ltd. UK