A Basic Definition of Spirituality (of True Faith)

[Leonardo17]

That’s a very serious possibility yes. But if I was convinced of that myself I would simply renounce to spirituality altogether and become an atheist like you guys.
 

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One of the main changes that occurred after the great plague in Europe was that people saw that angels did not rescue them when some %50 of the population was dying. So on a very deep level inside, they took some distance between church-based doctrines and reality. And then came the renaissance.   
 
When I read (or listen to) modern social scientists like Rutger Bregman I feel a lot of hope for the future of mankind. Did you know that in Norway they have prisons in which the guards are not even armed and inmates have their own rooms with doors etc. where they have an almost ordinary lifestyle? The idea in this is to allow prisoners to learn to be more “normal” persons. And in this more modern approach (which first appeared in the US in the 1960’s – but was never put into practice there for purely decision-making reasons) most of the inmates are becoming tax-paying normal citizens after their time is over. In the classical prison approach almost all the prisoners are becoming more sophisticated criminals and some 50% of them are returning to prison after a year or two after their release from prison.
 
And since the second half of the 20th century there are these revolutionary approaches in politics, in environmentalism, in education, in science. It’s like a new world is gradually being created. It’s like a truly civilized society is waiting to be created. Despite all the populist nonsense and all the troubles we see in the news every day, there is this “other reality”.
 
And modern spirituality deals exactly with that (if you ask me). There are these ego-based / mind-based nonsense situations that are created by people every day. There are truly evil people and evil groups of people in this world who are absolutely determined to keep doing their evil stuff (that they believe are actually good or “necessary” stuff). Than there is the rest of us. 90% of the people in this planet are actually “basically-good” as enlightenment philosophers have said. So there is this change, this gradual shift toward a more healed / balanced version of ourselves.
 

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So you can affirm most of these things while remaining an atheist. All I am saying is that if you happen to be itching for approaches like this, spirituality (true spirituality) can also be a source of inspiration. Don’t get me wrong. I’M not advertising anything here. I am basically saying that it is becoming gradually easier to spot bigots and mass stupidity that is hidden behind a spiritual or religious mask.