(November 23, 2015 at 3:00 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:(November 23, 2015 at 9:07 am)Brian37 Wrote: Again, don't confuse "We should care" as "You don't have the right to believe what you want"
Bad ideas, on any subject, can grow like weeds, and just like weeds, you cant get rid of them, but it is a good idea to manage them by not allowing ambiguity free reign. You can apply that to business too. You can be for an open market but still want regulations so the market doesn't go off the rails.
"Spirituality" is not like a math formula. It is a loaded word, and it is precisely because it is personal to the individual, you don't simply say "whatever".
The root of that word is out of superstition, no matter how people want to interpret it today, and people still can and do interpret that word as meaning the mind is separate from the brain like a "spirit". Just like "bless you" started out as a literal superstition where people thought your soul was attempting to escape when you sneezed.
It is just a warning to always be aware that what can seem small and harmless doesn't always stay like that.
I personally hate that word because it is ambiguous and has nothing to do with understanding the world in a natural scientific sense. It is simply another argument of ignorance, no matter how people define it. If it were universal, it would be as useful as a computer or telescope.
You're welcome to care about what word I use.
I, in turn, am welcome to not care about your concern.
Certainly you are welcome not to care, nobody is talking legal issues here. I simply would advise you that isn't a wise thing to do all the time.
In a world full of 7 billion humans making all sorts of claims on all sorts of subjects, knowing the history of my species, we are quite capable, and unfortunately capable of taking an idea to a mass political level to the point of oppression of others and death of others.
