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Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#311

Post by yashap »

Atheist-ish - no spiritual practice of any kind.

In terms of beliefs, I think there’s a tonne of massive, unanswered questions about the universe, and it’s certainly possible that there are forces out there that resemble spiritual concepts. Something vaguely resembling a soul, or an intelligent life that created the universe, that sort of thing. Or not - I have no real opinion on this other than “nobody knows”.

I do think that all popular religions on earth were created by people, though. Likely started similar to cults, and evolved into something much more loosely controlled. I don’t think they’re entirely negative, religion can be a powerful positive force for a lot of people, but I do think they’re just stories made by humans, for humans.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#312

Post by hudon »

sam0x17 wrote: post #233

100% atheism. Was raised some kind of protestant I forget which one, and derived tremendous spiritual and psychological relief when I realized all of that was absolute nonsense at the age of 9. I knew I was gay at the time and wouldn't come out until I was 18 or so, but my life just got a lot easier when I removed religion completely. I also recall discovering increased moral agency -- as a Christian I had been taugh…

For forgiveness, you need to actually be contrite and willing to amend your life. God loves you and wants you to heal but you need to be open to it. Also he is just, so he doesn’t exactly let you do whatever you want as you imply. There are always consequences to our actions.

Further, I would argue that without living with God, you are actually freed from responsibility in moral judgements, because of the belief that there is no final judge. You believe no one is ultimately holding you accountable to seek forgiveness or to live rightly, and you must try to adhere to wavering conceptions of courtesy and politeness in a culture with ever shifting morals.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#313

Post by raptorraver »

Orthodox Christian here. I pray before our icons in the mornings and evenings and use prayer rope through out the day to read Jesus-prayer [1] (perfect in boring Teams-meetings :)) I try to attend Liturgy every sunday and mostly read books by saints and Church Fathers nowadays. The depth of the teachings of the Church and beauty of out services still astounish me after 11 years of being member of the Church. It’s sad when people judge christians but don’t know anything about the original christianity which differs quite a lot from typical protestantism.

Biggest difference between eastern and western christianity is how we view sin and salvation. In the west they view those from legalistic pov, but we think sin as a disease which can be healed in the Church. That’s why usually orthodox christians aren’t judgmental to others but instead focus on their own struggle.

I’m happy to answer any questions!

1. https://orthodoxwiki.org/Jesus_Prayer

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#314

Post by Faaak »

sam0x17 wrote: post #233

100% atheism. Was raised some kind of protestant I forget which one, and derived tremendous spiritual and psychological relief when I realized all of that was absolute nonsense at the age of 9. I knew I was gay at the time and wouldn't come out until I was 18 or so, but my life just got a lot easier when I removed religion completely. I also recall discovering increased moral agency -- as a Christian I had been taugh…

Atheist here too. The day I stopped believing (around ~18 or so) was the start of my new life. I don't know how or why, but I put more importance on morale than on god's beliefs. I got kinder, more patient, and more of a giver.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#315

Post by markozivanovic »

I am a practicing Markoist. I don't have any children, mostly living my life in solitude. Every morning I wake up, I feel different. Sometimes I think about killing myself because this shit doesn't make sense. Sometimes I hop out of bed feeling excited about everything, and I go out and do exciting shit. I believe in myself. I believe in finding the answers within myself. That's why I'm a Markoist, a religion named by the name my parents gave me. I think it's no different than any other religion I have encountered; this is just one I can own. I have a lot of extraordinary rituals I came up with. I do them daily.

I respect others, and all I want in return is the respect back.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#316

Post by BlueTie »

I read The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Tolstoy (who became very spiritual himself and wrote a bunch of religious texts later in his life) and the Bhagavad Gita (two of his Gandhi's biggest inspirations).

It's part why-has-no-one-picked-up-this-thread when two greats like Tolstoy and Gandhi were exploring this together historical interest and part spiritual exploration for me and has been supremely fulfilling so far.

I haven't grounded it all yet but the abolishment of violence of any kind (including things like revenge and self-defense) seems like the most pure moral code I can find + baking that in to the divinity of the Gita (stripping down who you are in it's purest form and seeing the relation of that you + the cosmos).

It's been a few good months. I hope it continues.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#317

Post by heavenlyblue »

garbanzoXDP wrote: post #263
sam0x17 wrote: post #233

100% atheism. Was raised some kind of protestant I forget which one, and derived tremendous spiritual and psychological relief when I realized all of that was absolute nonsense at the age of 9. I knew I was gay at the time and wouldn't come out until I was 18 or so, but my life just got a lot easier when I removed religion completely. I also recall discovering increased moral agency -- as a Christian I had been taugh…

Similar experience. I was raised Christian and very into it (mission trips, Bible study, accountability groups, etc) but abandoned it in my early twenties. I am much more content with life—no more sense of guilt constantly hanging over my head along with an increased sense of control and responsibility. My wife was raised Mormon and also abandoned her faith. Both of our immediate and extended families are still very…

I find it interesting that I grew up in a family which was not exactly religious (no church-going, etc), but incredibly moral in some it’s own way (Russian family based in Lithuania, military grandparents). But basically I had to let go of moral-ethical shame (guilt) to make my life easier too.

Not going to go into the depth of what these morals were, but in essence:

In some way I think it could be similar to having strict parents who had spent their whole life trying to make their children successful but it takes a lot of courage for that child to start living the life they way they want and not the life their parents have guilt-tripped them to live.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#318

Post by dpbriggs »

NateEag wrote: post #138
AYBABTME wrote: post #83

In the morning, I think while drinking coffee. Then I really think in the shower. As a result I take long showers. Sometimes during the day, I'll sit back and think. While going to bed, I'll think some more. Usually I think about problems to solve, reflect on my life so far, course adjustments, things to self improve. One day I'll pick up a religion, but it seems like they all would require a lot of mental gymnastics…

You might want to look at some of the more modern / postmodern branches of Christianity. Some people who practice it sincerely don't think of the Bible as a literally true document that has no mistakes or inaccuracies, nor a rulebook that must be followed in every particular, but rather a series of subjective recountings of different people's encounters with God over the course of many centuries, strongly colored by…

My catholic school system taught the Bible was inspired by God and not to be taken necessarily literally. More of a series of parables to understand life better.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#319

Post by BTCOG »

whatshisface wrote: post #297
BTCOG wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so odd to me that since the dawn of time, humans find this innate need to live in slave morality. Living a life of moral slavery based on stories and tales previous humans made with their own minds. It's a definition of insanity, from my own perspective. To contribute to the discussion: I practice nothing, no religion, no meditations. Nothing. I find peace enough knowing that I'm not morally enslaved and that I…

Moral slavery as you put it is one of those things that's bad for you but good for everybody else, unless you're bad at getting away with things in which case it's also good for you. Another kind of slavery is doing whatever you want, because you don't decide what you want. What you want is determined by the often self-contradictory brain circuits that sprouted in your head without your intent or permission. That's s…

God is nature itself. I am happy toiling in soils, studying plants, etc. I could just as easily 100% drop computers and engineering next week and live on my own farm toiling the soils, raising farm animals and be as happy as I have ever been in my life.
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