Athée Canadien
Spiritual Atheism
By Katie
Some people have suggested that I can be an atheist and hang on to some of my “supernatural” or “spiritual” beliefs. Most recently someone referred me to the “Centre for Spiritual Atheism“.
The goal of the Spiritual Atheism project is not to provide a specific spiritual philosophy (that is your own responsibility); but, rather, to unify all Spiritual Atheists, regardless of their particular philosophies and points of view.
Half of what they talk about is pretty “secular humanist” like. They say that they live their lives striving to be happy while also striving to maximize the happiness of those around them (humans and tress a like).
But the site goes on to explain that Spiritual Atheists don’t believe in a god but only believe in things that further “define the nature of the universe” (whatever that means). They seem a bit hippy talking about how all our words and thoughts are in harmony with the connected universe and all that is in it.They said that atheists can still transcend the “here and now” and find this deeper connection and motivation in the universe.
Can atheists be open to transcendental experiences? There is of course a circular argument here that says if you say “no, because there is nothing to transcend” then you’re just not “open minded” enough to transcend that which is transcendable and therefore it’ll never happen to you until you believe there is something there to transcend. I thought part of the meaning of transcendental was that there was to be something supernatural beyond that which we can see. Isn’t that sort of like God?
I guess it’s all in the definition. These people are saying there is some sort of unifying force between humans, nature and the universe – but they’ve decided not to call it god and instead call themselves spiritual. While in progressive Christianity and my own definition, “god” is just that… some kind of unifying force.
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about 1 year ago
I think the non-hippy word for this is Deism.
about 1 year ago
“Can atheists be open to transcendental experiences? ”
I used to think so.. back when I was trapped in the last shreds of my religious nature, which was at that point the facade known as “Progressive Christianity”
Progressive Faith, where you are entertaining a lot of good, scientific, secular things.. while still clinging desperately to religion.. is just one step removed from atheism itself though.
People used to tell me that when I was a Progressive Christian and I’d argue with them.. but sure enough, given a little time and thought, here I am. One hard-ass atheist.
Once you let go of the fear behind realizing there isn’t anything unknowable or “mysterious” (beyond what we will eventually explain, that is.. or in super-natural terms), that fear that this is all there is to life and that might be too boring or too scary or too [whatever].. once you let it go, all that’s really left is Secular.
I consider people in Progressive Christianity just trying to have their cake and eat it too, no offense; I was there myself, after all. You want to have the best of both worlds, but the problem is you keep hanging on to lies (“spirituality” / religion) while trying to seek truth (secular principles / science / logic / reason).
In the end, one MUST give. But I won’t spend a lot of time here trying to convince you of that. The only thing that helps people realize this is time. All the voices in the world in unison couldn’t have convinced me. I had to see it for myself.
—
… and don’t even get me started on Deism (the above comment). If there is any step BETWEEN Progressive Faith and Atheism, THAT I suppose must indeed be it! :P lol
about 1 year ago
Any kind of claim for ‘transcendental’ experience is a claim for dualism.
Dualism = nonsense.
Done.