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Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#371

Post by sublatio »

I’ve practiced meditation daily for several years. I find this indispensable for my internal sense of well-being, as well as for my relationships (gives me the space and perspective for more empathy) and work (better, focus, less catastrophizing).

A big boost to my practice this past year has been Integral Life Practice (https://www.integral-life-practice.com). This isn’t something different from the meditation practice I already had, but it’s more a framework for integrating spiritual practice across the various aspects of life (body, mind, spirit, shadow, etc). It’s adaptable to whatever religious/spiritual practice one might have, and has helped me uncover areas in my life where I’m not paying enough attention (for me, body and shadow). I print off a grid each week of the specific practices I want to focus on, and a particularly satisfying way to end my day is to check off the activities I’ve done for the day. Here’s an example to give an idea of what this might look like https://youtu.be/TIrnv4Hlpw0

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#373

Post by TchoBeer »

fjabre wrote: post #337
TchoBeer wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Atheism is not spiritual and to conflate the two is foolish. Not necessarily, obviously, but there are spiritual atheists, and if OP asks "what are your spiritual practices" then "I have none" is a valid answer. >It is clear that atheism and consumerism in modern society do not make people happy. The least happy people I know are religious, and almost all the Atheists I know are pretty happy with their lives. I don'…

It is a contradiction. “Spirit”ual. You cannot be Spiritual without belief in Spirit. It is in the word itself. You can be a good Atheist however that is mostly in line with good spiritual practices. Atheists seem to want it both ways. To believe in nothing but also define themselves as “Spiritual”

Spirit doesn't necessarily mean God.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#374

Post by dragonwriter »

sfotm wrote: post #267
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…

I was raised in the Catholic church, and I don't think your take on confession is quite right. The process of confession isn't "sit in this booth and walk out scot-free on all of your wrongdoings". It's meant to be an assisted meditation on what you can do better in your life, and how to do so. The act of confession doesn't help you if it's not done in good faith, and a penance for murder might be a confession to the…

> I was raised in the Catholic church, and I don’t think your take on confession is quite right.

The Protestant churches (the upthread poster said he was raised in some unspecified branch of protestantism) that hold out a role for confession tend to treat it rather differently than Catholics do the Sacrament of Reconciliation. (And, even within the Catholic Church, what reconciliation feels like can vary a lot between different priests administering the sacrament, irrespective of the [at least theoretical] theological consistency within the Catholic Church.)

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#376

Post by dagmx »

stuporglue wrote: post #259

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I read scriptures every day (Book of Mormon, Bible, Doctrine and Covenants) for 10-30 minutes. I turned 40 this year and have a goal to read all of those scriptures cover to cover before my next birthday. I pray every day as well, at least at night, often when I wake up, and almost always before meals (unless I'm at a restaurant or something). Weekly I…

Out of curiosity, are you a recent convert? I would imagine anyone who's as religious as yourself would have easily read all the scriptures by now, rather than aiming to do it by the age of 41?

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#377

Post by sethammons »

mikercampbell wrote: post #244

I used to be devout Mormon, and a hardcore one at that. It was woven so deeply in my reality, that everything had spiritual significance for me. A few years ago, I encountered history, documents, and truths about the religion that were never presented to me. Since then, I've slowly, painfully, removed myself from the religion, and removed the religion from me. It's extremely painful to go from a space where everythin…

I'd love to hear more on the history, documents, and truths you found. Would you consider emailing me (it is in my profile)? Summary and jumping off points super welcome.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#378

Post by ss108 »

Muslim, but not particularly practicing or religious (though I am aiming to be moreso and my knowledge of the religion's history, development, and jurisprudence is certainly above that of most practicing Muslims I have met).

On an actual daily basis: meditation and journaling. I have also incorporated, on most days, listening to Islamic stuff on YouTube in the mornings, and reading the Quran in translation at night before bed.

There was a time period where I was praying 1 or 2 out of 5 of the daily Islamic prayers per day and I would say that this correlated with higher levels of contentment and also secular/temporal success, so I would like to get in the regular habit of that again.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#379

Post by TchoBeer »

dragonwriter wrote: post #327
TchoBeer wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name and cite a single Christian source from before 1600 which believes the Bible is a flawed text which contains errors.

> Name and cite a single Christian source from before 1600 which believes the Bible is a flawed text which contains errors. As I said before, the traditional view is that the Bible is free of error, but that this refers to its intended moral message, not historical or scientific truth or any other alternative purpose one might apply to it. Given that, you must be asking for not someone who sees it as containing error…

That's a great source, thank you so much.

And yes, it is, lol.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#380

Post by DangitBobby »

mikercampbell wrote: post #360
natch wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>nothing actually matters Maybe it’s just a matter if having a time perspective that is appropriate for what we can possibly get a handle on as humans. In the medium term, as opposed to the heat-death-of-the-universe long term, stuff definitely matters. Also btw that phrase “nothing actually matters” is a little piece of propaganda planted by religion as a false caricature of non-religious thinking. You might conside…

You're right. And I mean that earnestly. In reality, what I should have said was "I was suddenly responsible for assigning value to all the aspects of my life. They suddenly had no inherent godly value, just the value that I, and those around me assigned it". But still - ultimately nothing has value. With the sun eventually consuming the earth and the universe either collapsing or going cold, everything that could ha…

> Any number, multiplied by any other number, and multiplied an endless list of values, and eventually by zero at least once is still zero.

The universe is so much more than its end state.

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