Discussion of "spirituality" [View all]

[Brainstormy]

my meet-up group (Atheists, Skeptics, Humanists) had a Deep Dive: Serious Thinking on Serious Subjects discussion on spirituality this Tuesday. As moderator, I did a lot of prep, but there were so many surprises. The first was that there was not ONE person in this group of 16 who, ultimately, believed in any type of soul, or after-life or "other life" or genuine connection to a over-arching intelligence, or ANY of the common understandings of "spirit." A few conceded that spirituality, in the Sam Harris sense, could be defined as extraordinary mental states induced by meditation, chanting, mind-altering drugs, self-hypnosis, what have you. But nobody claimed this to be a supernatural experience. A few said that they had identified as "spiritual but not religious" but only as a COVER, in social situations or on Match.com. So funny! And we got into some New Age woo stuff a bit. But basically there was almost unanimous agreement that "spirituality" is a bullshit, vacuous concept.

I expected a lot more push back, and a lot more equivocation. What say ye, had you been there? And I wish you had!