I mean 'spirituality' in whatever sense that means to you. For me that personally doesn't involve any sort of God/gods/etc.

I found mine in quiet moments, coffee, books, nature, and philosophy. Especially travel and exploring different regions of the U.S., ghost towns, etc.

What about you?

After leaving Christian Science, first in a mix of atheism and agnosticism. Then in A.A.

I started reading Easter spirituality and even checked out (briefly) Scientology. Then I started hanging around a Christian bookstore. I felt the answer to the great "What?" had to be more precise than the generic "Higher Power" of A.A.

Out of curiosity, I attended a Billy Graham crusade. Much to my surprise, I answered the altar call. I affiliated with a conservative Congregational church for about 15 years, then with a Baptist.

Woodsmoke, I have an intense, mystical attraction to remote and desolate areas. Few things feed my soul as much as driving, hiking, or biking around some distant place like Western Box Elder County or eastern Nevada. It's where the ethereal meets the temporal for me.

Word to that last part...luckily my husband is as obsessed with them as I am, so we take very odd "vacations" to desolate areas. Salton Sea is our favorite.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2016 06:03PM by woodsmoke.

In Maui, swimming with my Zen Masters, sea turtles, surfing with dolphins, and hearing the love songs of 10,000 humpbacks beneath the Milky Way and Laneakea, all of us spinning towards the Great Attractor at 1/50th the speed of light.
Swinging beneath a Banyan tree in a hammock on Little Beach, with my lover in my arms.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2016 05:52PM by koriwhore.

I briefly attended a couple of churches. But a few weeks ago I finally gave it up.

It's bullshit. It's all bullshit. Christianity is a crock.

Mormonism is even worse of course, but honestly right now I'm very happy to be religion free. I believe that God exists. But I absolutely do not know what that means other than try to live a good and moral life, and to discover truth primarily through science.

You might call me a deist.

I'm not an atheist. I believe that there is some kind of organizing principle in the universe even though I don't understand what it's nature is.

Leaving church behind, I think I have more appreciation for the human experience.

When I wrote and rewrote the story of my relationship to religion, I found that I don't believe that I can have a healthy relationship to religion at this point.

I was always looking for a kind of certainty in religion that you just can't find. Something to fill the hole inside of me. And religion just doesn't do it anymore. I don't think it ever did.

While I can appreciate the cultural parts of Christianity, I don't believe that it is historically, verifiably true. Not in any sense of the word.

I sort of practice meditation now. I use some binaural beats and some crazy shit like that but I don't know if it helps or if it's all in my head.

I know that the thing I think I'm going to miss most is a sense of community, a sort of beautiful belief system and sense of identification. But the social thing is for me is the hardest part to leave behind.

I do try to find a sense of community participating in things like the arts, musical performance, dance,learning new skills, taking long walks, and going to the pub occasionally for a nice beer. Just ordinary normal life which is so ordinarily wonderful.

Right now, I'm content not to go to any church, and to explore reality. And I think the best thing is that I have a renewed sense of wonder. Not having all the answers is both frightening and very fulfilling.

As Carl Sagan said:

is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

I guess I'm just kind of content to be on the path. I don't need a destination. And I think that's OK. I just can't believe in a God who doesn't honor that path.

After coming within literraly minutes of dying, a lot of things changed in my life. Mormonism was out. Love of life, family and living a good, decent life day to day became priority. Mormonism is neither good or decent.

In the great art of Catholic Cathedrals and great choral music. I also explored other faith communities of friends and enjoyed talks about spirituality with my Hindu, Jewish, and Buddhist friends. I realized I had a spiritual side to me.

I look for three things in a faith community--

Openness about what it teaches
Inclusion-are all truly welcome?
Acceptance for being the imperfect man that I am.

The Boner.

Spirituality finds me. I never expect it. I don't think to invite it. And then just something--could be anything--gives me that deep feeling that makes me feel alive and connected and just grateful to be and then that transitions into some kind of deeper understanding that I don't understand. And I feel stripped down and bare and raw and naked-----and right, like a flower that doesn't need a vase. Just for a moment.

Or a nice Sicilian wine works well too.

Hovenweap, Canyonlands, Chaco Canyon, the botanical gardens in Kansas City. Nature, especially peaceful quiet places, soothes my soul. The only thing I ever felt at church was high anxiety, guilt, and low self-esteem. No, thanks. I'm good for a lifetime. I always encountered spirituality outside of churches and religions.

Within.

It was meditation for me. Meditation itself actually guided me out of the church - because it was like experiencing "the spirit" on crack.

Now I know it's just brain chemistry. But I do it every day to find peace and center myself.

Slayer.
Seriously.

Always, within, there is a kind of peace and contentment that I associate with what could be called: spirituality.
It's a sense of being settled and OK with my world.
This is the first time I've lived such a quiet and calm life, unconcerned with anything but taking care of me and the cat. My family and many friends are only a phone call away.
The only thing I battle are the physical problems that come with how my body ages.

I tossed the notion of "spirituality," and embraced the notion of "reality."

That doesn't, of course, mean that I don't feel awe, wonder, and joy when I look at the real world, or the real universe, or my wife and kids, or anything else. I just take those emotions as part of really being human, rather than taking them as some kind of "spirit" that is IMHO a fairy tale. :)

Yeah...I don't think I define spirituality as 'spirit'/theism at all. I use it more in the colloquial sense of meaning, connection to something deeper/beyond ourselves, philosophy, etc.

woodsmoke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah...I don't think I define spirituality as
> 'spirit'/theism at all. I use it more in the
> colloquial sense of meaning, connection to
> something deeper/beyond ourselves, philosophy,
> etc.

That's fine.
I don't...for several reasons. One, because any use of that word with other people gets them thinking I believe in the non-colloquial use of it -- a god, spirits, souls, etc. And I don't.
Another, because other than our society/community as a group (or world, if you prefer), I don't go for the "deeper/beyond ourselves." And I find most of "philosophy" to be intellectual flailing.
We have emotions. They're evolved, physical, real things. Exploring them, learning about them, figuring out what things kick mine off (good and bad) -- I enjoy that. It's sufficient, as well. I don't feel any need to imagine them as coming from "without," or from something beyond/bigger than myself.
Your path may be different, and that's fine. I'm just explaining mine. If yours brings you joy and satisfaction, it's great :)

Oh yeah, totally agree--I think definitionally at least, that's actually what it means (something along the lines of theism). However, some atheists are offended when you automatically associate spirituality with theism, claiming that they have spiritual experiences as well in nature, connection to family, friendship, love, etc. I don't discount that either since 'spirituality' is used in so many ways by different people.

Was just trying to keep it open and clarify that I wasn't just asking 'did you find another religion after Mormonism,' because of course many paths don't include religion at all.

:)

My complete lack of spiritual experiences is what propelled me out of the church. The closest I ever came to spirituality was the music (which I still love)

Last semester, my social psych prof asked us to write down a moment we savoured.

I wrote about how I walked with a dog and the leaves were falling off the trees. IDK if it was a trick of the light or the result of too many psychotropic experiences, but it looked like gold flakes falling off the trees. It was ethereal.

At the school I work, I showed a special-needs child how his drink matched my fingernails. He laughed, took my hand and had me walk him to speech class. It was beyond beautiful and I will never forget the look on his face when he waved goodbye. Nearly everyday he looks at my nails.

Before this, in the late fall, I walked the same dog at sunset and I thought I was in some magical world hidden in the kinda crappy town in which I reside. Even in the ugly, there is something lovely.

I look around and I feel something beyond myself, even in mundane activities. :)

Lots of places.
Sitting in the hot tub at 3am looking at the night sky.

The grove of palm trees in my mil's back yard.

The beach on a stormy day, or a warm summer day.

A good catch of Dungeness crab.

Wine country and the food that goes with it.

Today it was the flowers that have started to bloom in my yard. They don't seem to care that it's cold and windy. They smell intoxicating. I think i'll plant some more of that shrub.

Right now, i'm dreaming of warm sunny summer days on a sandy beach.

When little seeds pop up in my tiny garden and turn into amazing food for dinner. Right now the daffodils are forming buds and the hyacinths are going to be blooming soon. The Hellebore are in full bloom. So beautiful this time of year.

I didn't. No need. I wasn't looking for anything spiritual and I wasn't disappointed.

RB

I didn't. In my experience "spiritual" stuff doesn't exist.

To clarify, I find a lot of joy and happiness in sappy romance dramas, whether they be found in books, movies, TV shows or even games. The kind of stuff to make a sensitive person like me "cry" which a lot of Mormons confuse with their omnipresent "Spirit." You might even say I "worship" love, though not in the sense that love is God or any kind of external entity, and not involving any dogma.

I'm open to the possibility of spirituality, but it's been over 30 years now and I have yet to experience anything whatsoever that would convince me of the existence of "Spirits" or "ghosts" or any other supernatural phenomenon. I think it's all internal, all a product of our imaginations and emotions, which are volatile at best.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2016 04:08AM by oneinbillions.

Huh ?

Any kind of deeper meaning. :)

So long as don't get locked into another "This-Is-How-It-Is" trap, it finds you!
Just don't hang onto anything.

Don't stand on a stone when crossing the stream stepping stone-to-stone.


(Because as soon as think "This-Is-How-It-Is," - yer done.)

There will always be mysteries, and solving them requires introspection, because you have to be aware of not just the clues, but the manner in which *you* react to the clues. Combining clues means mixing in who you are v. who the person or persons is/are who left the clues. Going to my Winnie the Pooh 'think, think, think' room in my head involves a great deal of what could pass for spirituality. I like it in there, as I ruminate about what the clues mean.

Golf also takes me out of the world, and I spend a lot of time being Winnie the Pooh. I'm a simple bear.

meditation is good

Music...listening to it, creating it..I always find comfort, or a way to express things that I can't express by just, saying the words, or thinking the words. Just sit and listen...to something...anything...clears the mind, calms the spirit, and brings peace.

Art too...coloring, painting, making jewelry...creating something feeds my spirit

Great Out Doors. I worship there daily.

I think it is helpful to define exactly what 'spirituality' is, as it tends to be a label applied rather liberally to a number of 'experiences'.

Personally, spirituality encapsulates things such as;

1. A peaceful feeling i have - this is often associated with a relaxed meditative environment.
2. Peace of mind - in this instance a comforting sense that everything is going to be ok since there is a path ahead of me that manages death, family, challenges etc (it's all going to work out).
3. Something outside of me - that sense that i'm not alone in the universe, that i'm a part of something greater and that something is aware of me in a personal sense.
4. That life has meaning - that all things are happening for a reason and it isn't just brutal randomness.
5. That there is some depth and reason behind the universe which relates to me and to my sense of purpose and place, and learning about these things brings a sense of wonder and awe.

I'm not sure which of these (or others) you refer to with the term spirituality, but i do 'enjoy' that feeling of 'connection' with whatever the heck this is all about.

After leaving TSCC i found it in Philosophy and Science.

In Philosophy: through thinking and learning about thought, truth, logic, and looking at a huge volume of published works that deal with deeper matters - much deeper than TSCC ventured into - such as what is good, what does it mean to strive to be a good person, what is the place of the state, what is a law and how should laws serve mankind, what are our rights, what are our obligations to ourselves and others etc etc.

In learning and thinking about these things i felt peace, i felt like i was connecting with something deeper - for the skeptics that connection might only be me making a personal sense out of my life experience but it feels larger.

Science - In science we see real explanations. Yes i know there is often controversy over issues of frontier science and we can follow the debates about holographic theory, and whether blackholes can be passed through or used as energy sources etc. But just looking at the universe alone and realising how awesome and vast it all is is truly inspiring.

If you've ever slept out under the stars in remote locations you can easily experience the sense of awe that seeing the naked night sky brings. But also in nature when i walk in the mountains and come across those inspiring and vast panoramic views. It is that sense that this beauty has meaning and grandeur.

In science i see honesty, a gradual progression toward real answers that may well create Gods as much as discover them.

One thing Smith via Thomas Dick was right about (IMO) give mankind long enough and we will reach a position that parallels the view of omniscience and omnipotence.

Despite all of the bad in the world, human intelligence is progressing and in time may overcome the challenges and stupidity that also surrounds us and drags our civilisations down.

In all of these things i find that connection that is directly comparable to the spirituality i had as a Mormon. The only thing missing IMO is the community where we gathered in person to share such ideas and participate in a form of worship of dedicate contemplation and study (although many of us will recall how TSCC has been killing of genuine enquiry for a long time).

Everywhere

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