Using the word Spiritual

[Aoi Magi]

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.

why would you even want to use it to describe yourself? That is a pretty meaningless word!

Admittedly though, I do use it at times when I have to get away from certain... situations!

[Bahana]

I have heard the word spiritual used to describe an emotional high. Sam Harris even wrote a book called Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion.

[robvalue]

Sure, it can mean that It can mean almost anything, which is why I find it meaningless. You have to tell someone what you actually mean by it first (outside of woo circles anyway) making it kind of pointless. If you're having a prolonged conversation though, it could be worthwhile as a shorthand for something you're talking about.

I have, at rare moments, felt some kind of "connection with the universe". It's a disarming feeling, and if I wasn't scientifically minded, I could easily attribute all kinds of nonsense to it. Instead, I just enjoyed the feeling, and recognized it for what it is.

[Mr.Obvious]

I'm not spiritual in The slightest.

I like spirits, but not in that way

[Alan V]

In my opinion, "spirituality" is a half-way house for people who are still recovering from religion.

[Brian37]

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.

[brewer]

I have heard the word spiritual used to describe an emotional high. Sam Harris even wrote a book called Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion.

There goes any guilt/remorse I may have had for never reading any of Sam's work.

[Brian37]

I have heard the word spiritual used to describe an emotional high. Sam Harris even wrote a book called Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion.

I love Sam, but he gives me a lip twitch trying to claim Buddhism is any different than any other religion.

An aside, I did met him at the 07 convention in DC, along with Hitchens and Dawkins. Still kicking myself for not knowing whom Ayaan Hirsi Ali was at the time, I did see her there but didn't know who she was.

[possibletarian]

I think its fine to use it in terms of meditation and the like to describe feelings, thoughts and a way of looking at things.

The problem for me comes when people use it to describe things they cannot show evidence of in other ways, then what they are really talking about is unverifiable supernatural events.

It's not a word I use myself, but I understand what people mean by it.

[robvalue]

I have heard the word spiritual used to describe an emotional high. Sam Harris even wrote a book called Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion.

There goes any guilt/remorse I may have had for never reading any of Sam's work.

I'm going to review that book without reading it, based on the title. I don't like it! Bad book. What a load of nonsense.

I'm more familiar with "the moral landscape" through various videos I've seen about it. I wish I had the energy to do a full deconstruction of the book because I think it's nonsense. I wonder if that would be a huge project, or a manageable one. I wonder if it would be worthwhile.

On the whole, I find Sam says a lot of good things. He's certainly brilliant. But he has his pet weird ideas that don't work (in my useless opinion), like most people. One of my own personal quests is to have no pet weird ideas. I certainly experiment with all kinds of ideas, but I try to hold no dogma at all. I'd also like to try and write a book about my own philosophies... but Jesus Christ. It would mostly end up as page after page of, "duh, really?" and "would you get to the point already" and "this is fucking boring as shit". I've bored myself writing this paragraph. I spend a lot of time alone talking to myself.