spiritual atheist]
This blogger spends an awful lot of time explaining what’s real, then ends with a suggestion that looking at the images on Tarot cards might make us feel better, so, why not? What she does in her private time is her business, what bugs me is that she finds it necessary to make up something wrong with atheists so she can write an article about it. I’m sure if you looked hard enough you could find 3 or 4 atheists want to put an end to art and poetry, but who cares?
I wish people like this would actually try to find something a particular atheist said, in writing or on video, that sounds anything like “I want an end to all faith". Then we could have something to actually discuss. She wants to end abuse in the name of spirituality, she wants to end the idea that believing in magic will fix real things, and I agree. But then she suggests that taking away magical thinking robs people of meaning. How? She doesn’t explain. When it’s convenient, she switches very quickly from “religion is used to abuse" to “the need for symbolic meaning". She says, “It is better to focus effort on removing abusive tendencies from religion." Then suggests the way to do this is replace it with “pseudobelief".
Just me and one other guy have commented on this so far. I would like to take solace in the fact that this is not a mainstream idea, but I’m not sure that it’s not.
Hmm, inspirational tarot cards and a thinking stomach. That’s pretty much what I got out of this screed. Does she also believe in the Vinn diagram at the top of her post that centers on “holistic” medicine? Her Mormonism is certainly showing through that patina of atheism. I guess one could be a “spiritual” atheist; you know, looking at the natural environment with an eye for wonder without contemplating a higher power manipulating your surroundings or something along that line of thought. Kind of like suspending reality while you play D&D, but in the end knowing it’s just a game. The reality doesn’t prevent you from becoming involved in the game. Yes, you can still be creative and be an atheist, you can paint beautiful pictures of sunsets, compose love poems, play inspiring music, love, laugh have great relationships with friends and family and still be an atheist. Don’t know any atheist robots BTW, and those I do know certainly don’t have pointy ears; they just don’t believe in the supernatural. So, if you can perform all of those behaviors and still be a nonbeliever then I’m missing the point. Sure I’d like to see religion fade away eventually and it probably will although not in my lifetime, but I don’t see it leaving any hole where a god once dwelled. Personally I don’t miss god any more than I miss the Easter Bunny. I mean he was ok to pal around with when I was younger but you grow up and … However I still like chocolate eggs.
Cap’t Jack
Sure I'd like to see religion fade away eventually and it probably will although not in my lifetime, but I don't see it leaving any hole where a god once dwelled. Personally I don't miss god any more than I miss the Easter Bunny. I mean he was ok to pal around with when I was younger but you grow up and ... However I still like chocolate eggs. Cap't JackI think that is what she is missing. That taking away religion doesn't take away any of the other things she talks about in the positive. If anything, taking away religion will open up a whole new marketplace of ideas about what "meaning" is. It would be great to discuss meaning without someone piping up about how it has to come from some greater power and requires some sort of purposeful end. And now I'm hungry for chocolate eggs.
I actually enjoyed the article. My favorite part was down toward the bottom where she says,
I sometimes temporarily believe in Asphaltia, the goddess of parking, and I say a funny little rhyming prayer asking her to help me get a good spot. Does it actually work? Probably not. But it does help me relax when I’m dodging cars downtown. And that’s good enough for me.The problem I can see is that sometimes she uses “religion” and “spirituality” interchangeably and they don’t mean the same thing.
I actually enjoyed the article. My favorite part was down toward the bottom where she says,No, but they both equally get in the way of clear thinking, so it hardly matters if they are misdefined. I have yet to hear a rational definition of spirituality. It is always used to justify irrational thinking, as if putting anything into the magic spirituality box lends it credibility. It only appears to work with irational thinkers. LoisI sometimes temporarily believe in Asphaltia, the goddess of parking, and I say a funny little rhyming prayer asking her to help me get a good spot. Does it actually work? Probably not. But it does help me relax when I’m dodging cars downtown. And that’s good enough for me.The problem I can see is that sometimes she uses "religion" and "spirituality" interchangeably and they don't mean the same thing.
I think she must have just read Sam Harris’ Waking Up. A lot of what she’s saying is the general theme of the book. Personally think there is a fine line between Pantheism and new age mysticism and the author is bouncing along that line. I didn’t read the whole thing (TL:DR) but that was the general impression that I got.