by Aleman 79 Replies latest watchtower bible
Actually, I got the first line off an encyclopedia. The second which you did not outline with yellow was my view.
-Aleman
I understood that Aleman, my point was this, a definition is prone to fallicies as well, it's written by human beings and therefore, biased. Like anything else. I never said that the part I highlighted was your viewpoint, I commented on your viewpoint, not the definition.
Your original post asked why care about spirituality. So I'll use your second definition:
a state of knowing the meaning of life, a connection with oneself and a higher being or creator. The principal teacher of values, ethics, and beliefs in it's pure uncontaminated form. Also as a transcendental demention of life beyond self where awareness and appreciation for a higher being exists
It is important to care about the meaning of life, and the connection with onself, and also values and ethics. Each person has to determine his own meaning of life, or else hand it over to someone else (like a religion) to determine it for them. I'd prefer to choose my own meaning.
If you are disconnected from yourself, you will not be consistent or progressive in your life. If you have no values or ethics, others will not be able to trust you or want to give of themselves to you.
So in those terms, it's important to care about spirituality.
As for the parts about the higher being, beliefs, and going outside yourself to connect with that higher being, you're risking going into the realm of fantasy. Some people will say these are crucial for spirituality, but I don't share that worldview.
If you're waiting for a higher being to make the world better, you're extremely likely to be disappointed. If you act ethically because a higher being rewards you for doing so or sets an example for you to copy, you aren't doing it purely out of the goodness of your own heart or your love for humanity. Remove the external influence, and you're doing it because you're being good for the sake of goodness, which to me is the purest motive.
Having an articulate spirituality (view of spirit, connection to spirit, relationship to the unseen, etc.) adds a dimension to the human experience for many people. It can also be a way to express certain core beliefs in a conventionalized framework. It also gives a greater context within which to understand a big part of human development of the millenia.
For me, it's a way to express experiential occurances, and acknowledge/relate to the rest of the universe (actual, metphorical) I find myself in.
---"As for the parts about the higher being, beliefs, and going outside yourself to connect with that higher being, you're risking going into the realm of fantasy. Some people will say these are crucial for spirituality, but I don't share that worldview."---
If this is so, then let me ask you this... Do you believe you are your own god, for say? Since there is no higher being, do you feel at ease that all you have to look foward in life is to live to the fullest today,because tomorow you will die? How do you explaine all these demonic and spiritual phenominon going on around the world?
-Aleman
Well sweetstuff,
Excuse me!!!
I thought I asked your veiw on spirituality, not your veiw on my veiw of spirituality. Then again, some poeple just don't have an opinion on this subject since mabey they are confused and can't deside on whether they should believe on what one guy says, or what another says, or if it just isn't real.
-Aleman
spiritual from the latin, spiritus, full of breath or hot air...
Based on my real life experience ,pursued in a scientific manner, I can attest to the fact that man has a part that can not be defined by any other term than a "spirit" having experienced said "spirit" personally it is my task to point the way to others but I have no interest in converting,convincing , proving , disproving anything .
What I have experienced is not "imagination" or "mystical" it is nothing less than the full realization of mans potential
To scoff at matters one is ignorant of is the mark of a fool , the importance is entirely reliant on the individual , thats why it's important .
Why is important to question the neccessity of spirituallity?
Why is it important to know how you brain works?
Why is it important to know how your digestive tract works?
The importance of understanding is as self evident as your lack .
An additional thought: since I find the realm of experience to be quite a different domain to that of intellect, for me there is a wealth of spirit to be found within the domain of experience; however, the meaning of it - which is a data construct to me - is in the domain of intellect, and quite apart from the essence of the spirit.
Intellect seems highly personal, born of the physical brain we each have. The meanings we come away with - even from the self-same experience of spirit - can be highly individualized and must be left to the individual interpreting.
I generally feel, though, that when I go to the well of spirit that I am experiencing the same thing that others experience.
Namaste - I honor that place within you that, when I am in that place within me, we are in the same place.
I grok that.
OK, now you know my age and the books I was teething on growing up...
Hey void
There are many variations on the surface level. I too find many basic similarities w others who are on a spiritual path, even writers from the present and dating back to, oh say 3000 yrs. As you say, that is to be expected. Then too, i'm very much a beginner on the path, and have had to go down side roads to tend to personal issues.
S
Well sweetstuff,
Excuse me!!!
I thought I asked your veiw on spirituality, not your veiw on my veiw of spirituality. Then again, some poeple just don't have an opinion on this subject since mabey they are confused and can't deside on whether they should believe on what one guy says, or what another says, or if it just isn't real.
-Aleman
I am sorry if you were offended by my post, wasn't my intention, rather I was simply highlighting a point.
My viewpoint on spirituality is this, I find religion is the anti-spirituality taking the appreciation of life and the universe and replacing it with worship and domination. I don't equate my spirituality with any diety rather an appreciation of spirit that is within me, others, the vast beauty that makes up the universe and translating that into a betterment of myself as a human being and my treatment of others, focusing on humanity versus some vague diety who demands my love and worship who in return won't punish me if I am righteous enough. I believe humanity has the ability to improve itself and come forward towards a clear, true spirituality, if we would all just stop looking for some big brother person in the sky to save us from ourselves.
