(September 23, 2018 at 5:47 pm)Bahana Wrote: How many atheists here use that word to describe yourselves? How would you define it? I'm hesitant in using it because the word has a lot of supernatural baggage.
I cannot speak for others but to me the word is hollow and superfluous.
Having a sense of "awe" about nature and life and relationships is fine. I get intense feelings of warmth when experiencing thinks like a loved one's hug, or my pet cat, or a beautiful sunset or landscape. But there is no magic to any of that. That reaction is merely electro-chemical and neurological responses in my brain. Having good feelings about something IS evolutionary and beneficial because it can have a literal effect on your immune system. But again, there is no magic in that.
"Spiritual" is a word rooted on old mythology and superstition, I find nothing useful in that word.
