Raised Christian, then become Atheist. For the past two years I have been looking into Buddhism. I find it helpful to deal with the eb and flows of life.
Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
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Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
#422I am, unironically, a Dudeist. Think Buddhism, minus the mystical components. I believe balance is crucial: Walter without The Dude is too active. The Dude without Walter is too passive.
I meditate regularly, too. Imagine you had the ability to spawn a watchdog thread that could monitor your emotional state and notice when it gets out of whack, and then you could shift focus to that thread. "Huh, I'm experiencing a lot of fear right now. Why is that? This isn't an objectively fearful situation, like a wild dog chasing me. So what is it about this that's making my heart rate increase?" It's amazing how often simply noticing and asking those questions can defuse a stressful moment.
Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
#423100% 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’m curious about any practices you may have found to integrate these positive aspects of your atheist view into your life. You mention moral responsibility and forgiveness - is there a way you intentionally cultivate these?
One thing you didn’t mention is awe or wonder, something I often hear religiously-minded people speak of. In contrast to fundamentalist religion, which exchanges awe for constricted thoughts about what is and isn’t real, it seems to me that true awe really is especially available to athiests (or those who align with religion and have moved beyond the belief system aspect and into the contemplative).
Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
#424Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Sarcasm. Being sarcastic adds nothing to the subject, it is avoidance of engagement. If you want to discuss there is no need to hide behind a device like sarcasm. I am open to all engagement. I realize I am on a site which is mostly composed of atheists.
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Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
#425I am not religious at all and I've thought of myself as tolerant of religion (they all have some very good teachings, after all). But lately organised religion has been bothering me a lot. It is just so obviously a form of controlling people: you have to believe this and that and also hand over some cash and vote for such and such. I can't get around the fact that this still goes on so blatantly in this day and age.
> But lately organised religion has been bothering me a lot. It is just so obviously a form of controlling people: you have to believe this and that and also hand over some cash and vote for such and such.
You can find organized religions that don’t feature any of those that bother you (quite a lot are really mostly concerned with only the first, and there are some where even that is not all that much of a concern; I personally would suggest avoiding the ones that drop the first but retain either of the other two.)
Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
#426100% 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…
Strong atheism of the sort you profess is religious in my opinion. It may or may not be spiritual, depending on its flavour. You don't sound like a God hating atheist (which is definitely spiritual).
I don't understand this comment. How is it exactly religious?
Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
#427Nothing. I am ignostic. An interesting benefit of this position is that when the religious folks in my extended family ask about my religion and I tell them I'm ignostic, they 100% of the time misinterpret that as 'agnostic'. For some reason they can totally accept this position, maybe they just figure I'll eventually come around.
I do not disabuse them of this interpretation, because I avoid conflict. And religion, much like politics, seems to result in conflict most of the time.
Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
#428Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I had been taught I could simply confess whatever and it would be forgiven I still remember the day at Sunday school when we had to confess. I was a good kid. I had absolutely no idea what to confess. I consulted my Mom who told me to "make something up". And thus my first sin, that I can remember, was lying to the priest.
This is the most catholic story I can imagine.
No post body was provided.
Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
#429I appreciate all of the conversation below, although the dynamic in the majority of comments seems to be Christianity vs atheism/greek philosophy largely stoicism.
There is so much more out there and often has endured for longer periods of time. Other religions, hinduism in particular but also buddhism, allow for an incredibly large number of permutations of practice and adherence while still assuming association. Worth considering.
I defined myself as an atheist in the sixth grade. I do not believe in a or many gods that concern themselves with human appeals or behavior or the institutions that proffer the word of god. As Kazanstakis would say: Without hope, without fear, I am free.
Still, IMO our actions remain internally debated because we have a collectivist spirit at our core. Those without the core, the ability to relate and take on concern for another are considered psychopathic.
A self defined morality is something I've chosen. My spiritual practice is very animist as a result. Hiking in the woods, submerged in the ocean, looking to find a calm or balance and identifying the fears, questions, goals that motivate me like other living beings on the planet. Appealing to the reality that these forces are in many ways, beyond my comprehension and much stronger than my will and capability.
Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?
#430Not long ago in my new apartment after breaking up with a long time girlfriend I had an amazing experience while meditating. The odd thing was I never really meditated back then. Something just told me to do it. I was led on an internal journey that showed me some things about my self. One, don't turn away from uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. Two, don't judge yourself. Three, the ego or this idea of myself is an…
> "Bad" feelings have lost their edge. When I sat with the feeling I discovered there is nothing "bad" about it. [...] With this I have become lighter, freer, happier and more at peace with the experience just as it is, right here, right now. I'd like to give a heads up that this can and may come crashing down[1]. The 'Dark Night of the Soul' is a very real phenomena, and it can happen out of nowhere -- just a normal…
Yeah, it's important to point out the difficulties that can arise. Though I'd say that the framework could also cause problems if your experience falls outside of it.
I had an experience along these lines when I was 22 and meditating daily, which ended up turning into anxiety and somewhat frequent panic attacks. I ended up giving up my daily practice for about 10 years because of it. My frame of reference was the very common Theravada practices you encounter in the west, but my experiences didn't make sense to me until I began reading Mahayana teachings and found my way to Vajrayana practice.
So I'd say the framework is important, but to be flexible with it as you encounter things that aren't maybe a part of the core teaching. In my case it was the teachings on emptiness that opened things, which is something the Theravada doesn't emphasize (although it's there).