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Can atheists talk about spirit?

Randomnity

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You're going to have to define what you mean exactly by "spirit" first. Can we talk about how it feels to be a spiritual person, probably not, other than formerly-spiritual atheists. Can we talk about spirituality, spirits, or being "spirited" (unrelated to religion, btw) in general, why not?
 

Stanton Moore

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Yes, atheists can talk about spirits. I don't believe there is one true god, but I believe that there are many things that, in our rationalist arrogance and desire for social control, we are blind to. The Abrahamic religions don't define reality. They are a thin overlay on the web of energy and consciousness that makes up matter and the universe. Recent experiences have made that abundantly clear to me.

Does this sound hippe-dippie and woowoo? That's because your mind remains closed, like mine was.
The so-called animists are right. matter=energy=matter=consciousness. This is true whether or not you accept Jesus, or another.
 

Rasofy

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Can atheists talk about spirit?
Yes. Personally, I talk just to mock the concept.
But there are spiritual atheists. Interesting folks.
 

tinker683

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I don't see why not. Belief in a deity or deities is a separate idea from belief in "spirits" or other things supernatural. While I can see how one might lead to the other, it's not always the case.

Speaking for myself, as an atheist, I dislike using the term "spirit" or "soul" because of the connotations they carry but unfortunately in popular vernacular it's often unavoidable (semantically speaking, that is).
 

Argus

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I was having a good time reading through this thread until I realized Peguay is RETARDED and infected it with himself.
 

Mole

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The New Black

To be religious is no longer in fashion, instead the trendy and fashionable are now spiritual.

Yes, to be part of the in-crowd we are no longer religious, we are spiritual.

So I can see no reason atheists can't join the fashionable crowd and follow the latest trends and be spiritual.

Spiritual is the new black.
 

Argus

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It won't, and you're wrong.

Please don't speak for Peguay. He can it handle himself.
 
S

Sniffles

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I was having a good time reading through this thread until I realized Peguay is RETARDED and infected it with himself.

Well damn....I'm incredibely butthurt now. :boohoo:





This must be an ENTP ritual or something.
 

Rasofy

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watch-out-we-got-a-badass-over-here-meme.png
 
S

Sniffles

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Getting back on topic.

^ integral non-dualist, very interesting. I would call myself integral and advaita vedanta [which in english basically means/translates as nondualism]

Anyways, sure they can! I view Ken Wilber as atheist [and enlightened] and he uses the word spirit quite frequently in his writings. I think a lot of the answer depends on what one means by theist. I think many people try to avoid it, but an extremely strong case can be made that Buddhism is atheistic. By extension, other religions that hold the same ultimate viewpoint would be as well.

I think of theism as " an external ultimate independent creator god stood outside of creation and made creation, and said creater god is not us/ we are not said creator god." Under such definition Buddhism is absolutely atheistic, as would be Hinduism as well, for example. I think we could define theism in such a way that Buddhism, and others like it, then became theistic. So, like I said earlier, a lot of the answer comes down to "what does theism mean?"

Personally, I've viewed myself as atheist polytheist before, but then I decided there were better words available and that it didn't matter.

Non-theistic would probably be a better term for many Eastern religions, since very often there is a concept of "god" in the basic sense comparable to a first cause or ground of being - just not in the same way as seen in Abrahamic faiths. Furthermore there's no uniform agreement on the status of gods or divine beings in them. I made this point in another thread, especially concerning the difference between the Theravada and Mahayana traditions within Buddhism. Dr. B. Alan Wallace's point is very interesting too, about how deep down there's very little difference between Vajrayana Buddhism and a NeoPlatonic interpretation of Christianity.

Hinduism is a slightly different story, since there's so many different variations of it. There are more than plenty of gods and goddesses, so atheism wouldn't be an accurate descriptor here(atheism meaning without god(s) ); except in the case of the Cārvāka school, which does advance an atheistic perspective.
 

iwakar

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Can atheists talk about spirit?

Yes, but probably not often. Can theists talk about the Higgs Boson? Of course, but probably not often.
 

Lark

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Yes, but probably not often. Can theists talk about the Higgs Boson? Of course, but probably not often.

Yeah, you know its not really an embarrassment to theists that there's a so called "God particle", infact surely its good news, when are atheists going to find the "there's no God particle"?
 

Lark

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I was having a good time reading through this thread until I realized Peguay is RETARDED and infected it with himself.

I'm so glad that there's representative posters on the atheist side. I've only known one who wasnt an asshole and he was a dead philosopher psychologist influenced mainly by Judahism.
 
S

Sniffles

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I'm so glad that there's representative posters on the atheist side. I've only known one who wasnt an asshole and he was a dead philosopher psychologist influenced mainly by Judahism.

Argus isn't atheist.

In any case.....
[youtube="8noUTKdCkE8"]duh....retarded[/youtube]
Let's get retarded in here
Let's get retarded in here
Let's get retarded in here
Let's get retarded in here
Let's get retarded in here

:banana2:
 
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