I'm not religious, I'm spirtual!

Ruby smilied
:confused:
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It's a Neil Young song, Ruby.

Hello cowgirl in the sand
Is this place at your command
Can I stay here for a while
Can I see your sweet sweet smile
Old enough now to change your name
When so many love you is it the same?
It’s the woman in you that makes you want to play this game.

Hello ruby in the dust
Has your band begun to rust
After all the sin we’ve had
I was hopin’ that we turn back
Old enough now to change your name
When so many love you is it the same
It’s the woman in you that makes you want to play this game.

Hello woman of my dreams
This is not the way it seems
Purple words on a grey background
To be a woman and to be turned down
Old enough now to change your name
When so many love you is it the same
It’s the woman in you that makes you want to play this game.
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To me being 'spiritual' means acknowledging you have, (and acting on) instinctive intuition that has evolved in us. We aren't just computers acting on pure logic, we're also animals and carry our own share of traits found in other animals. There's no spirits or 'soul' involved, so it is an unfortunate word to describe the phenomena that isn't yet understood by us.
 
I would only say: believe what you want, and don't share it unless asked.

Most of all, don't push it on your kids (though it's fine to share it with them).
 
I used to be religious, then religious and spiritual, then spiritual, now I live in the Here and now.
 
Spirituality: the last refuge of a failed human. Just another way of distracting yourself from who you really are - George Carlin
 
Personally, I don't see how you could be one without the other. I could be wrong on this, Abdul, but, it seems to me it's a case of pandering in many ways. Usually, most people who play this game are trying to mollify someone, trying to seem to be what they really are not.

I find myself giving up on spirituality, and for the most part, religion, too. It's rather childish, when you get right down to it, to play word games with this sort of thing.
 
Hmm... "spirituality" is a fuzzy word, isn't it? Could mean a few different things...

I suppose it would depend on your definition of the words, right? For example, in one of my nursing texts the authors define spirituality as "the search for meaning in life, whether supernatural or natural in origin." That definition suits me, and so with this definition I could consider myself spiritual even though I'm an agnostic atheist and skepchick.

However, if we were using Merriam-Webster's definitions, then no, I would not be spiritual at all.

Isn't that one of the first "rules" in critical thinking? Defining your terms? I think it is. ;)
 
I guess when I use the word "spirituality" I tend to be describing aspects of life with emotional resonance. Hm..
Sort of like, trying to define what I find meaningful in my life, without any recourse to the supernatural. Things like seeing beauty in the natural world, enjoying the company of friends, etc.
Things that decribe the "spirit" of life, the reasons why I'm glad to be alive and part of this world.
I know (or am relatively certain) that these things have naturalistic causes, but that doesn't make them any less "spiritual" to me. Maybe even more so.

But then, maybe I'm not being entirely honest with the word. I can only say that it used to have supernatural connotations for me, but that's only because I believed that those phenomena had supernatural explanations. Changing my viewpoint on what causes those phenomena (basically emotions) hasn't changed the way I feel about, or describe them. Maybe it should.

That said, I avoid the word spiritual as much as I can. It's only when I can't think of any other word to fit that I fall back on it...

And yes, I know my views might not be entirely consistent, problem is, I haven't been able yet to form any that are. Alas.
 
I am neither, but if I had to choose, I guess it'd depend on the type of religious or the type of spiritual (even if it were solely in the non-alcoholic sense)...
 
"I'm not religious, I'm spirtual!" This reminds me of a story my friend told me. Years before she had been seeing this loser of a human being. One day she discovered what looked like a recently used crack pipe in his apartment. She confronted him about it and his response was, "that's not a crack pipe, that's a speed pipe!”

LLH
 
Roboramma said:
I guess when I use the word "spirituality" I tend to be describing aspects of life with emotional resonance. Hm..
Sort of like, trying to define what I find meaningful in my life, without any recourse to the supernatural. Things like seeing beauty in the natural world, enjoying the company of friends, etc.
Things that decribe the "spirit" of life, the reasons why I'm glad to be alive and part of this world.
I know (or am relatively certain) that these things have naturalistic causes, but that doesn't make them any less "spiritual" to me. Maybe even more so.

But then, maybe I'm not being entirely honest with the word. I can only say that it used to have supernatural connotations for me, but that's only because I believed that those phenomena had supernatural explanations. Changing my viewpoint on what causes those phenomena (basically emotions) hasn't changed the way I feel about, or describe them. Maybe it should.

That said, I avoid the word spiritual as much as I can. It's only when I can't think of any other word to fit that I fall back on it...

And yes, I know my views might not be entirely consistent, problem is, I haven't been able yet to form any that are. Alas.
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Glad you posted Robo, I liked Nex's post too. There does need to be an agreement on the term "spiritual".

To me spirituality is all about accessing emotional states. Love, awe, wonder, joy... Physical reality is a bleak airless moonscape without our subjective appreciation of it. We make it what it is. It is the unknown and our superstitious natures that lead us to embrace religion or religiosity. But we can nurture the epicurean delights and find in them a meaning of life. We can live in the moment embracing the pleasures and pains there because they are ours and ours alone and find meaning in it.

I don't believe you have to be religious to be spiritual. But I do agree that it's a confusing idea if the two are not linked - because that's the common usage.

All it means when you say you are spiritual but not religious is that remember feelings that you have had earlier in your life that made you feel "connected". Maybe to God, maybe to the Universe, maybe to all living things... Now you tend to experience similar rewarding emotional states when you dig in your garden or even meditate on your crystals.

Since joining the forum I've been in a steady drift toward atheism. All we are is our thoughts and feelings. But I have no problem with people who casually drop words like God or soul into discussions. Those are only words for thoughts and feelings. "Spiritual" is a convenient term for some people who have encountered states that were for them lofty or extraordinary and now they find they can generate the state themselves on their morning walks or watching their children grow.

I also think people who use the term segregate their experiences. They'll use it for the bright and peaceful feelings - that's spiritual. But not the fear of the unknown. Truly spiritual people both inside and outside religion seem to be free, or nearly so, of existential angst. Otherwise, they ain't doing it right.

When I was a Christian I reached that emotional state. Quite ironically for me, I am there again as an atheist. Here, I own my thoughts and feelings, there, it was no such thing. I was a kickball between forces of good and evil. Ain't none of us much good at spiritual kickball when we're the ball being kicked. When I take a walk in the woods though, a feeling comes over me. It's a good feeling and I've always used the word spiritual to describe it.
 
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