Being Spiritual

 
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It is popular among many people of my generation (that is, people in their 60's and 70's) to speak of their "spirituality". People like to claim that they are spiritual. I have even been described as spiritual myself, by a handful of my acquaintances, even though I espouse a strictly rational, science-based world view. I can accept this attribution only on the basis of a definition that I read somewhere recently: "religious people do as they are told to do, no matter what is right; spiritual people do what is right, no matter what they are told". But I suspect many would not accept this definition.

The fact is: I don't believe in spirits in any shape or form. I don't believe in anything for which there is not science-based, factual evidence. So I don't think I fit any definition of "spiritual" that is widely accepted. Spiritual people believe in "energy" (I don't mean the physical kind), and souls, and life after death. Not I. The human mind, i.e. that software which runs on the hardware called the brain, is capable of imagining all kinds of things that don't exist. The belief in "spiritual" entities is an outcome of the deep-seated need to satisfy the evolutionary craving for survival. People want to believe that they are immortal so they hanker after any theory that says they will "pass to the other side". Unfortunately, there is no other side.

The human mind is the most powerful tool that we possess. It is the end product of billions of years of evolution. But like any other tool, it can be put to both good and bad uses. We have had Einstein and we've had Hitler. Modern science and technology are one of the pinnacles of good uses. Belief in spirits is not.


Speaker: 
Richard
Date Recorded: 
Friday, May 15, 2020
Date Posted: 
Friday, May 15, 2020
Type of GEM: 
GEM of the Day: 
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
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