i've been reading a lot about this for my thesis, and i'm curious.  how is it connected to religion, if at all?  what kinds of activities are spiritual?  what does spirituality feel like?  how do you know when you're having a spiritual experience?

hopefully this doesn't devolve into some religious debate; that's not at all what i'm after.

I don't think it is connected to religion at all...for me personally, it is like a feeling of "peace" or just "knowing".  Kind of hard to describe, but I have had spiritual experiences and those were the feelings involved.  It was almost like an epiphany.

I was raised Catholic, but I am not religious at all.  For me, spirituality means something more like karma.  I believe you get out of life what you put into it.  A person who dumps negativity on everyone around them is not likely to get a happy life in return.  I believe in doing the right thing, taking responsibility for my own life/happiness, lying as little as possible, and treating people with kindness, respect, and empathy.  These are values that you find in most religions, albeit in a different kind of language.  For me, I don't do it out of "fear of God" or in hopes that I will get into heaven.  I think we can all have a little bit on heaven right here on earth if we try.  

For me spirituality is a connection to nature and the universe. Experiencing something "spiritual" is when you can feel that connection. But since I believe god IS nature and the universe, I guess you could say that spirituality is, for me, inseparable from my religion.

[[editted]] to note that science&technology can be considered part of nature and all that.

thanks for replying! 

i'm also testing a bit of a theory, here.  i think that spirituality may be quite different for women than for men.

for me, it's about connection: to each other, to the natural world, to the sense that there are larger implications to everything we do....  i've had conversations that were profoundly spiritual, in the sense that i achieved a high level of connection with the person i was talking to.  it's like maslow's concept of peak experiences - when, in concert, we function at a higher level.

It is diffucult to type on my phone so I might say more later, but only this for now. Spirituality is a sense of peace, knowingand general calmness. I do not think it has anything to do with gods and religion though. Vibration theories, brain studies and the like can explain it (IMO). As in how your brain knows what you are going to do right before it happens. This may not be coming across right...

I have never had a spiritual conversation with someone, but I do find a certain sense of peace when I am in the natural world or listening to particular music. They are two similar and yet very different experiences. When I am out in nature, I like that feeling of being part of something bigger than me; when I am listening to music it is far, far, more internalised, but a similar sense of calm pervades.

p0nda - Did you know there are people that sneak into zoos just to be with the animals? It is sad our modern culture is getting farther and farther away from nature, yet instinctualy we know we need them.

when i was a kid, and still occasionally now, i sometimes get the sensation that i'm levitating, disconnecting from my body and from the material world.  it typically happens when i'm completely absorbed in a book.  first, my body will get very long, my feet get far away, and even the book will be far away (though i can still read it clearly).  then i'll lose the sensation of the bed or chair under me.  i used to think this was a kind of spiritual transcendence; then i found out it's diagnosable as a form of atypical migraine (alice in wonderland syndrome, so named because lewis carroll may have had it).  disappointing! 

Oy, that must be the most weird experience pg.

@reila nope, I didn't know that but that doesn't surprise me. I couldn't live without animals in my life. People get annoyed when I walk with them, because when I see a bird I'm interested in, I just stop to look at/identify it.

it's pretty cool, p0nda ;-)

the last time it happened i was almost home from a long walk, and suddenly i felt about seven feet tall.

i have to admit, i don't feel much connection with most birdies.  i have a thing for water.  at home, i'll go down and just sit by the lake; in vancouver, of course, it was the beaches.  one of my favourite things to do is to get in a canoe and drift down the columbia river for three days.

hmmm...i thought this thread would get more action.  maybe tomorrow.

I'm an atheist. I've heard about "spiritual atheists," but I don't consider myself one of them. Anyway, spiritual atheism sounds more like agnosticism to me. 

 

I have had a couple experiences that are could be somewhat spiritual in nature, but I'm not sure if they fit the definition. I'm a sailor, and sometimes when I'm out in a sailboat all by myself, the wind is strong, and I'm going fast I have this feeling of being connected, like me and my sailboat are a link between the sky and the sea. 

 

The only time I've ever thought of God was while I was anorexic. I felt like as I got thinner, I was getting closer to Him (though in my mind He was female. It's weird.) It was this sense of security, like as long as I obeyed Him and didn't eat, He would protect me. This probably sounds totally nuts to you, lol.

 

As for spirituality now, the closest I have to that is how I try to stay positive and remain optimistic, even though it's not absolutely necessary. I've never had faith or believed in a deity. 

meleba, i do consider myself a spiritual atheist (and for me anyone, it's nothing like agnosticism).

interesting that you brought up sailing.  i used to do quite a lot of sailing and sailboarding, and i remember having that sense while on a board - that sense of achieving a perfect balance between powers that are at odds with each other.  when you catch it just right and hang on, feeling that perfection and knowing that it's not going to last...yeah, that's spiritual.

cool.

Ah, forgive my ignorance. I've only really heard the term, I didn't look it up. Sorry about that. Could you explain it to me, or give me a link? 

 

I teach sailing in the summer, to really young kids. I know I'm not the only one there to experience sailing in a spiritual way. Some of them when they first learn how to control the boats are just like, "Okay, cool," and then they get bored. But some others, you can see it in their faces-- these eight and nine year old kids-- that they're just amazed with the whole thing. 

 

Sailboarding I've never tried, but it sounds awesome. =D

i think spiritual atheism is different for everyone (that, to my mind, is the essential difference between spirituality and religion: the former is defined on an internal, personal level, while the latter is constructed externally and subscribed to, to varying degrees).  for me, it means that i don't believe in any god, higher power, or creator, but i do believe in the power of relationships and connections.  you know when you're thinking about someone and the phone rings and it's them?  that's a perfect illustration; our thoughts have effects, not just our actions.  there's an element of faith to it, as there always is when there's no "proof." 

boardsailing - you should definitely try it.  it's like sailing, except that you're the rigging.  and you have to use your whole body, which i think is what makes it so spiritual.  people talk about the body as an instrument; that's really true here.

teaching kids to sail would be a great experience.  even if one of ten gets it - that's so cool.

To me its that inner peaceful feeling that I sometimes get on hot summer days when Im alone and surrounded by landscape beauty I just feel so connected and poistive sometimes its just for a split second buts its a feeling of been at peace with the world.

"Religion is for people who are afraid of hell... and spirituality is for people who've already been there."

Original Post by pgeorgian:

for me, it's about connection: to each other, to the natural world, to the sense that there are larger implications to everything we do.... i've had conversations that were profoundly spiritual, in the sense that i achieved a high level of connection with the person i was talking to. it's like maslow's concept of peak experiences - when, in concert, we function at a higher level.

you pretty much summed up my beliefs right here. a large part of it for me is in the moments when i realize just how small i am (and my "world" is) compared to the greater world all around me.

spirituality and religion are so often linked...and we established last summer that there are a fair number of spiritual non-believers out there (or at least in here). i would be curious to learn more about non-religious spiritual moments that people of religious faiths encounter, if there are any.

sailing when i was a kid was one of the first times when i realized how small we are. i had been on planes before, but being on a 50 foot boat in the atlantic ocean for two weeks is a whole different story.  being on the water is hands down my favorite place to be.

man, now i want to go sailing....

me too, buddy.