Topic: What does "spiritual" mean?

[Cools!]

Seriously, wtf is it supposed to mean? Is that like believing in fairies and leprechauns?

I always thought it was a way of coping out and not saying you are part of some religion though you actually are and believe in some deity in some form or another.

Anyway, I used to be flat out atheist, then I got tired of arguing with people and just said I was agnostic, now I think I'll just smash your head if you can't have a proper discussion on the matter (ie. I'll say I'm an atheist again).

The end.

[idolminds]

I just don't tend to argue unless the other party wants to. Chance of either side changing the others mind approaches zero in a hurry.

[Ghandi]

From my experience, religious discussions always end badly. Even still, discussing the definition of "spiritual" is probably on par with discussing that of "God". There are a myriad of meanings and each have their own merits.

[Cobra951]

I really am agnostic, meaning I admit there are things I can't know.  Since I have never experienced anything I can't attribute to natural phenomena, I have no basis for believing in a spiritual plane.  However, I would be arrogant to assume that there can't be supernatural phenomena simply because of my lack of ability to observe them.

Don't know.  Can't know.  That will never change.  Agnosticism.

[Xessive]

I've always thought of the term "spiritual" as something related to the mind or intellect but more on an emotional level. If people are spiritually akin then they share something. I like to take things simply rather then get all complicated and convoluted.

I like agnosticism. It's like a neutral diplomatic approach to the religious discussion. It's saying there's probably something out there, maybe you guys are right and maybe these other guys are, who really knows? I've always felt that religion and faith are personal matters and people should not be judged based on what or who they believe in. Do you think less of someone if they like the colour blue? No, and it's not listed in my passport either. I'm a muslim, I take pride in my beliefs and I don't impose them on anyone, but why the F is it indicated in my passport?! It's not any government's business what I believe in or what I worship!

Religion, politics, and sports should be casual and trivial discussions. No one should take them too seriously or take offense when discussing them. As far as I'm concerned the three topics are just the same argument redressed. Frickin' fanatics and hooligans spoil the fun for everyone. I suppose it is human nature to choose what to believe in, then believe that you're right and assume everyone else is misguided or retarded.

Cools, if you're atheist that's your business and if anyone hassles you about it that's what a nice long middle finger is for. You could take the polite path if you so choose, it's up to you.

[scottws]

Seriously, wtf is it supposed to mean? Is that like believing in fairies and leprechauns?

I always thought it was a way of coping out and not saying you are part of some religion though you actually are and believe in some deity in some form or another.

Anyway, I used to be flat out atheist, then I got tired of arguing with people and just said I was agnostic, now I think I'll just smash your head if you can't have a proper discussion on the matter (ie. I'll say I'm an atheist again).

The end.

It usually means believing in something.

There was this guy I used to work and he and his group described themselves as "spiritual."  They believed this other girl I worked with was psychic and they would have these rituals where they would sit in a circle and try to channel their "energy" into her so she could see the future.

I remember laughing when he told me "You know, Kim is psychic".  Then I felt bad because it was obvious he was dead serious.

[Quemaqua]

What Scott said.  You tend to hear the word thrown around a lot when it comes to new age stuff, or anything that's sort of "homebrew religion" or hippy mysticism.  It really means what it says it does... it's an adjective, describing something as relating to the spirit.

[Cools!]

Yeah, when I first heard it I thought it meant that you believed in some form, just didn't want to be associated with a particular branch, like Que said, a homebrew religion. But anytime I asked people about it to explain what it meant to them, none of them could really give me a good answer, so it sounded like a cop out.

Btw, when I used to say that I was an atheist it was always the religious people who started arguing about the whole matter. As soon as I started saying I was agnostic, then I was pretty much left alone. Saying you could go "either way" on the matter seemed to work. That's if the person even knew what agnostic meant...

[Raisa]

not material, not of this world. not fairies :/ 

[MysterD]

As soon as I started saying I was agnostic, then I was pretty much left alone. Saying you could go "either way" on the matter seemed to work. That's if the person even knew what agnostic meant...

I think that's b/c religious people want you to believe in...something. I think that's what religion is about, anyways -- believing in something that you just can't seem to have the exact answer to. I guess they figure that you believe in something is better than you believing in absolutely nothing.

I mean, really -- does anyone here really know how the world was created? And who created it?

Could you imagine a world filled with a Nihilists?
In some regards, that'd be a very interesting world, actually...

[Cools!]

Well I think that's where the problem is: very religious people often can't accept that someone can not believe in "something". Does it make a difference? Am I a worse man because I don't believe that the Earth was created according to the Bible? A lack of a "God" doesn't mean I live without a reason or purpose.

And, honestly, is following some deity really a just purpose to begin with? How many conflicts have been caused by silly religious differences? Why would I want to believe in something that either directly or indirectly encourages killing of others?

[Xessive]

It's said that if there was no God, or if everyone believed that there was no God, we would be compelled to create one. Hence the Latin phrase: Deus ex machina, God from a machine.

[W7RE]

Sort of what Xessive said, and what Raisa said. I take "spiritual" as meaning not of this physical world, or relating to the mind/intellect but closer to emotions. I'm religious (protestant Christian), and I don't use the word spiritual to describe myself. I'd say faithful or something, but I don't know about spiritual. It's too broad of a word.

[Cobra951]

It's said that if there was no God, or if everyone believed that there was no God, we would be compelled to create one. Hence the Latin phrase: Deus ex machina, God from a machine.

Actually deus ex machina usually refers to a literary device where some character appears late in the story to right all the wrongs everyone has gotten into.  In early theater it might literally be some machine simulating a powerful supernatural entity, but it can also mean Wilford Brimley's character in the movie Absence of Malice.

But yes, I have heard the ironic phrase "man created God in his own image".

[Xessive]

Actually deus ex machina usually refers to a literary device where some character appears late in the story to right all the wrongs everyone has gotten into.  In early theater it might literally be some machine simulating a powerful supernatural entity, but it can also mean Wilford Brimley's character in the movie Absence of Malice.

But yes, I have heard the ironic phrase "man created God in his own image".

Yeah, in philosophy we learned that the God concept is related and so they applied the term to such literary devices. It's grand concept and I generally lean toward literature and artworks that explore it. Metamorphosis is still my favourite topic in stories. This links to the idea of transcendence and the belief that one can transform into a superior being or a deity.

Now I wanna watch Absence of Malice.

[Cobra951]

Yeah, in philosophy we learned that the God concept is related and so they applied the term to such literary devices. It's grand concept and I generally lean toward literature and artworks that explore it. Metamorphosis is still my favourite topic in stories. This links to the idea of transcendence and the belief that one can transform into a superior being or a deity.

I love that theme as well.  Like this, no?  Clarke explored that sort of transcendence in at least one other novel, Childhood's End.

[Xessive]

Yeah! haha That musical theme is the pinnacle of that expression too

The whole idea sometimes borders on existentialism, which I could never abide. It is a funky concept but it doesn't really appeal to me.

I haven't read Childhood's End but I just looked up a summary to get an idea:

Childhood's End explores humanity's transformation and integration with an interstellar "hive mind" or Overmind. It also touches upon such matters as cruelty to animals, man's inability to live in a utopian society, and the apocalyptic concept of The Last Man on Earth.

That alone captivated me. I'm adding this to my reading list

[scottws]

I've studied Kafka and Camus, and I honestly still don't understand what existentialism is.

[beo]

I've studied Kafka and Camus, and I honestly still don't understand what existentialism is.

questioning the very nature of our existence. we might all be dead and reliving our past memories, we might be a simulation on a computer in the future set to see what life was like in 2009. space, matter and time may all be concepts that exist only within the human understanding of existence. the five senses with which we experience the world may be a tiny selection of those that exist. still having problems with it, eat some shrooms.