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

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#821

Post by mbg721 » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:23 AM UTC

theonething wrote: post #819

sam0x17 wrote: post #737

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always found this whole bit farcical. Firstly, if God is the one who exercises judgement in the first place in the form of who goes to heaven and who does not, then (as is written elsewhere in the Bible) what God says is good, is good, and what God says is bad, is bad, for no intrinsic reason other than God says it is so. When I do the good, I want to do it because I have some stock in the moral value or principle…

> but that Jesus had to suffer, to what, to make God decide to be more lenient with how he interprets our sins? Justice requires accountability for wrongs committed. When we break God's moral law, justice requires that we be held accountable. Jesus suffered for us to take the punishment that our sins require. Jesus took the penalty for us. That allows God to be a merciful judge, yet still fulfill all justice.

Put another way, at least how my understanding of Catholic tradition goes, atoning for sin (which was present from the Original Sin of Adam to every little or big sin we commit from time to time) demands sacrifice, and no sacrifice is sufficient to atone for all of it except for a sacrifice of God Himself. Various religions tried grain sacrifices, animals, even the ultimate sacrifice of humans, the one creature made in God's image (which was then discouraged with the story of Abraham and Isaac), but only Jesus, who was both fully God and fully human, could be the perfect sacrifice, which as a re-exercise of everything from the Last Supper through the crucifixion and resurrection, is done as the Eucharistic Rite at Mass. Jesus is seen as the perfection of the imperfect Adam, and his mother Mary (believed to have been conceived without sin, so as to be the mother of Christ) is seen as the perfection of the imperfect Eve.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#822

Post by Trex_Egg » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:26 AM UTC

nogridbag wrote: post #345

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 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.

What a paradox.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#823

Post by nulld3v » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:27 AM UTC

fjabre wrote: post #534

nulld3v wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, being an atheist does not mean you lack any belief in the supernatural. For example, if I believed in ghosts but have no belief in god, I could still have spiritual experiences with my ancestors.

So you believe in little green men instead of little blue ones and that makes you an atheist? If you see the experience as nothing more than a dream then that’s what it will become. If you see it as something at least as real as this waking reality then the experience has impact. Without belief in it, your experiences are meaningless. You will learn very little from them. They are invitations that you have outwardly…

An atheist has many definitions but one used very commonly is simply the lack of a belief in any gods. So I can believe in those little men (blue or green) and still be an atheist as long as those men are not divinely powerful gods.

I see how you are trying to define atheism: "Atheists would take a research paper as truth over their own direct experience. They hold Science as most dear and most important and they label faith and beliefs and spiritual experiences as make believe or pretend fantasy."

Again I remind you that atheism is a very broad term. As an atheist I follow the most common definition and have no belief in god as I have not seen any evidence they exist yet. If I have some sort of personal supernatural experience and god reveals themself to me, I see no reason why I wouldn't believe in them. Especially over some flimsy piece of paper.

I can also believe in something without evidence and still be an atheist. For example I believe in the supernatural to some extent because it brings me comfort and because there is so much that we still do not understand.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#824

Post by Trex_Egg » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:35 AM UTC

simonh wrote: post #368

laserlight wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m curious. How did you originally arrive at the conclusion that god didn’t exist?

Good question, hope you don’t mind me jumping in. For me as a teenager or even younger, reading about various faiths and mythologies, I was thinking about which faith was the right one. Obviously I could simply choose the one of my parents and the adults around me followed, but I went to a school with Muslims, Hindu and Buddhist children too. Was I really supposed to try and convert them? None of the Christian teache…

Social construct like money has some good use.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#825

Post by Trex_Egg » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:40 AM UTC

klipt wrote: post #411

simonh wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question, hope you don’t mind me jumping in. For me as a teenager or even younger, reading about various faiths and mythologies, I was thinking about which faith was the right one. Obviously I could simply choose the one of my parents and the adults around me followed, but I went to a school with Muslims, Hindu and Buddhist children too. Was I really supposed to try and convert them? None of the Christian teache…

> From there concluding that religion is an entirely artificial social construct was a pretty small step. I'd say religion is more an evolved phenomenon than a constructed one. Religious groups tend to have more children than secular groups, which suggests religion confers an advantage to a group's evolutionary fitness.

I agree, but there may be a tipping point of equilibrium to that social construct. Cause at the end of the there should be some logic and reasoning has to there to feed the family. At least in this modern day.

Due to modern education system and scientific thinking clears out most of the dogma imposed on to people by religion. And I can see the current religion leaders embracing them, as it was their own. And we will see how the religion will evolve or devolve in this modern era of logic and reasoning.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#826

Post by andrei_says_ » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:41 AM UTC

forinti wrote: post #78

I 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.

Funny you mention this. I am the person who posted the question and I didn’t mention religion anywhere.

That said, what is your religion-free spiritual practice, if you have any?

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#827

Post by Trex_Egg » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:43 AM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #619

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…

> 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. As an armchair Taoist (and psychologist/neuroscientist), I consider this as jumping from the frying pan into the fire, or another frying pan at least. Although, the current popularity of this metaphysical framework is undeni…

So you are saying the atheism is another religion.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#828

Post by theonething » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:44 AM UTC

omarfarooq wrote: post #817

theonething wrote: post #815

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I follow your argument. So because he only manifested himself to a relatively small number of people, he can't prove that he understands us? We have his teachings in writing. Do you only believe in knowledge that is personally manifested to you? If so, then you wouldn't believe in any history.

> I'm not sure I follow your argument. So because he only manifested himself to a relatively small number of people, he can't prove that he understands us? I'm referring to the miracles attributed to him, which are used as the conclusive evidence that he was God in the flesh. > We have his teachings in writing. How do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have his teachings? You do not even know the historical…

> How do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have his teachings?

"The New Testament has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work of literature..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_manuscript

"Most historical critics agree that a historical figure named Jesus taught throughout the Galilean countryside c. 30 CE, was believed by his followers to have performed supernatural acts, and was sentenced to death by the Romans, possibly for insurrection.[108]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_the_Bible#Histo...

To your point about the miracles attributed to him, again, because he didn't manifest those miracles to everyone ever, they didn't happen?

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#829

Post by andrei_says_ » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:45 AM UTC

prometheus76 wrote: post #34

I am an Orthodox Christian. My day begins with prayer, as soon as possible after I wake up. Prayer consists of reading (or reciting) prayers from a prayer book, followed by 100-200 Jesus Prayers ("Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!"), followed by 12-25 prostrations. I then read the daily scripture readings indicated by the liturgical calendar. At noon, I usually read a Psalm in front of my icons (I work from home)…

How did this practice heal your life? And how does it influence who you are / your state of being outside of the time you’re actively praying or performing a specific ritual - the rest of the day?

Also, do you feel that the actions you describe change the quality of your thinking or perception of yourself and reality? How?

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#830

Post by tympious » Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 4:46 AM UTC

"Somewhere between pantheism and panentheism"?