Jurrian
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There is no universally accepted definition of spirituality, but there is a near-universal recognition by people of a "spiritual dimension" in human experience, however interpreted. Humanists have often referred to "the human spirit" (l'esprit humain", $B?MJ8@:?@(B, $B?M4V$N@:?@(B, $B'i'V']'`'S'V'i'V'c'\'`'T'`(B $B'U'e'g'Q(B).
Paul
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If you draw your 'near universal' sample to exclude the scientific community you may be right. Within that community you would find only a minority support for the idea of there being a human spirit.
Jurrian
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Broadly, we could say spirituality refers to the personal meanings given to the total experience or self-awareness one has of being-in-the-world, a sort of synthesis of all the different parts, activities and contexts associated with a living personality, or a group of people.
It creates a personal holistic "sense" or "awareness", which provides personal balance, and orients behaviour.
Paul
---- This is what would normally be called conciousness. By refering to this as spirituality you are putting a christian obscurantist slant on it. Jurrian --------- Somebody who is spiritually deeply injured, becomes observably disoriented or behaviourally impaired, and conversely, somebody who is spiritually very strong, can maintain himself and hold his own, in extraordinary circumstances that would defeat most other people. Paul ---- This is nonsense, and very dangerous nonsense at that. What independent measure of 'spiritual injury' is there appart from the disorientation and behavioural impairment? To attribute this to spiritual injury lends credence to 'spiritual remedies' like casting out demons, the beating and chastisement associated with which csauses considerable suffering and injury to people accussed of spiritual disorders. Jurrian -------- For example, when the New Left hero Che Guevara said: "At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love - it is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality" he was uttering a spiritual statement. The statement expresses a personal belief, which is scientifically unprovable (although obviously some tests of the proposition could be devised). For another example, Chairman Mao said: "Dare to struggle, dare to win". This is also a spiritual statement, a direct appeal to the hearts and minds of the people urging them confidence to overcome their hesitations and fight to succeed. Paul ----- Did Mao say this was a spiritual statement or an ideologicala statement? Jurrian --------- Neurologists emphasize that in everyday life, the human brain must constantly assume conditions without, or in advance of, evidence or knowledge that those conditions are actually there, that they exist. So, effectively, we are constantly performing all kinds of mental operations "on faith" at the most basic levels of our existence (influenced by fear, aggression, hope, desire, love etc.) even if we are unaware of that. This has nothing necessarily to do with religion per se, but rather with the minimal necessity to believe "something", since if you didn't, you wouldn't even get across the road. It is the ultimate basis for what hypnotherapists call "suggestibility" and politicians call "gullibility". In logical terms, what this really implies is, that the human brain itself spontaneously performs associative and intuitive reasonings of a "metaphysical" type, that we are all "natural metaphysicians", who use different kinds of metaphors, imagery and ontologies to guide us personally in life. These "metaphysical approaches" importantly shape our sense of who we are. Paul ----- But what has this to do with the spirit hypothesis as opposed to the alternative hypothesis that this arises from the nervous system? _______________________________________________ ope mailing list ope@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/opeReceived on Mon Mar 23 18:54:47 2009
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