What is spirituality?

Originally posted by checkbaiter
[b]something all humans possess (the human spirit - the only kind of spirit that every human being can agree exists)

I don't agree with this. Humans are born body and soul life. They have no spirit.[/b]

1 Corinthians 2:11

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Originally posted by twhitehead
So ..... sex is not spiritual?

It absolutely is ~ unless it somehow occurs during a state of unconsciousness and there is no memory of it.

I refer you to my clarification addressed to rwingett.

Originally posted by FMF
"Spirituality" is a word that we should not allow to be kidnapped by religionists.

And I also don't think atheists should allow theists to apply it only to themselves on account of the fact that they've used their spiritual nature and capacity for abstraction - something all humans possess (the human spirit - the only kind of spirit that every human being ca ...[text shortened]... with things like immortality and supernatural beings who have supposedly communicated with them.

Apparently, at least one atheist in this forum disagrees with you that this "human spirit" kind of "spiritualism" exists, so it appears that your statement about a spiritual nature "that every human being can agree exists" is hyperbole.

Your kind of "spiritualism" is a dogma that some theists often accuse atheists of... worshipping themselves.

Originally posted by FMF
I am aware of your ideology. But you have to delve into Hebrew mythology to make your religionist case - which is your prerogative, of course. I suspect that DeepThought might be more interested in a discussion on spirituality in a broader, maybe more universal sense, rather than technocratic screeds pertaining to one of the major retail religions and its off-the-shelf curiosity-ending packages of explanations and solutions. 😉

How are you using the term "technocratic" here? It seems an odd (dare I say, incoherent? ) placement for this word.

Originally posted by twhitehead
So ..... sex is not spiritual?

Not always. But often.

Originally posted by Suzianne
Apparently, at least one atheist in this forum disagrees with you that this "human spirit" kind of "spiritualism" exists, so it appears that your statement about a spiritual nature "that every human being can agree exists" is hyperbole.

Indeed, googlefudge disagrees about my use of the word "spirituality" but I don't think he would disagree with this statement about what we have in common when it comes to our humanity:

"We are endowed with a capacity for projecting ourselves in abstract ways and we are also affected and influenced and shaped by the abstract projections of other people. We clearly have individual personhoods or identities which comprise personality, uniqueness, relationships, and other abstract aspects all bound together in the singular personal narrative that each of us accumulates as we live our lives."

Do you think most humans would agree that the above is true?

Originally posted by DeepThought
This question has erupted in my mind due to a couple of other threads. I cannot answer it for myself, so tell me, what does it mean to have a spiritual life or to describe oneself as spiritual? What is spirituality?

Spirituality is consciousness. Just as the ocean is fed by rivers and streams our minds are fed with thoughts, images, sounds, feelings, experiences and ideas. From this stream of consciousness we formulate values based on how we perceive these elements which percolate from our minds to our inner being and manifest themselves in our attitudes. This is our spirituality.

For example I kill an animal by design. I am conscious that my action has resulted in inflicting pain on another living creature. I reflect that this was entirely unnecessary and resolve in my mind that I will not kill another living creature by design again. My consciousness has led me to form certain attitudes and values, this is my spirituality.

Originally posted by Suzianne
Your kind of "spiritualism" is a dogma that some theists often accuse atheists of... worshipping themselves.

I don't see how you can characterize what I have said on this thread as being an ideology of worshipping one's self. Perhaps you could explain.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Spirituality is consciousness. Just as the ocean is fed by rivers and streams our minds are fed with thoughts, images, sounds, feelings, experiences and ideas. From this stream of consciousness we formulate values based on how we perceive these elements which percolate from our minds to our inner being and manifest themselves in our attitudes. Thi ...[text shortened]... ain. My consciousness has led me to form certain attitudes and values, this is my spirituality.

I basically agree with this.

Originally posted by FMF
I basically agree with this.

It is perhaps the first time I think we have ever agreed.

Originally posted by checkbaiter
[b]something all humans possess (the human spirit - the only kind of spirit that every human being can agree exists)

I don't agree with this. Humans are born body and soul life. They have no spirit.[/b]

The Bible says otherwise:

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11 KJV)

Originally posted by rwingett
I think it is a mistake to assume that the flesh and the spirit are antagonists. They are each necessary parts of a balanced whole.

To be fleshly or carnal [as opposed to being in the flesh], is contrary to being spiritual. All humans obviously live in the flesh. Just like all people live in the world but are not necessarily worldly. I am speaking from a biblical standpoint:

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:6-8 KJV)

Originally posted by FMF
I believe that when one gets away from the fleshly, carnal, mechanical side of our existence, and gets into the abstract side where we find music, literature, religion and philosophy, art ~ as well as things like ideology and morality and ethics ~ along with non-tangible capacities like compassion, aspiration, curiosity, where our each and every human spirit is ...[text shortened]... hom is largely determined by culture ~ itself a product of the spirituality of the human spirit.

I do not agree with this definition of 'spirituality', if for not other reason than it makes the
term almost meaningless, as almost anything can now be labelled spiritual.

I would say that to continue to hold meaning as a word, spirituality needs to retain some link
to the supernatural.

If you redefine it to simply mean that one sometimes feels awe or wonder, or apparently just that
a person is thinking... then I say we already have words that mean that.

Originally posted by googlefudge
I would say that to continue to hold meaning as a word, spirituality needs to retain some link to the supernatural.

We have words like religiosity, theism and superstition.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Spirituality is consciousness. Just as the ocean is fed by rivers and streams our minds are fed with thoughts, images, sounds, feelings, experiences and ideas. From this stream of consciousness we formulate values based on how we perceive these elements which percolate from our minds to our inner being and manifest themselves in our attitudes. Thi ...[text shortened]... ain. My consciousness has led me to form certain attitudes and values, this is my spirituality.

Consciousness as a whole seems too wide to me. I'm looking at a problem in maths at the moment (the pendulum problem *), I don't feel I'm engaging in spiritual activity in doing that, so I feel any old cognitive activity won't do as spiritual. Perhaps if the area of spirituality is restricted to the reflective aspects of consciousness, which is what your example seems to be about, then the definition will have more focus. You also seem to be restricting the area to ethical concerns, you talk about values, but this strikes me as somewhat practical, whereas FMF seems to focus more on abstraction. I think somethings missing in this but I don't know what so I'm finding it hard to say why I think something's missing in what you and FMF are saying spirituality is.

*) and I'm a little stuck, anyone know what the antiderivative of sqrt (A + cos(x)) is?