I know I'll probably get some pushback on this, but I really don't believe that being "spiritual" is any different that believing in gods and religion.
It's just putting a different name on it to make oneself feel better about it.
Fine, if that's what someone wants to do, I just don't buy it.

I am the oddball again, by saying I am spiritual sided. Like when I bring up Nationaism being worst than Religion.

Spiritual is simply the 99 percent unknowns.!. Util it's manifest into our ego self. Sure enough we live in an over ego world. Religion is not spiritual because it is a broken parrot repeating ancient myths and legends that are not good enough for scientific or reasonably connecting. Rather a divider than all things connected

A step forward. I have seen people at the Grand Canyon say this is a spiritual moment and for the lack of something else to say I agreed

Your idea of herding the religious flocks into halfway houses called spiritual treatment centers is laudable but unrealistic. The people who monetize religion will fight you till the end of time.

It seems we all have different beliefs. I believe energy does not end at death. That is the part that I believe continues on after death with some semblance of our being embedded in it. If you believe that is a relic of religion, so be it--I don't. If you believe all of the "me" ends at death, so be it--I don't. If you believe spirituality is emotions, so be it--I don't. Any of these might happen. However, I think the biggest joke is that we spend so much time discussing proof for the nonexistence of god or looking for definitive responses about what comes after death when we could be going on with the life we have and making it the best for ourselves and those we come in contact with.

Here's hoping we can accept differences of opinion while alive better than many of those who have led our and other countries for millenium.

i have no clue what a former believer needs in terms of crutches or rest-belief or whatever. i was born a heathen & always happy to be that. my spirituality originated in not-knowing what i saw & sensed a few times - call it entities, ghosts, spirits, i DON'T KNOW. energy seemingly doesn't get lost with death, & if i am keenly observant i can sense the state of being in someone else without the help of actions or words. i have no belief whatsoever, & some things i simply do not know. that is my spirituality.

Spear-Ritual nonsense. All hocus pocus is nothing more than the solipsistic nature of monkeys in pants in a futile attempt to deny their mortality. Spirit and soul are made up words from the infancy of a hominid species previous to any comprehension of scientific reality. Spirituality is merely delusion in another set of clothes.

I don't think spirituality is the answer. I think the vague notions that come along with spirituality can lead to individuals accepting other ideas with vague explanations, which can lead to real harm. Examples would be homeopathy, crystal healing, alkaline water, etc. The belief in these ideas can interfere with people getting the medical help they need, and occasionally cause direct harm through improper production, for example not actually diluting the ingredients in a homeopathic remedy.

Dualism is an concept with long standing, that the mind is sperate from the body, God is sperate from his creation. It was however, an induction, not a dedection and was inferred without evidence. It's pretty clear our minds are part of our bodies now, but people still believe in the Easter Bunny. Some ideas are harder to be fir of than others. I can't say that any belief in an imagininary being or state is positive, it's only something that happens to some people, like toe fungus.

I am an atheist pagan, and do not believe in gods or goddesses. I think they are archetypes to make sense of the world when the ancient people had no other explanation. I honor the earth and nature. I believe in a life force, but I don't worship it or anything.

" Free your mind and your ass will follow- the kingdom of heaven is within" George Clinton Funkadelic 1970 No truer words have ever been written