Do You Believe in Spirituality?

[Nihilist]

I guess this is an obvious corollary which enters the mind of an atheist.

Personally, I can't place faith in it, atleast not in an absolutist, atomised sense. But to deny such a significant and palpably majestic element of humanity is a shameful calamity indeed; even from a scientific perspective, for it unravels the subtleties of that which makes us who we are, and leaves us with an inhumanist, capricious and anti-aesthetical perspective of existence.
I despise the antecedents that guide the spirit; the necessity for universalism, mysticism and blinded dogmatism. Yet isn't it these things which inspires the creativity to envision something greater and more beauteous...that gives us hope, respect and circumspect for those of the future, rather than just the transient hyper-individualistic/animalistic necessities/sensualities of the now?

I warm to the idea of spirituality being thought of as an elusive metaphor for real and natural phenomenon...but cannot conceal the reality that this too is still a delusion...even if it is perhaps a necessary one.

[Loki]

Before I vote, how would you define spirituality? The term has been used in different contexts in the past.

[Nihilist]

Before I vote, how would you define spirituality? The term has been used in different contexts in the past.

Agreed. I don't think i should attempt to make it adamant either....i will just leave it up to the discretion of the individual voting.

[Loki]

I guess this is an obvious corollary which enters the mind of an atheist.

Personally, I can't place faith in it, atleast not in an absolutist, atomised sense. But to deny such a significant and palpably majestic element of humanity is a shameful calamity indeed; even from a scientific perspective, for it unravels the subtleties of that which makes us who we are, and leaves us with an inhumanist, capricious and anti-aesthetical perspective of existence.
I despise the antecedents that guide the spirit; the necessity for universalism, mysticism and blinded dogmatism. Yet isn't it these things which inspires the creativity to envision something greater and more beauteous...that gives us hope, respect and circumspect for those of the future, rather than just the transient hyper-individualistic/animalistic necessities/sensualities of the now?

I warm to the idea of spirituality being thought of as an elusive metaphor for real and natural phenomenon...but cannot conceal the reality that this too is still a delusion...even if it is perhaps a necessary one.

I think the spiritual aspect of Homo sapiens's character is undeniable. From the most primitive ritual burials to fully-fledged modern international religions.

Spirituality, in my mind, may be an evolutionary by-product of intellectual development - a primitive mental development, in the human quest for understanding his world, origins and destiny. But with the advent of more precise scientific explanations for previous "unsolved problems", I think spirituality, or at least its concrete expression in dogmatised religion, is on the way out. We can now explain most of human behaviour and biology through sciences. Nevertheless, the evolutionary, innate need for spiritual fulfillment will remain for some time to come. And humans will fill that need through various spiritual expressions, instead of rationalisation.