is atheism the original state of the human spirituality?
970703
Since atheism is a non belief in God it had to come first.\n\nI note yet another Christian thinks atheism was invented to be anti Christian.  What bigoted rubbish.   The word means not believing in A god.  Not just your God but any God!!!!!
632216
We are eternal spirit souls RIDING in the temporary VEHICLE of a human animal-mammal-primate-vertebrate-chordate-hominid Homo sapiens. Genetically inherited animal vehicles are born, eat, mate-breed, defend, sleep, get ill, cheat, steal, die. Genetically inherited ego structures-intellect-minds and personalities assist the body in these things so the karmic wheel of this huge cosmic computer-machine can keep on turning.  We are different from-superior to animals in one KEY AREA.  As humans we have the ability to ask the correct-wise-higher questions of WHO AM I REALLY AND WHY AM I HERE REALLY. Animals can't-don't do that! Answer to these questions are to know, love, serve, remember and glorify the Creator, and to know the difference between the three items listed below, not just say you believe and go to church for hour on sunday and be kinda "good" when you feel like it. It takes effort, grace, willpower and mercy!\n\nDo you know the difference between:\n\nillusion and Truth\ntemporary and Eternal\nmatter and Spirit\n\nOnce we KNOW who we REALLY are, why we are REALLY here (Bhakti Prema) then we can go back to the Eternal Home where we can serve the Creator. Until then, we are just here playing with matter, trying to be controllers and enjoyers of matter and the material world and play the role of "little pseudo-gods" instead of doing what He wants. Once we want to play with Spirit more than matter then we have BEGUN the REAL PURPOSE of human life, to NOT BE ANIMALS-INHUMANE.....but to become Self and God Realized (not ego realized!) and go back Home. Thus, most humans are behaving like animals.  \n\nEstimates are that about\n\n5-6% of humans are infant souls\n20 % baby souls\n30% young souls%\n33% mature souls\n10% old souls \n\nTypically it is not until souls are "later old souls," probably the last 2%,that humans start to REMEMBER the real purpose of life and are INTERESTED-COMMITTED in its deep pursuit. Christ came to help humans open their hearts and become at least "mature human" if they can do what He teaches instead of living the Old Testament animal way of "eye for an eye." Compassion is one of His many major teachings. If humans are incapable of love-compassion on any level, then they are animal Homo sapiens.  Some dogs are more compassionate, kind, caring, serving, devoted than some humans.\n\nbody\nmind\nintellect\nintelligence\nego\nSpirit\n\nThis is the "order of hierarchy-lowest to highest" of our utilizable components while here.  Once Spirit runs the show we are spiritual beings riding within a human experience.  But if body-mind-intellect-ego are "trying to run the show," then we are just animals, fancy and intellectually sharp sometimes, but not truly human-humane.\n\nStages of development of love (in order) include:\n\nnurturance\nbonding\nalliance\nreciprocity\nunderstanding-comprehension\nappreciation-gratitude\naltruism-selfless service\nagape-unconditional love\n\nIf we aren't doing these,then we must be going down the rung to lower animal behavior, aka "hell on earth".\n\nIf you can be tolerant and "agree to disagree" then you can be a "civilized human", but if not, the following DOWNHILL ANIMAL CANCER spreads:\n\ndisagree\naggravation-grudge-repressed anger-frustration\ncivil disputes\nfeuds-gang-regional warfare\ncriminal disputes\nwar (>1000 die over a specific issue)\nannihiliation\n\nbut the highest level of spiritual love (the only true-deepest love) is Prema!\n\nHave a great day-life!
523930
DESPITE. While many claim we are a Christain nation, there have been many advancements that had nothing to do with religion. If anything, religon has held us back from becoming a greater spiritual nation...spirituality is way different from religion which is manmade.
940783
No, I don't believe in absolute truth when it comes to spirituality.\n\nMen came into existence due to the natural evolutionary process.\n\nI have never died and lived to tell about it so I don't know what happens when we die. Maybe we're just worm food, maybe we are reborn, and definitely our matter changes form and goes back from whence it came. Whether or not consciousness lives on after death - I don't know. I guess I'll eventually find out.
1163224
Not much to think about. Deism recognizes, albeit vaguely a supreme being. One step from agnostics. By the way, contrary to popular belief, our country was founded on deistic tenants, and not Christianity.
1000587
first we have to know are we a belivers or not ??? becouse if yes have many concepts but if no the is nothing to answer \nlets say it is yes so my answer will be like this way\n       The question of God's existence has preoccupied man's mind for many centuries. Those who believe in God seem to agree that the limited finite human intelligence cannot prove the existence of the infinite boundless God. It can only illustrate or demonstrate his existence to the satisfaction of the curious human mind. Those who deny God claim to rely on science, \nphilosophy, or special theories of knowledge. Their arguments are sometimes inapplicable, sometimes irrelevant, always complex, and often incomprehensible. However, the developed mind will find its way to Allah. Failure to find the way does not mean that there is no way. Denial of reality does not make it unreal. \n\n       As we look around in our environments, we see that every family has a head: every school has a principal, every city or town has a mayor; every province or state has a premier/governor; and every nation has a head of state. Moreover, we know beyond doubt that every beautiful art is the creation of some great artist. All this is obvious, yet it does not satisfy the hunger for knowledge and the curiosity of man about the great things in the world. One often wonders at the beauties of nature with its scenic charm and marvels; the almost endless horizons in the sky and their far-reaching expansions; the ceaseless succession of day and night in the most orderly manner; the course of the sun, the moon, and the great stars; the world of animate and inanimate objects, the continuous process and evolution of man, generation after generation. One often wonders because one would like to know the maker and maintainer of all these things with which we live and which we immensely enjoy. Can we find an explanation of the great universe? Is there any convincing interpretation of the secret of existence? We realise that no family can function properly without a responsible head, that no city can prosperously exist without sound administration, and that no state can survive without a chief of some kind. We also realise that nothing comes into being on its own. Moreover we observe that the universe exists and functions in the most orderly manner, and that it has survived for hundreds of thousands of years. Can we, then, say that all this is accidental and haphazard? Or can we attribute the existence of man and the whole world to mere chance?\n\n      If man were to come into being by  accident or by sheer chance, his entire life would be based on chance, and his whole existence would be meaningless, and no rational being would leave his existence at the mercy of fluctuating chance. Every reasonable human being tries to make his life as meaningful as possible and set for himself a model of conduct according to some design. Individuals, groups and nations do plan their course of action. And every careful plan produces some desired effects. The fact of the matter is that man does engage in planning of one sort or another, and can appreciate the merits of good planning. Yet man represents only a very small portion of the great universe. And if he can make plans and appreciate the merits of planning, then his own existence and the survival of the universe must also be based on a planned policy. This means that there is a Designing Will behind our material existence, and that there is a Unique Mind in the world to bring things into being and keep them moving in order. The marvellous wonders of our world and the secrets of life are too great to be the product of random accident or mere chance. In the world, then there must be a Great Force in action to keep everything in order.\n\n       In the beautiful nature there must be a Great Artist who creates the most charming pieces of art and produces everything for a special purpose in life. This Force is the strongest of all forces, and thi
581541
U r absolutely correct, after all we are not human beings searching for spiritual experience we ourselves are spiritual beings. Spirituality is not renunciation of the world, but renunciation of vices and evil tendencies. People are not ready, rather find it hard to leave these vices so they r afraid. There is no particular age criteria for adopting Spirituality, cause u cannot say u would be alive till that particular age or after that particular age, u must do what ever u can when u r alive, and to do good things the best time is always now, If not now then never. Spirituality means correct understanding and awareness of Self, God and three aspects of time.
916619
I consider myself an atheist and a Buddhist. I read Batchelor's book a few years ago. It wasn't bad. My favorites:\n\nThe Dhammapada, translated by Easwaran\nhttp://www.amazon.com/Dhammapada-Eknath-Easwaran/dp/0915132370/\n\nThe translation and introduction are terrific. Also:\n\nMindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana\nhttp://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Plain-English-Updated-Expanded/dp/0861713214/\n\nWhich can also be found online for free:\nhttp://www.budsas.org/ebud/mfneng/mind0.htm\nhttp://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html\nhttp://www.enabling.org/ia/vipassana/Archive/G/Gunaratana/MindfulnessIPE/index.html\n\nBuddhism can be viewed as a secular philosophy or psychology, so I agree that it's perfectly compatible with atheism/agnosticism.
426011
Atheism is not a religion, but it determines religious views. Atheism is the belief in the nonexistence of any deity, and as deities are religious, atheism is a religious view.\n\nIt is not a religion, though.
358176
It depends on your point of view.\nSometimes, some people feel that "God" is merely a device to keep us humanity in check, something that we have concocted to explain all the mysteries and unexplainable (in our current era. There might be an explanation much later.) stuff which happens in our lifetime.\nIt is plausible. People used to think flying was impossible, forget the flying machines. Air conditioning? How about all the laws of Physics that led to so many wonderful creations? They used to think that such things were unthinkable, magic, strange, impossible.\nBut never say IMPOSSIBLE, because we don't know what is and what isn't possible. \nJust a few centuries ago we all thought the Earth was flat.\n\nSome people, think and feel God is the God in our Scriptures. After all, they feel, the people of the past were much purer than the people today.\n\nSome people think that God is merely a presence in the world, an omni-present entity with powers of the unknown, and no apparent good or evil intentions, just there.\n\nIt's all up to what your heart tells you, and what you feel you can believe truthfully without deceiving yourself. Just be honest to yourself, that's all - you don't need people to justify, give a reason or judge you for what you believe in.\n\nJenova\n(d.yuffie@gmail.com)
971009
Hi, I am Rational Spirituality,\n\nBecause I believe in the omniscient and omnipotent God, I do not believe that humanity can accelerate anything over and above God's will.\n\nIn fact, I do not believe in total  Apocalypse, only a good shake up the humanity needs, in order to wake up to the fact of a new order.  The Spiritual Age already started.\n\nBecause God is totally in charge, and because it is in his vested interest to guide those open to guiding into the light, there will be a "happy ending" to it all.  ...  In only about 22 millions of years.\n\nRead "Rational Spirituality" on the Dhaxem website.  Although conveyed only in February 2006, it is alredy a major force amongst the thinking people.
1174864
Understand that I'm not coming at this from a religious viewpoint.You need to examine your terms.You can be any of the first three things you call yourself,no problem,but you can't be the first AND the last.There is a basic confict there-and so you can't be a Christian Atheist.Now,I know,you're gonna say,I believe Jesus was a good man,but not necessarily God with a capital G.Well okay,but but atheism believes there is nothing in the spiritual realm AT ALL.No soul,No spirit,no gods,etc.etc.So you can be an atheist,but you can't be a Christian,at least not in the the traditional sense.
841647
Hi, I am Rational Spirituality,\n\nI channel my Divine Spirit Guide Lysseus.  He conveyed to me the full concept of the evolution of the Universe.  Like you, I asked him about the Atlantis.  Apparently it existed, and it offered suitable conditions for the incarnations of the most advanced human Souls of that age.  That included the three Souls to become Divine, i.e. to become the Subjective God, as well as the majority of Souls from the 6th, the highest human Soul Group. Atlantis was in the spiritual sense the birth place of humanity, or at least of the very best of humanity.\n\n"Rational Spirituality" is available on the Dhaxem website.  Although conveyed only in February 2006, it is already a major force amongst the thinking people.
1058070
H) None of the above....Atheism is a lack of a belief in god, gods or the supernatural.\n\nYou are an atheist.  Here, I can prove it.\n\nDo you believe in Zeus?  Do you believe in Thor?  Do you believe in fairies?  Do you believe in leprechauns?  Do you believe in Wizards?\n\nIf you answered “no” to any of those questions then you lack belief in that gods or that supernatural being.\n\nSo practically everyone is an atheist, because everyone doesn’t believe in some god.  In fact humans have created thousands of gods over the course of their history and I bet you don’t believe in MOST of them.  That makes someone who only believes in one god, 99.999% atheist!\n\nThose who call themselves “Atheists,” however, believe in no gods at all.  That’s only one less god than a Christian believes in.  To an atheist the idea of a Christian God is nor more plausible or believable than Thor, Zeus or leprechauns.  The fact that so many people believe it does not prove anything, but instead says more about human’s herd mentality and human’s unwillingness to think for themselves.  Remember everyone also used to think the earth was flat too, that so many people believed it didn’t make it true.\n\nAtheism isn’t a morality stance.  Believing or not believing in god does not have anything to do with whether that person is a bad person or not.  It just means they don’t have a god to dictate their morality to them.  There are plenty of viable moral codes on the earth that are without gods, such as most of the eastern religions and humanism for example.  Human values are inherent to being human.  God does not “give” them to us.  \n\nYes, there are bad atheists, but there are bad believers too.  There is no statistical proof that atheists are any worse off as far as morality choices go than any another group out there.  In fact, statistics show that atheists are more educated, more affluent and have the lowest divorce rates out of any other religious group on America.  The interesting thing is that those statistics come from a Christian polling firm trying to prove just the opposite! They couldn’t do it!\n\nTypically most atheists in the country are well educated, in good jobs and have families just like every one else.  They are upstanding citizens and decent people.
278069
Since I fit into the category of non-religious, but feel I'm more spiritual, I'll describe my feelings on it. The words to me mean that Spirituality has substance to me, but religion tends to put people against each other, always each person trying to be "Right'...it divides, doesn't unite people, in my opinion.I do believe in intelligent creation, that God created everything. God is the supreme being. I believe in the afterlife, definitely...but in the sense that we were all put here to learn to be more Christ like, and we will be judged by God someday, and those who didn't do better with what they knew at the time, will be given another opportunity to learn God's way...They won't go immediately to the so called "Hell!" God is a loving God, and wants us all to share eternity with God!\nAs for universal ethics, if you mean the Golden rule or the 10 Commandments, or just a right way of living. live and let live, etc...YES!\nThere may be more to Spirituality  being different than religion, in that I do not subscribe to an organized religion. I feel that the greatest difference for me is that I have felt the presence of God's spirit and closeness to Christ, more so, than any religion I was ever in. \nThe practical impact that my faith has on my everyday life, is that I've learned that allowing God and Jesus (to take the wheel, as it's been said) to be to be in charge of what I do, and how I think and pray, and how I learn from my experiences, and many other applications, influences the outcomes and perspectives of the kind of person I've become.\nSuch an interesting and well though out question!
572502
You cant define atheism by terms like 'believing' or 'non believing'. That's like defining light as absence of darkness. Atheism is thought of indifference towards all religious concepts. Even A person who looks down on religion or criticizes God is also not an atheist. A true atheist is not bothered.
504664
I am an atheist or an agnostic depending on the definition of God one starts with.  I do experience very deep emotions about the world around me, and I in fact feel an affinity and a connection to a religious denomination called Unitarian Universalism, which is open to people like me, and which tends to eschew the mention of God in its services.  I suppose my affinity to that denomination says something about my moral values: I believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being.  Also, as an atheist, I am fond of Judaism, simply because of the old adage according to which atheism is but a branch of Judaism, not because of any particular religious beliefs orthodox Jews may hold.