Dawkins' chapter 8 - Beliefnet
For more years than I like to think about I have been trying to find a word or even a short phrase to substitute for spiritual, as well as a word that I can nail on a theist that means spirituality attributed to God. I have failed.
I finally found a God specific substitute for transcendent in "numinous" thanks to Rudolf Otto.
But I haven't yet found a word that I can say "You mean ..." when a theist uses spirit or spiritual. So I am left with accusing God of hijacking a profound human experience and generally turning it into crap. "Hey, look at the rainbow!" "That is God's promise that he isn't going to kill us all again." I am not impressed, I will enjoy the rainbow without the help of God.
I think the world is making progress in taking spiritual back for human experience, just as we have reclaimed soul from God. I am pleased that it is now referring to human experiences.
I always congratulate a person who claims to be spiritual but not religious. If they ask why I suggest that they have reclaimed their humanity from God's playpen. More than a few have thanked me for expressing their thinking so concisely. I once heard an echo, always a nice experience or should I say a spiritual experience.
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3 comments:
I went back and read the entire Thread's content. To me it is sad that no one else besides you [maybe your son and a couple others plus me] get this concept just a little. There are those that give it "lip-service" because it "sounds right," but they haven't a clue how to reach their innate Human Spirit without squirming uncomfortabloy or missing, entirely. ["One cannot personally own something that belongs to someone or something else."]
Most "New-Agers" I've known are from the "Magic Pill Generation;" [they look for a "formula or concoction" they can swallow once and back-float into Nirvanah with no effort.
The dilemma of having insufficient verbage to describe the Human Spirit does not mean it's missing....it means we're missing it even though it's always been within reach.
It really helps to have no religious baggage, or to have successfully dumped it with no regrets. It gives you a whole new outlook on being alive, having to die, and being aware of the human reward mechanisms for doing it well.
When I hear a great lick my grandson has just composed on the bass I helped buy for him. I am overwhelmed with the truth that this man has learned well what I taught his father and him and is taking it places that I can't even dream of. I know I am spiritually fulfilled at least for the moment.
It will happen again, in a different place and circumstance, but each time is proof that this life is not only worth living, but worth the effort of trying to live it better, so that the others can take it beyond my horizons.
This is spirituality. I don't even want to hear about the ersatz crap pushed by the God mongers.
In the development of human language, there are moments when after carefully describing what it is like to feel the sense of pride and fullfilment one gets from experiencing some of their progeny's succeess, it is realized that the existing descripters are inadequate, and we need "bigger" words then we currently have available: that is as near as I can explain the dilemma of being limited by the words spirit, spiritual and soul.
And then, upon reflection, the desire to compress the sensation of awe one receives from great art into a single word that adequately indicates that sensation with a communicative precision that removes all ambiguity.....exercise in futility. Just stand there, embracing your fellow human, sharing the moment and let your thoughts and accompanying sensations wash over you. And realize a portion of the experiences of things "spiritual" defies adequate descrption.
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