I'm not so sure about that. I'm neither religious nor spiritual (in the least). But I'm an activist. Then again, how does one define 'spirituality'? It is such a hazy, ill-defined concept that it invites much discussion and contestation.
I guess it depends on how you define spirituality. I've always been an activist, and I feel that wellness and spirituality keep me from burning out, which is essential if I want to be an effective activist.
Yes, I agree - it depends on how 'spirituality is defined and interpreted'. Just as spirituality works for you, religions and 'belief in God' works for some others. Science (and the scientific methodology) works for still others.
At the end of the day, use whatever tools you feel are necessary to help you (i.e. oneself) to be a better human and make positive changes all around them.
Spirituality works for you, Diana, as it works for many others. Critical thinking (with healthy doses of kindness and compassion when needed) works for me (religions and spirituality doesn't do anything for me).
People get their 'moral beliefs/values' and 'sense-of-self' from various sources - be it religion, God, spirituality, critical thinking, life experiences, nature, science, and so much more (and there is often a huge overlap amongst these different sources).
Yes, I was going to see sometimes it's all of the above.
If pushed to define my idea of spirituality, I say that I'm agnostic with pagan leanings. What ever spirituality is is a mystery, and that's fine with me. And I consider the earth very sacred.
I've lived and been an activist at the intersection of social and environmental justice, so there are lots of overlapping influences.
To me the intersection comes at the biosphere as a whole complex adaptive system of systems. Its complexity and what that really means in all its permutations is so beyond my puny mind that it is spiritual in a deific sense for me. I have no problem that it is a material entity. Atoms are simply packets of confined forces and energies that we clumsily represent as material in the sense that our macroscopically tuned perception understands -- although one must credit Bohr's cleverness for that initial atomic model. And then, the secrets of the quantum world and what that level of flexibility might presage for biosystems. Cloud beings were pitched to my toddler and child self and Michelangelo's old man with the itchy finger on the Sistine roof sticks in my head like a spike, but no more patience with that stuff.
This makes so much sense, and I'm noticing more people are feeling the same way. Activism and spirituality go hand in hand.
>>"Activism and spirituality go hand in hand"
I'm not so sure about that. I'm neither religious nor spiritual (in the least). But I'm an activist. Then again, how does one define 'spirituality'? It is such a hazy, ill-defined concept that it invites much discussion and contestation.
I guess it depends on how you define spirituality. I've always been an activist, and I feel that wellness and spirituality keep me from burning out, which is essential if I want to be an effective activist.
Yes, I agree - it depends on how 'spirituality is defined and interpreted'. Just as spirituality works for you, religions and 'belief in God' works for some others. Science (and the scientific methodology) works for still others.
At the end of the day, use whatever tools you feel are necessary to help you (i.e. oneself) to be a better human and make positive changes all around them.
Spirituality works for you, Diana, as it works for many others. Critical thinking (with healthy doses of kindness and compassion when needed) works for me (religions and spirituality doesn't do anything for me).
People get their 'moral beliefs/values' and 'sense-of-self' from various sources - be it religion, God, spirituality, critical thinking, life experiences, nature, science, and so much more (and there is often a huge overlap amongst these different sources).
Yes, I was going to see sometimes it's all of the above.
If pushed to define my idea of spirituality, I say that I'm agnostic with pagan leanings. What ever spirituality is is a mystery, and that's fine with me. And I consider the earth very sacred.
I've lived and been an activist at the intersection of social and environmental justice, so there are lots of overlapping influences.
To me the intersection comes at the biosphere as a whole complex adaptive system of systems. Its complexity and what that really means in all its permutations is so beyond my puny mind that it is spiritual in a deific sense for me. I have no problem that it is a material entity. Atoms are simply packets of confined forces and energies that we clumsily represent as material in the sense that our macroscopically tuned perception understands -- although one must credit Bohr's cleverness for that initial atomic model. And then, the secrets of the quantum world and what that level of flexibility might presage for biosystems. Cloud beings were pitched to my toddler and child self and Michelangelo's old man with the itchy finger on the Sistine roof sticks in my head like a spike, but no more patience with that stuff.