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Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#591

Post by xupybd »

criddell wrote: post #568
good8675309 wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raised Christian, became an atheist, then evaluated a bunch of religions for myself. Found Christianity to be the most historically and spiritually compelling but still didn’t believe. After feeling hollow and aimless for years I re-evaluated things, read about Jesus love for me. Really meditated on His perfect life, sacrifice on the cross, and resurrection. He died for me, in my place. It became personal. When I rea…

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…

Jesus was God in flesh. So God the father is separate but connected. ( I'm a little under qualified to describe the exact nature of the Holy Trinity)

So God the father has always been looking over creation. After Jesus ascended to heaven the Holy Spirit was sent to help the church in place of Jesus her on earth.

Jesus was God in flesh so he purposely limited himself to experience all that we experience, to suffer all that we suffer. There is nothing that He can't empathize with.

There was also the spiritual law that had to be satisfied. The price of sin is death. Under the Mosaic covenant there were sacrificial animals used to pay that price. Jesus payed that price for all who are willing to take up their cross and follow him.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#592

Post by kbelder »

samhain wrote: post #459
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…

It’s funny too, since some of those kids may eventually realize that they were brought here without their consent, and that they don’t actually like working and paying bills. You, suffering for them, then suffering for their existence, and a death of your previous self, in which you draw yourself as a type of martyr. No one’s happy on your road to Damascus, and yet you’re faith and community demand your consent to yo…

He's presumably not anticipating having children with mental issues, and doing what he can to not instill them.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#593

Post by throw1234651234 »

KrishnaShripad wrote: post #507

Follow Dvaita Vedanta (Tattvavada). Part of Sanatan Dharma/Hinduism and one of the schools of Vedanta. The process of learning though spans the entire lifetime. It is not a simple set of scriptures that you read and understand. It has multiple layers and takes decades to get a grasp of. Sometimes even more. The works of Shri Madhvacharya have influenced and changed my perception of Universe (Jagat/Srushti), Life (Aat…

Can you actually summarize the nature of the beliefs? All major religions/belief systems can be summarized in a sentence or two.

e.g. Buddhism - if you want things, you suffer, stop wanting things, said the prince who got bored with being rich and spoiled.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#594

Post by yibg »

scandox wrote: post #575
autopilot23 wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this comment. How is it exactly religious?

There are many kinds of Atheism. I have met people to whom the very idea of God was just a weird thing they heard of once and thought was kind of cute or whatever but a matter of genuine indifference to them. On the other hand we have the parent comment which professes a strong Atheism. A little bit of analysis on it shows I think a strong emotional and philosophical attachment to the importance of their own disbelie…

Seems like you're overloading the word religious to mean an idea that someone holds either very strongly, has a philosophical component or believes on faith (e.g. insufficient evidence or not thoroughly examined). All of this could be true, but that's not really religion.

As defined, religion is "the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.". Nothing about a strongly held belief, even one lacking evidence, makes it religious.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#595

Post by jordanpg »

criddell wrote: post #568
good8675309 wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raised Christian, became an atheist, then evaluated a bunch of religions for myself. Found Christianity to be the most historically and spiritually compelling but still didn’t believe. After feeling hollow and aimless for years I re-evaluated things, read about Jesus love for me. Really meditated on His perfect life, sacrifice on the cross, and resurrection. He died for me, in my place. It became personal. When I rea…

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…

If I could choose a single word to characterize all of Christian theology it would have to be “underwhelming.”

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#596

Post by xupybd »

kazinator wrote: post #503
koheripbal wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an important point. Being atheist doesn't say anything about your beliefs in ethics or the nature of the universe. It's just the absence of some set of other beliefs.

Moreover, it is really a word semantic point. If someone says that their spiritualism is atheism, they are just using the word atheism for something other than "non-belief in gods", like "non-belief in gods, in combination with some other kinds of beliefs". So, I am not tone deaf: I do hear that. Just let's use "atheism" right, too. But note that someone identifying as an atheist, but with spiritual beliefs, might no…

I'm not an atheist nor have I attempted to define what it means. So please know this is a genuine question.

Does your definition mean the rejection of all spiritual or supernatural beings requires one to become hold views inline with existential nihilism?

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#597

Post by alecbz »

cogman10 wrote: post #443
scandox wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

There is, frankly, no such thing as a "god hating atheist". Those two notions are incompatible. Consider, for example, how little you (probably) care about fairies. Are you a fairy hating afairist? You may find an Atheist that says something like "If god does exist, it's a dick". but that's not really hating god but rather pointing out the silliness of believing in a supernatural all powerful being that is good which…

For many formerly religious people God was very "real" as a force they thought existed and had an effect on them, and I think it's quite possible to feel hate towards that God and what he represents, even if you no longer thinks he literally exists.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#598

Post by nick__m »

jjbinx007 wrote: post #39

Not religious at all. I don't believe in the supernatural and I don't think it would even be possible for us to detect it even if it does exist. I'm not superstitious (after all, it's unlucky to be superstitious) and I'm not even sure what spiritual means as I've never heard a coherent definition. I get my sense of awe, wonder and beauty from the natural world, whether that's star gazing or studying and appreciating…

I too fulfill my needs for awe and wonder from studying nature and its wonderful complexity.

I also consider that the supernatural is unknowable and that if it somehow exist it is undetectable. It's not exactly like your direct lack of belief in it but the implications are identical.

Finally, here is my definition of spiritual: beliefs and practices that stems from an answer to that question: why existence instead nothingness.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#599

Post by defgeneric »

TchoBeer wrote: post #296

I'm a religious Jew, in a bit of a crisis of faith. I still pray three times a day, I still make shabbat and observe holidays, I even still learn Torah even though I don't really believe in it anymore, because I find being well read useful when I have to explain the times I do break the cultural norms to people. Orthodox Judaism in general has a lot of laws everywhere: what you wear, what you eat, what you put in you…

It's a lot easier to leave when you have another community to go to. That's why there's nothing wrong with "sneaking around" or living a separate private life while you build up relationships and friendships.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#600

Post by yibg »

cogman10 wrote: post #516
yibg wrote: post #502

A bit of slight tangent. I’m an atheist, but sometimes I envy the communities religious groups build (e.g. church). One big advantage I’ve seen is some of my Christian friends can move cities and almost instantly have a community via the local church. They make friends, have a place to go on a regular basis and has a support network. Anyone aware of anything similar but not based on religion?

Unitarian universalist might be what you are after. They don't outright reject religion but they also don't really prescribe it. There are also quite a few atheists in the community of christ, funnily enough :D.

Do you know if unitarian universalists have some sort of equivalent to church or church gatherings?
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