C/D: "I'm not religious but I am spiritual."

You get the 'spiritual' thing in fashion quite a bit - and it annoys me when I know damned well the person is basically agnostic and does a bit of yoga.

lol but I feel like that would describe more people who would use this term.

Good thread. I like the Puffins.

Ever asked someone who says this what they mean by "spiritual?" The response is usually:

"I just believe there's something else, something we can't see."

Ok.

it's called gravity

"there's something else, something we can't see" was basically your definition of god on that other thread Shakey, wasn't it?

no. you guys really need to brush up on your reading comprehension.

Ever asked someone who says this what they mean by "spiritual?" The response is usually:

"I just believe there's something else, something we can't see."

Ok.

That bothers me far less than the people who believe in something that's equally kooky and poorly though out, but very specific. The wishy-washy-ness masks an uncertainty which could lead to further doubt.

no. you guys really need to brush up on your reading comprehension.

still trying to figure out how gravity is something we can't see

fwiw, I did not offer a personal definition, I pointed out several different ways that the concept of God has been elucidated in various theological traditions.

xp

still trying to figure out how gravity is something we can't see

lol. you see the EFFECTS of gravity. you don't SEE gravity itself. gravity does not reflect light.

science brigade really bringing it today... *sigh*

gravity is a force, it doesn't have mass, etc.

keep fightin off them hordes, shakes

why do I bother

lol "science brigade." You know, being an atheist doesn't necessarily mean you know shit about science.

but you have a very narrow definition of "see"

you mean... the definition used by science?

you see the EFFECTS of gravity. you don't SEE gravity itself. gravity does not reflect light.

so gravity = god and the effects = the prophet?

I mean come the fuck on here. this is physics 101. What you can see is the spectrum of light reflected off material objects. Gravity is not a material object.

I wasn't even trying to make an analogy here, I was just making a loljoke about "unseen" things at work in the universe

being an atheist doesn't necessarily mean you know shit about science.

also lol @ atheists believing in things they don't understand. sounds familiar.

I know, but I was just fucking with you because you were loling at something that to me sounded identical to what you were claiming was the common monotheistic concept of god yesterday. And it also struck me as being pretty funny since gravity is something that we can in fact observe and measure while god is not.

((i was making the point that the successfully trolling 'science brigade' you're so valiantly defending us against, but you know, have fun))

and wtf does "believing in things" have to do with anything?

"I'm not really scientific but I am an atheist."

"probably believes in orgone"

I'm not a bigot, I hate god and science equally.

What about Dorkus Maximus: the God of Science?

And it also struck me as being pretty funny since gravity is something that we can in fact observe and measure while god is not.

― geir was right (wk), Thursday, May 12, 2011 3:01 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

really? we can measure gravity but not god? fire up the presses!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3eTsNEgmL8

God is 3'!

^^^divine revelation

"I'm physical but I'm not a physicist"

mormons know whats up

u r either pure raw dog materialist or "spiritual" no middle ground & i think most ppl are a bit uncomfortable abt accepting that kind of determinism, or things like "love is purely material phenomenon" and i dont blame it is sort of weird

ime "I am spiritual"="I like sunsets and have a dreamcatcher in my car"

some awesome spacemen 3 style wallpaper in that kids in the hall clip!

Everything abt that Kids clip is awesome! Esp. Mark sticking out his smug lil tongue.

i'm not racist but...

Somebody gave me a dreamcatcher a couple of years ago. We're not friends any more.

ime "I am spiritual"="I like sunsets and have a dreamcatcher in my car"

tbph, i get a little bummed by the knee-jerk sneering at this kind of straw-man spirituality. it's so easy, like lolling at dave matthews fans in their tevas and shit. i mean, the english language isn't really all that well-equipped to express these sorts of thoughts, hence dumb oppositions like "spiritual vs. religious."

how are we supposed to talk about our sense of things that seem to exist outside the material world?

u r either pure raw dog materialist or "spiritual" no middle ground & i think most ppl are a bit uncomfortable abt accepting that kind of determinism, or things like "love is purely material phenomenon" and i dont blame it is sort of weird

― flopson, Thursday, May 12, 2011 3:33 PM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark

disagree. i can't speak for most people, but i'm a "pure raw dog materialist," comfortable with the deterministic implications. i'm also open to and interested in what you might call "other things." there's no conflict there, imo.

not sure ugi

ime "I am spiritual"="I like sunsets and have a dreamcatcher in my car"

Yeah, no. Not to me.

Also, what contenderizer said.

tbph, i get a little bummed by the knee-jerk sneering at this kind of straw-man spirituality. it's so easy, like lolling at dave matthews fans in their tevas and shit. i mean, the english language isn't really all that well-equipped to express these sorts of thoughts, hence dumb oppositions like "spiritual vs. religious."

I agree with you, although I don't think spiritual vs. religious is a dumb opposition. I think it's dumb that people try to ignore that difference and file all spiritual thought under the heading of religion. For example I don't think it makes much sense to think of Shinto as a religion in the western sense. And I understand the "lol dreamcatchers" impulse but it also seems not that far removed from the desire to make everything conform to a western conception of religion. How do you differentiate between "lol, stupid shit is stupid" or "lol, metaphysical shit is stupid" or "lol, you're going to hell because you haven't accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior"?

sense of thigns that seem to exist outside the physical world

u definitely r not a member of raw dog pure materialist club sorry

I get where yr coming from flopson, like, even "love" is just chemicals in the brain, all that kind of thing.

Fucking depressing if u ask me.

not sure ugi

― flopson, Thursday, May 12, 2011 4:28 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark

no, dude, i get it. i just enjoy the dissonance.

i'm experiencing some dissonance right now. Didn't we just do this thread?

yes! it is still giving!

http://www.gilroydispatch.com/content/img/f274209/the-giving-tree.jpg

kid 1, tree 0

i always thought that to be charitable to these people, you would just recognize that they probably think something like, 'i have religious feelings that are not just nothing, but every recognized religious institution / practice / doctrine i have encountered is disappointing or repellent or useless to me'.