Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#691

Post by faebi » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:46 PM UTC

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…

Totally on your world view here. I was around 10 when I came across the Hubble deep field image as a gif. I proceeded to find it on google sky and I just couldn‘t get the mind boggling size of the visible universe into my brain while all of that supposed to be 2000 years old and only happen on earth. It blew my mind. One needed to scroll so hard only to reach that image which again has so many galaxies. And thats my spiritual practice, everything is in the name of nothing, this nothing is everything until entropy destroys the existence of everything.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#692

Post by czbond » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:47 PM UTC

scop wrote: post #223

I am a practicing Catholic. I have four kids all under 7. My normal day consists of feeding them, bathing them, calming tantrums, losing my temper, getting bitter at my lack of time for hobbies, and growing resentful of my lack of time for reading the Bible, praying, etc. But then I remember that this is a true dying to self. Not only a dying to self, but a dying to the world too as each of these sacrifices, failures…

I can relate to your frustrations; what does the term "dying to self" mean to you? (I'm trying to understand the phrase, not questioning it)

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#693

Post by Thorentis » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:48 PM UTC

aappleby wrote: post #681

Thorentis wrote: post #676

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain further how your inability to imagine the existence or non existence of God, is similar to aphantasia?

I can certainly understand religion in an external, objective sense much as you can understand the various interconnected storylines in something like the Marvel comics/movies, but as soon as you ask me "...but do you _believe_ it?", my brain just fails its saving throw versus comprehension and I can't give an answer based on what I "feel" is correct, because on that particular question I am unable to "feel" anything…

Okay, but you said:

"that would require assuming that the statement "Is there a god?" is both coherent, meaningful, and answerable."

What part of this question is incoherent, unmeaningful, and unanswerable, if you are able to understand religion in an objective sense?

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#694

Post by muzani » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:52 PM UTC

UnpossibleJim wrote: post #602

bananamerica wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What is your favorite pizza?" "I don't eat pizza." "Huh, thanks for answering, I guess?"

If you ask a question in a form that has an answer where they are forced to lie or give you an answer you don't like, which do you prefer? EDIT: Mobile mistake =(

You can be atheist with a spiritual practice. Meditation is often a non-religious practice ironically. Religious people have meditation-like rituals, but it's less likely to be sitting down clearing your head.

Also I don't believe GP said they were non-spiritual. Finding forgiveness for yourself and reflecting on moral values is a spiritual act.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#695

Post by lisper » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:52 PM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #677

poulsbohemian wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In hindsight, it was definitely the concept of original sin that got my young mind spinning, not understanding how for example a newborn baby could be innately sinful. All downhill after that.

>concept of original sin Personally as an atheist-ish / lapsed Catholic, original sin is just about the only thing I've never actually doubted, Chesterton put it very well: “Modern masters of science are much impressed with the need of beginning all inquiry with a fact. The ancient masters of religion were quite equally impressed with that necessity. They began with the fact of sin – a fact as practical as potatoes.…

> the fact of sin

Yeah, there's your problem right there. At the risk of stating what should be painfully obvious to any sane person, there is no "fact of sin", and you certainly can't use the claim of a "fact of sin" as a justification for the idea of original sin. It's a completely circular argument. Garbage in, garbage out.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#696

Post by geoduck14 » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:52 PM UTC

skinkestek wrote: post #631

criddell wrote: post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood what part of the crucifixion was a sacrifice. Jesus is literally a god. He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants. And how can his death on the cross be actually considered a death? If he was dead, are we to understand that for those few days there was no god overlooking all of creation? It seems to me…

Warning, I'm not a specialist in this. My only qualifications is that Christianity has made me happy and I have read and listened a lot. > I've never understood what part of the crucifixion was a sacrifice. Jesus is literally a god. He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. All the more agony. (See also below.) > He could have left at any time. Yep, but as far as I understand then it wou…

I'd like to add some things:

There are some that suggest Jesus did A LOT during the 3 days he "was dead".

He went to hell. The phrase "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" suggests he was spiritually separate from God the father - a fate worse than physical death.

He delivered previously dead Jews to heaven

He poured His blood out on a replica temple in heaven as THE lamb sacrifice for everyone who accepted His sacrifice. This is a LITERAL sacrifice - separate from "being human for 30 years sacrifice". Keep in mind that Jesus is the High Priest, he is THE person to make sacrifice for sins, and he is also THE object that was killed for those sins.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#697

Post by geoduck14 » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:56 PM UTC

alecbz wrote: post #588

criddell wrote: post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood what part of the crucifixion was a sacrifice. Jesus is literally a god. He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants. And how can his death on the cross be actually considered a death? If he was dead, are we to understand that for those few days there was no god overlooking all of creation? It seems to me…

> He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants. Is any of this actually a part of Christian canon? It's not clear to me that by describing Jesus as "God", we're meant to understand that he's omniscient (is Yahweh/"The Father" God even omniscient in Christian canon?) or omnipotent with respect to his human form.

>He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants.

The first Messianic prophy is in Genesis. "Eve's seed (Jesus) would crush the snake (satan)'s head. The snake would crush His heel (Jesus on the cross)"

He could have left at anytime is evidenced when Jesus is in the garden in Gethsemane right before He was arrested - he had a legion of angels at His command.

I'm not sure about "He can return anytime He wants." I'm going to chalk this one up to "He is God of the universe and do what He wants"

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#698

Post by lisper » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:57 PM UTC

I consider stargazing to be a spiritual practice. Looking for stars and planets and finding them exactly where science says they are supposed to be confirms by belief that we live in a world governed by laws, that these laws are knowable, and that we in fact do know them to a pretty reasonable degree of certainty and approximation. That makes me feel connected to the cosmos in a very deep way. I feel privileged to exist at a time and place where this is possible. I think it's pretty fucking awesome.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#699

Post by stelonix » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:57 PM UTC

___q wrote: post #642

stelonix wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been taking it for the past 7 years, sometimes a couple times a month, sometimes more, and have zero physical damage from it. It's pretty common in indigenous communities or other ayahuasca centers to give it to children, yeah. No records of anything bad happening to them. In the church I attend, there's people who have been taking it for the past 28 years with no issues at all.

This post should have an asterisk. It is not risk free, a primary concern being drug-to-drug interactions. That said, a lethal dose is 10-20x what is typically administered. > Adverse health effects may occur from casual use of ayahuasca, particularly when serotonergic substances are used in conjunction. [1] The heightened sense of internal reality for DMT users is mostly due to its interaction with the visual cortex…

Adverse health effects happen with every substance if you take it while taking other, incompatible substances.

My comment meant if you take it as it is recommended and follow the instructions, it should do you no harm. Following its instructions means not taking it while on specific types of antidepressants & anxiolytics and from the pov of most churches/centers, not taking it recreatively and/or without guidance or anything outside a controlled, ceremonial setting.

Of course, if you take clonazepan with alcohol you may get high, but it's dangerous for you and in no way supported or incentivized by their respective companies. Just the same with ayahuasca. No need for no asterisk since the comment does not attempt to proselytize people into taking it, nor does it try to hide the infinite possible combinations of other substances with dmt/aya.

EDIT: There are some other (obvious) recommendations, which apply for hallucinogenic drugs too: don't take it if you're schizoid, for example.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#700

Post by verisimilidude » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 9:58 PM UTC

Tetris. Twice per day.

When I get into a good Tetris routine, my mind will continue to play even when I'm not in front of the screen. There's just this constant background game playing in my head. This might sound distracting, but somehow it's enlightening. It provides rhythm. It provides structure. It keeps my thoughts in constant reorganization, constant renewal.

Overall, I believe Tetris gets my mind into a place and practice where I can more easily answer the following question.

What fits?

What fits into my life, and how? How do I fit into the world?

* My kids are important to me. How do I best fit them into my life? What's too much? What's too little? What do I need? What do they need? How can we best enjoy our time together?

* That friend is not a good influence anymore. The current fit is strained. How much of him is too much?

* This thing I'm doing at work is fun and I love it, but it's not advancing my goals. What fits, what can I keep? What should I discard?

* How will my actions fit into the interests of my family, friends, community?

In the past, in those dark pre-Tetris days, I tended to hang onto bad habits and bad ideas. Inertia is very strong with me. I credit Tetris-brain with helping me break through that inertia on a daily basis.

Soulful Tetris also has the advantage of being absurd enough that I never take it too seriously. Hubris is my biggest problem with organized religion. Tetris is kinda like a form of meditation for the 21st century, nothing more.

Also, it's just a really great game. And I like metaphysical excuses to play it.