Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheese
Good posit!
So let me see if I get this right...you dislike the position of spirituality, yet consider the possibilities of Pantheism?
Pantheism translated is "God is everything and everything is God … the world is either identical with God or in some way a self-expression of his nature".
Sounds almost like a " naturalistic spirituality" to me LOL.
Sorry...really!   I do understand your position...really!  |
Hehe, it's not so much I dislike the position of spirituality, I just don't like the word itself. Spiritual, pertaining to the spirit.. but the spirit isn't defined, so the word is nonsense to me. People use it to describe a state of mind, a feeling, a point of view, which to me is a natural thing (since it's in the brain), so the word spiritual is just.. goofy. I just can't think of a better word.
I can appreciate the emotion state of mind that people are actually talking about when they talk about a spiritual experience. I have no lack of spiritual experiences in my life, but they're all about emotion, about perspective, about depth of thought.
So when I try to comprehend the magnitude of the universe, try to imagine space and time being wrapped up together, to comprehend the ideas that describe our universe, it's a spiritual experience. When I appreciate where man has come from, and how we're all so interconnected, at the great beauty and terrible horror we've wrought, it's very spiritual.
Like I said earlier, functionally there's no difference between that and atheism, it's not like I'm going to worship the universe or anything. I guess it's just a spiritual wonder at our reality.
EDIT: And from a practical point of view, it might be easier on family members to tell them I'm a deist or a pantheist than it would to say I'm an atheist or an agnostic. I would like my son to keep seeing his grandma... not that I think she'd cut off ties if she knew how I really thought, but it would definitely change things and I'm not sure I can accurately predict the outcome of such a revelation.