How many Spiritual Naturalists?

DT Strain

DT Strain

Spiritual Naturalist
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I am in the process of forming a non-profit organization called the Spiritual Naturalist Society, and I was wondering: among the readers here, are there any who might consider their beliefs or practices to be compatible with Spiritual Naturalism?

For background information, I've provided a summary below. Spiritual Naturalism can also be looked up at Wikipedia among other places around the web.

Thanks for your thoughts! :)


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WHAT IS SPIRITUAL NATURALISM?

Spiritual Naturalism is a worldview, value system, and personal life practice. A religion to some, philosophy to others, Spiritual Naturalism sees the universe as one natural and sacred whole – as is the rationality and the science through which nature is revealed. It advocates principles and practices that have compassion as their foundation, and it finds wisdom and inspiration in innumerable rich traditions and ethical philosophies from around the world.

The focus of Spiritual Naturalism is happiness, contentment, or flourishing in life, and a relief from suffering. It is a spirituality whereby we work to become wiser and to live better over time through continued learning, contemplative practices, and character development. It is by walking such a path that we become more capable of helping to make the world a better place, and in so doing, come closer to the flourishing ‘good life’.

To explain in more detail, it is helpful to take each word separately:

Naturalism is a view of the world that includes those things which we can observe or directly conclude from observations. Naturalists’ conception of reality consists of the natural world as outlined by the latest scientific understanding. As for claims for which we have no evidence, we do not hold any beliefs in these and do not make any other claims about them. It is quite possible, even likely, that many things exist which we cannot detect, but we believe in a humble approach to knowledge. With humility, we can recognize that human beings are imperfect in their ability to know all things. Therefore, we are careful to limit our claims about reality to what we can experience and measure, as well as reproduce and show to others. On all else, we are content to admit “we don’t know”.

Spirituality is the other word in Spiritual Naturalism. For many, the word ‘spirituality’ has an association with the supernatural. However, we mean the term in its more general and original sense. The Latin root word spiritus meant ‘wind’ or ‘breath’, or the essence of something. As we might speak of the ‘spirit of the law’ or ‘school spirit’, the spiritual is that which is concerned with the essence of life – or the essential things in life. Thus, a person with no sense of spirituality would be a person that lives on the surface, always dealing only with the shallow or the mundane; perhaps even a materialistic person. But to have spirituality is to be concerned with the larger, deeper, and essential matters of life and to apply ourselves consciously toward them in a committed practice or ‘walk’. This includes, as Socrates put it, the ‘examined life’, and this is what we mean by spirituality.

[FONT=&quot]Because it is a general term that overlaps with many viewpoints, it is possible for a person to be a Spiritual Naturalist and several other things simultaneously. Spiritual Naturalism cuts across traditional or familiar categories. Many Humanists, Unitarians, Freethinkers, Jews, Pagans, Buddhists, skeptics, atheists, agnostics, and others may also be Spiritual Naturalists, though not all of them.

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What is the difference between Spiritual Naturalism and Pantheism or even Panentheism?
 
Etu Malku said:
What is the difference between Spiritual Naturalism and Pantheism or even Panentheism?
Click to expand...

Hi Etu :)

There is a range of interpretation for Pantheism. Those with a more impersonal interpretation that simply reveres Nature, consistent with naturalism, would fall under the broader category of Spiritual Naturalism, and this would be a good number of them from what I understand. There are some branches or interpretations of pantheism which are less naturalistic or more personified which might not be included however. Furthermore, there are many others who would fall under the Spiritual Naturalist category who come from the Humanist, Buddhist, or other traditions, for whom the 'theist' part of that term would be found to be less relevant.

In short, a good amount of overlap with pantheism, but not precisely the same, and broader such that several non-pantheists are also included.
 
Happiness and the removal of suffering is an innate goal of living beings. There is nothing wrong with such an ideal, but what attitude do you take towards death? The happier you are in life, the less you will want it to end.

Do spiritual naturalists think that life is a physical phenomena ie arising from matter or do they accept the existence of a life force or soul separate from the body?

You have defined the word spirit to mean essence, do you accept the existence of supernatural phenomena? Do you think that everything can be explained in natural, scientific terms?

Experience is a subjective phenomena and not able to be measured, reproduced, shown to others, or objectively observed in any meaningful way. What is your opinion on spiritual experiences as evidence of supernatural phenomena?
 
I too fall into the category. But my naturalism includes both material and mental events and my spiritualism includes both the universe (that which we can experience) and a beyond (that we cannot experience) as a Kosmos.

I wopuld recommend you look up AN Whitehea, DT, (who, hari krishna, would have answered "natural progression", "of course", "yes, but we cannot know it", "yes, but not in terms of matriel monism", and "yes" to your questions).

pax et amore omnia vincunt!
 
DT Strain said:
I am in the process of forming a non-profit organization called the Spiritual Naturalist Society, and I was wondering: among the readers here, are there any who might consider their beliefs or practices to be compatible with Spiritual Naturalism?
Click to expand...

Hi DT, I look forward to learning more about your beliefs. I consider myself an agnostic pantheist; with some random influences from Buddhism, Christianity, and Native American belief systems. I try to keep an open mind towards other belief systems/religions to see if there are insights that I can incorporate into my daily life to increase my happiness and decrease suffering; I think there is something positive to be learned from every religion.

From a few of your posts I see that Buddhism has influenced your belief system. How does your interpretation of Spiritual Naturalism differ from Buddhism? What is the Spiritual Naturalist stance on a personal afterlife? Does Spiritual Naturalism consider morality to be absolute or relative? What is your moral viewpoint towards other sentient beings besides humans; food, or fellow travelers on this journey?

To you, what is the difference between religion and philosophy? And what are the goals of your new non-profit organization?

Pura vida,
Iowa Guy
 
Hello friends, and thank you all for your responses. I normally am able to respond on weekdays, so I will try to address everyone who responded.


SEATTLEGAL:
Thanks, I have found some of Metzinger's work to be very interesting :)


HARI KRISHNA:
When you say, "The happier you are in life, the less you will want it to end" I am not certain this must necessarily be true. There is a way the Spiritual Naturalist can 'come to terms' with impermanence. I address this very issue in my article "Adieu to Immortality" which I wrote for The New Humanism, here:

DT Strain - Adieu To Immortality

On subjective phenomena, it is true these things cannot be proved, but there is some context in which the subjective can be scientifically investigated. Consider research into pain medication, which ultimately relies upon subject reports of subjective sensation. In any case, what is or is not possible to 'prove' is not really in our control. Rather, the more significant point is that we do not make claims about things for which we have no evidence. We have, as a spiritual practice and value, the principle of coming to accept the state of "I don't know" and that great mystery will always be a matter with which to contend in spiritual practice. Instead, like the Buddha taught, we focus on making ourselves more compassionate and helping to relieve suffering for ourselves and others. Whatever degree we are able to know the mysteries of the univerese are more a gift of circumstance than they are earned or gained through effort - not ultimately within our control, and less relevant to our discipline.


IOWAGUY:
Pleased to hear from a similarly-minded fellow! Much agreed regarding your first paragraph. As for Buddhism, I would consider the more philosophical/naturalist end of the Buddhist spectrum to be a kind of spiritual naturalism. Of course, the other end of the spectrum where practitioners also have a number of supernatural-like elements, would lie outside the spiritual naturalist circle. So, many Buddhists I expect would be a very welcome part of the community in the SNS.

The difference between religion and philosophy depends greatly on one's definition of each. I view philosophy as any endeavor where we are asking "what is?" and/or "what ought to be?". Therefore, religion would be a subset of philosophy, and certainly be based on a philosophy of its own. It doesn't really matter to me what is or is not a 'religion'. This is a linguistic matter and a huge distraction. The essential matter is that there are 'good perspectives and practices for living well'. I do not care much where they come from or what they're called.

The mission of the Spiritual Naturalist Society will be to: (a) spread awareness of spiritual naturalism as a philosophy and a way of life, and (b) provide a place where like-minded spiritual naturalists can fellowship, practice together, and learn from one another.
 
Yep, philosophy is the "meta-category" that includes science and religion and axiology (the study-discussion of value). "Spiritual naturalism" wopuld then be akin to the religious thought of progmatists and neo-pragmatists -- that is that the spiritual (an therefore, logically, the mental) exists as part of reality (reality is not limited to material stuff). Meta-physics or first philosophy or speculative philosophy is the real category that answers "what is" in my book.

Pax et amore omnia vincunt!
 
Radarmark,

Very sorry I missed you in my responses! You have said your spirituality includes that which is beyond our experience. I would say mine certainly accepts there may be (and almost certainly are) many things unknown or even unknowable. I'm not sure how to include them in my spirituality beyond that humble acceptance. To do so, seems to require us to make specific assumptions as to what these may be and how they operate. I cannot speak for others, but I'm afraid I wouldn't know much about such things :)
 
Spiritual naturalism: doesn't that mean you pretend you're all holy and sing hymns while walking around naked as the day the good lord made ya?
 
Dang! A new label to consider!

DT, you've also caused me to look into Stoicism, which, to borrow sg's phrase, appears to be some way up my alley. :p
 
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