I’m struggling with the statement people make when they say they are Free Thinkers, Critical Thinkers, Atheist, Humanist, Secularist, and Skeptics, and then they say in the next sentence that they are spiritual!
First lets get some Websters definitions.
Free Thinkers: a person who rejects accepted opinions, especially those concerning religious belief.
Critical Thinkers: Being inherently inquisitive and interested in the world and people around you is a hallmark of leaders who are critical thinkers. Instead of taking everything at face value, a curious person will wonder why something is the way it is.
Atheist: a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods.
Humanist: an advocate or follower of the principles of humanism. "efforts by secular humanists to oppose creationists"
Secularist: a person who advocates separation of the state from religious institutions. "secularists wanted religious reform as the first step to a secular society"
Skeptics: a person inclined to question or doubt accepted opinions.
And then there is “spiritual”
spiritual: relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.
"I'm responsible for his spiritual welfare"
Now lets travel back in time to the time when our ancestors lived in the bush and were hunters and gathers. We have evidence of these creatures because of fossils and remains found between four and seven million years ago. These creatures would run when they heard a noise in the tall grass, they would believe it was a lion. If they were wrong they just got some exercise, but if ignored it and it was a lion it could cost them their lives. They learned there was a cause and effect to most things. They learned the seasons and how they helped them to anticipate the weather. Then they noticed when one of their group died they no longer responded and they had to bury the dead. They surmised that something had left the person and so they assigned that something to be a spirit. Every civilization known to man has had a believe in some sort of spirit leaving the body at death. This belief goes back as far as man does because that’s were the belief came from.
Now we talk about the good spirit and the bad spirit!
My son in-law’s mother died from brain cancer and as the cancer progressed she became cruel and mean to her spouse, children, siblings, parents, and everyone else she came in contact with. Before she was sick she was the most caring sweet person anyone had ever known! The brain and the mind are one in the same and people want to believe that the mind somehow lives on after death through this “spiritual” connection!
I would love to see any evidence of “spiritual” ! Its like a magic rabbits foot in your pocket! And it does as much good!