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Post by dandare2050 on Feb 9, 2021 11:55:22 GMT 10
Lots of people have become comfortable with phrases like "I'm spiritual but not religious". The term spiritual has an enormous amount of religious baggage. Can the word spiritual be taken and stripped of its supernatural connotations? If we use it how much does it cloud what we really mean?
What does saying "I'm spiritual" mean? Are there better ways of saying what we really mean?
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Post by mrblack on Feb 10, 2021 8:05:26 GMT 10
Lots of people have become comfortable with phrases like "I'm spiritual but not religious". The term spiritual has an enormous amount of religious baggage. Can the word spiritual be taken and stripped of its supernatural connotations? If we use it how much does it cloud what we really mean?
What does saying "I'm spiritual" mean? Are there better ways of saying what we really mean?
The unfortunate thing is that "spiritual" derives from "spirit", and that's the sharp edge of a huge, pulsating tendril of illogical stuff, just waiting to derail any sensible thought. For example, it might be construed to lead to "meditating for peace" as a means of reducing aggression in third parties. Actual value is negligible, apart from whatever PR value the protest might have, unless one was lucky enough to lure one or both parties in the hypothetical stoush into the meditation session. There are aspects of "spiritual" that could be better used, and amplified, in their own right, such as "contemplative", "peaceful", "aesthetic" and so forth. Why not use them, and deny the faeries of our nonsensical nature a free ride? SHORT FORM: "Spiritual"? What do you mean by that, in this context? (Interlocutor gives answer, which might need refining) Hey, why don't we cut to the chase and use that term instead? |
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Post by dandare2050 on Feb 10, 2021 12:38:09 GMT 10
Yes, that's pretty much my thinking. Given that religion is the huge bugbear in our culture and humanism is somewhat small fry, I think it is dangerous to try and co-opt religious terms.
If I was to try to formulate a different version of "I am spiritual" I could use more complex phrases "I work on my feelings of connections to the natural world and people" or "I have a sense of awe about the universe" etc etc. Maybe we need to coin a new term?
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