Why people are spiritual in the first place?

[Virtual ghost]

I will leave this completly open because I am interested in all viewpoints.

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Spirituality is a natural result of self-awareness. The more aware a person is of the mysteries that lurk inside them and in the world around them, the more interested a person will be in spirituality.

 

[disregard]

Spirituality helps to put things in perspective. In my case, it lessens the importance of (or in other words, drains the power from) the material and that which influences one's ego.

 

[6sticks]

Spirituality is like collecting little porcelain figurines. It's silly, there's no point to it, you can't do anything fun with it or it breaks, it's a waste of time, and it's just a harmless hobby for nice old ladies who smell funny.

 

[millerm277]

I don't know. I am not spiritual in any way, never have been, probably never will be. (and that's fine with me.) I think it's useless.

 

[Jive A Turkey]

The physical utilities have let me down long enough. That's why.

 

[helen]

People are spiritual because they have spirits.

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

Lots of reasons. Sometimes they're instructed to. Sometimes they're tempted to. Sometimes they do it by themselves without realizing that they're engaging in something one might label as "spiritual," sometimes accidentally or by circumstance, and sometimes deliberately, to produce a desired effect.

 

[Usehername]

Possible reasons:

*Concrete can get boring and meaningless. (even for sensors.) The unknown is always more enticing.
*People like to exist for a purpose instead of just existing for its own sake, and purpose can be found through a spiritual understanding of the world.
*Haven't there been studies for the brain activity of spiritual experiences and how there's certain brain activity? It's probably a pleasure-chemical activation?
*Because if you're being pulled into a spiritual understanding of the world, some metaphorical force has to be acting on you for you to feel that pull. (i.e. there is a god, etc.)

 

[meowington]

People are spiritual because they have spirits.

Quoted for truth

 

[Totenkindly]

People are spiritual because they have spirits.

Quoted for truth

Prove it.

 

[Eileen]

"Spiritual" is the vaguest word ever.

I am spiritual, I guess, because the universe is really freaking big, and I'm really freaking small. This I find to be completely awe-inspiring. It brings me to my knees, makes me reach out to connect to the bigness of the universe.

 

[Eileen]

Prove it.

I'm pretty sure that it's one of those blasted unprovable statements that can't really be ruled out. We've got SOMETHING going on here... even if it's just chemicals in our brains.

 

[Totenkindly]

I'm pretty sure that it's one of those blasted unprovable statements that can't really be ruled out. We've got SOMETHING going on here... even if it's just chemicals in our brains.

I agree.

Of course, if someone would have tried to say emphatically it was all just brain chemicals... I would have offered the same challenge.

 

[comicsgurl]

People are looking for answers that they can't find in the every day - I think that's why people are spiritual. Everyone will eventually run into something that cannot be explained rationally, no matter how hard they try to make it rational. Sometimes coincidence can explain the odd, but sometimes trying to find the rational explanation is just as "irrational" as the possible, supernatural theory.

Which really says a whole lotta nothing, I guess.

I'm spiritual because my life works that way. I communicate that way, I feel that way, and I grow that way. I'm less selfish, I'm more aware of others, and I'm more aware of my overall connection with God. If I don't communicate spiritually, I usually become more selfish, stunted, and apathetic.

 

[helen]

Prove it.

I'll be honest, I can't. Just offering my viewpoint as requested. I don't know whether or not it's possible to prove it, but even if it was possible I doubt it would be useful, unless the person you were proving it to already was sensing it, ah, spiritually.

This is one of my fav Scriptures, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:7

Peace,
Helen

 

[Colors]

What do we mean by spiritual?

Various ways I've heard "I'm spiritual" used:
1. "I am one with the universe."
2. "I am a(n?) unique snowflake."
3. "I have a metaphysical self which can transcend my physical self."
4. "I was raised to believe in Christian/Jewish/[insert religion of choice here) dogma but now have been disillusioned by its hypocrisy."
5. "I feel a kinship with humankind."
6. "I feel a kinship with living things."
7. "I call the Psychic Hotline."
8. "The world sucks and it sucks for a reason."
9. "The world is beautiful and its beautiful for a reason."
10. "I think."
and lots of combinations thereof.

I think some meanings of "spirituality" definitely promote a fellow feeling. Humans have been capable for creating such advanced societies because of cooperation. It can't hurt cooperation to see part of yourself as part of a greater unit/ connected with fellow individual units. Who wants to feel alone?

 

[Abhaya]

"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive." - Joseph Campbell

 

[Colors]

Doesn't that quote sound semi-ironic? It's one thing that we definitely all have.

I suppose we don't KNOW we know the experience of being alive though. I want to synthesize my experience and compare it to others and expand it... I want to test it and see if I really have the "experience of being alive".

 

[Abhaya]

For me that quote alludes to the experience when one is fully in the moment and everything seems exactly how it should be. Everything is One and there is not such things as time or duality. I have had that experience in fleeting moments. Every atom of my being vibrates in unison with all that is. I want to develop this state of consciousness and that is why I am spiritual to learn to live fully in the moment with an awareness of the true nature of things.