Re: virus: Spirituality?

Eric Boyd (6ceb3@qlink.queensu.ca)
Thu, 25 Jun 1998 19:45:42 -0400


Hi,

David asks if the following represents 'spirituality':
> [P]eople must belong to a tribe; they yearn to have a purpose larger
> than themselves. We are obligated by the deepest drives of the human
> spirit to make ourselves more than animated dust, and we must have a
> story to tell about where we came from, and why we are here.
> -Edward O. Wilson

>From what I understand, yes. "Spirituality" is about the "spirit", i.e.
that which is *beyond* mere matter. It's my opinion that spirituality is a
bunch of hog-wash.

"Most humans feel what Paul Kurtz has called the "transcendent
temptation," the emotional drive to festoon the universe with
large-scale meaning.... Secular humanists suspect there is something
more gloriously human about resisting the religious impulse; about
accepting the cold truth, even if that truth is only that the
universe is as indifferent to us as we are to it; about facing the
existential vacuum in all its horrible majesty; and constructing a
life of compassion and exuberance on its brink without relying on
the dubious shelter of faith."
-- Tom Flynn, "The Difference a Word Makes",Free Inquiry

"Spirituality" is the result of festooning the universe with large scale
meaning...

ERiC