[Closed] Spiritual bollocks

I would certainly seperate spirituality and religion. I am not religious, however get a feeling that I calk sprituality when in the presence of a spectacular natural wonder, or sometimes even when looking at the moon. I think of it as feeling a sense of human frailty in a big universe.

Here's a few recent examples from just my bike riding that I would describe as 'spiritual':

Doing the climbs on icy snow last night by moonlight alone - so different from the norm and so 'alien' that it was captivating.

Coming off twice on a hundred yard section of relatively easy trail the other weekend. The first time I was phlegmatic, the second time I swore loudly and used some vile language. Before coming to the realization that I was actually either berating an inanimate section of woodland path or myself. Either way I was being a dick.

Snapping my chain about 400 yards into a recent Peak District ride and momentarily losing it. Looking back now, it had no effect on my 'day' whatsoever.

My feet coming back to life after a good five minutes under a hot shower the other week, try worrying about insignificant life shit when that's going on.

The post ride pie, chips and a pint after the freezing cold and wet Peak District ride. Looking back, we're not convinced it was that good a pie, but the context and the log burner made it seem like manna from heaven.

Spirituality comes under many different guises. For me, it is those moments of pure involvement when the rest of life's worries recede totally and you are just in the moment. The ability to appreciate and cherish these moments is what keeps me sane. And that's just a list of the bike related ones.

There's plenty of people out there who want to score points off of me, keep me stressed and worry me, but they cannot take away those moments when I am just me, be that with family, friends, riding, whatever.

Or you could just have a cuppa and a strong word with yourself......

Each to their own. 🙂

Wonder which has caused more suffering.

Religion, or the desire for material, monetary, and territorial gain?

please note, this is an actual question

As an aside, I sometimes have what I lazily think of as spiritual errr.... 'moments' almost always when I have a strong sense of connection to the natural world. Rathe than allowing the ego to retain a stronger sense of separation.

Check me out, might even go hug a tree. Or eat a mince pie, one of the two.

One could surely argue that the Buddhist tradition, taken as a whole, represents the richest source of contemplative wisdom that any civilization has produced

- Sam Harris - 'Killing the Buddha'

'Contemplative wisdom'
'Mindfulness'
'Being'

These are a few of my favourite things. Also the great 'emptying out' I experience when outdoors in the 'flow', whether walking, cycling, working with hands on art, landscaping or building etc or just simply lying in the sun listening to it all. Spirituality seems to be what happens to me when I take the opportunity to let go of clutter, both in the physical, literal sense - and in the psychological/spiritual sense.

On the other hand - it seems to me that organised religion (like politics) creates internal conflict, sets alight a dramatic, magical/moral narrative in the head - and then offers 'escape' from the drama via prayer, adherence, and the (now more promising, paradisiacal) certainty of death.

Problems with words like 'spiritual', as others rightly state, is they have such fluid definitions. Don't really see a way past that.

I've never been overly religious, but it seems to me that the Western world in particular at the moment has zero spirituality guidance, just a vacuous mess, of sleaze, dubious morals and celebrity obsession.

I spent a bit of time in Thailand years ago and found it enlightening. We have far too many distractions here and everything seems to be the lowest common denominator. I try to be a little Buddhist / Humanist. Makes sense to me.

I do find my 'spirituality' from training, being in nature on my own and strangulation......well not quite the last part!

Is veganism "spiritual"?

Mr Woppit - Member

Is veganism "spiritual"?

Veganism is similar the extreme of a fashion trend by putting too much emphasis on self ... IMO.

My logic
God is everything,
if god was not everything, that would imply that there is everything and then there is god.....which is illogical, as everything is EVERYTHING.
Belief in god is unnecessary for the same reason as belief in everything is unnecessary.

My coat rack is everything,

if my coat rack was not everything, that would imply that there is everything and then there is My coat rack .....which is illogical, as everything is EVERYTHING. Unless the list of everything includes my coat rack and my logic is broken.

(also, I don't have a coat rack)

god is just another name, as is coat rack, all just a bit of everything.

Mr Woppit - Member
Is veganism "spiritual"?

Take some LSD and go for a walk in the woods for a real spiritual experience. Then you'll realise it's just a chemical response to stimuli like everything else. People with a susceptibility to such experiences are obviously rather confused.

I find it embarrassing that it 2014 we're still using the word "atheist". There is either people have have a mental illness that enables them to attach meaning to the abstract who are called "religious", and everyone else who doesn't. If religion was invented now people wouldn't start using the word atheist. It would be either the religious or crazy and the normal.

So the "religious are mentally ill" idea again!!!

"a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between reality and fantasy"

That's Schizophrenia but it it could also describe the religiously afflicted.

There is either people have have a mental illness that enables them to attach meaning to the abstract who are called "religious", and everyone else who doesn't

Even for STW that is a remarkably ignorant thing to say. I'm embarrassed that you posted that!

There is either people have have a mental illness that enables them to attach meaning to the abstract who are called "religious", and everyone else who doesn't

Attaching meaning to abstract things is what makes us human. I love my wife, for instance, and my parents. I don't think I'm mentally ill because I've attached meaning to these people in a way science struggles to explain.

If I then choose to love life, to love the world, does that make me mentally ill?

Spirituality and Religion are not synonymous and I think this thread has allowed to two to blur together.

In its encounter with Nature, science invariably elicits a sense of reverence and awe. The very act of understanding is a celebration of joining, merging, even if on a very modest scale, with the magnificence of the Cosmos. And the cumulative worldwide build-up of knowledge over time converts science into something only a little short of a trans-national, trans-generational meta-mind.

“Spirit” comes from the Latin word “to breathe.” What we breathe is air, which is certainly matter, however thin. Despite usage to the contrary, there is no necessary implication in the word “spiritual” that we are talking of anything other than matter (including the matter of which the brain is made), or anything outside the realm of science. On occasion, I will feel free to use the word. Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or of acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.

- Carl Sagan

100!

Even for STW that is a remarkably ignorant thing to say

One of those its very rude to say it but if there is no god and this god speaks to them how do we best describe them?

I dont think the religious are mentally ill but if someone stood on a street corners insisting jesus spoke to them you might wonder.If I said i speak to the wood gods then you may wonder..at what point do we judge and decide/

Point is spciety is not consistent on this

Far too sensible JCL.
your views on road bike handling are still those of a religious loon though. 😉

i feel mildly ‘spiritual’ at things like mass gatherings of civil unrest or celebration, large geological forms, mass construction projects, rare weather phenomena and landscapes formed by centuries of human intervention presented as an attractive vista. but that’s just a momentary pause recognising the bigger picture of the world we live in and a recognition of the insignificance of ones own ego.

religion, crystals, wizards, chakras etc belongs in the dark ages or the minds of bedwetters and the easily led.
anyone who entertains those notions should be committed to the asylum.

Attaching meaning to abstract things is what makes us human. I love my wife, for instance, and my parents. I don't think I'm mentally ill because I've attached meaning to these people in a way science struggles to explain.

Yes but they exist.

I think we can all tap into a higher level of conciousness where we experience stuff more intensely, and that can bring us overwhelming feelings..

Yoga, meditation, strong psychedelic drugs, the ability or willingness to shut out our material existence and focus on our experience of the present can all induce some pretty blissed out states..

I dunno whether that's spiritual or just common sense, but it feels shit hot and deffo helps me personally to proceed through life with a better appreciation of what's going on around me..
Altering our perception seems to me to be a basic function of our progression through life, otherwise we would have all stuck with shitting in our nappies and squawking for milk..

Sure, you can get similar results by being determined, or goal driven.. even by being an ignorant shit, and I've lived those ways too.. but I get more happiness and see more happiness by gently appreciating my experience in this earthly plane..

om shanti om

(disclaimer: most of the time I'm a total **** btw)

Originally (and properly), i think a spiritual practice was anything that brought you closer to the divine/the spirit/ God

I have had lots of very moving experiences which could well be classed (by this threads standards) as spiritual, they've got bugger all to do with any deity tho.

not tried proper mind bending drugs but I'm def open to a bit of altered perception. There's lots of stuff that can do that, a lot of them are fun in themselves aswell thankfully 🙂

Yes but they exist.

Other people's wives and parents also exist, but don't love them the same way. So existence isn't the be all and end all - it's about the feelings we ascribe.

Think of a piece of art. We don't value them for the paint or canvas, we value them for how we feel about them.

But, then we start mixing religion with spirituality again. If something feels good we often say it's lifted our spirits. Perhaps that's what the OP was meaning.....

I'm passionately agnostic. I detest the word spirituality.

For me , there is only vavariables in the description of "faith". I believe in an intangible present beyond what I am able to comprehend. Much like belief in residual gamma rays from the big bang, or something.

There's nothing namby pamby hippie crystal yoga munching baloney about believing in something.

Like quantum physics for example.