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Do Atheists Ever Experience Spiritual Discoveries & Revelations ?

Eatomus

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I ask this question from the perspective of one who held no firm belief in God or an afterlife at the time .
I can distinctly remember as a small child looking into a mirror & looking at the way my body moved based upon thoughts prompting it , and coming to a very real discovery that there was a part of me that was completely apart from the physical.
It was quite a startling revelation for me as a child I remember.
To the point that I can remember my mother becoming very alarmed over a one or two day period where I would do nothing but spend time gazing into a mirror .
Realizing for the first time that the physical part of me was listening and was being completely undergirded by a non-physical part of me ,
Not only that , but realizing that this non-physical part , was a part that nobody else could ever see, touch ,or know .
The non-physical was the real me.
As opposed to the assembly of cells that I could see in the mirror .
My Spirit.
Do atheists allow themselves to have any spiritual side to them at all, or is this strictly forbidden territory to them that they make a conscious choice to avoid .
Or does it all depend on the individual ?
I have only ever heard Atheists focused exclusively on the disbelief in God, but never any other spiritual matter .
Just Curious .
 
I ask this question from the perspective of one who held no firm belief in God or an afterlife at the time .
I can distinctly remember as a small child looking into a mirror & looking at the way my body moved based upon thoughts prompting it , and coming to a very real discovery that there was a part of me that was completely apart from the physical.
It was quite a startling revelation for me as a child I remember.
To the point that I can remember my mother becoming very alarmed over a one or two day period where I would do nothing but spend time gazing into a mirror .
Realizing for the first time that the physical part of me was listening and was being completely undergirded by a non-physical part of me ,
Not only that , but realizing that this non-physical part , was a part that nobody else could ever see, touch ,or know .
The non-physical was the real me.
As opposed to the assembly of cells that I could see in the mirror .
My Spirit.
Do atheists allow themselves to have any spiritual side to them at all, or is this strictly forbidden territory to them that they make a conscious choice to avoid .
Or does it all depend on the individual ?
I have only ever heard Atheists focused exclusively on the disbelief in God, but never any other spiritual matter .
Just Curious .
Most people know about the conversion of C.S. Lewis and his writings. I'd say look at this list and research what they have to say.
 
I'm not spiritual or religious, so no.
 
I ask this question from the perspective of one who held no firm belief in God or an afterlife at the time .
I can distinctly remember as a small child looking into a mirror & looking at the way my body moved based upon thoughts prompting it , and coming to a very real discovery that there was a part of me that was completely apart from the physical.
It was quite a startling revelation for me as a child I remember.
To the point that I can remember my mother becoming very alarmed over a one or two day period where I would do nothing but spend time gazing into a mirror .
Realizing for the first time that the physical part of me was listening and was being completely undergirded by a non-physical part of me ,
Not only that , but realizing that this non-physical part , was a part that nobody else could ever see, touch ,or know .
The non-physical was the real me.
As opposed to the assembly of cells that I could see in the mirror .
My Spirit.
Do atheists allow themselves to have any spiritual side to them at all, or is this strictly forbidden territory to them that they make a conscious choice to avoid .
Or does it all depend on the individual ?
I have only ever heard Atheists focused exclusively on the disbelief in God, but never any other spiritual matter .
Just Curious .
Atheists are exactly like theists with that one tiny little exception being “god”. Even theists are atheists when it come to all the other gods out there except theirs.

So, atheists can experience any and all of the same emotions, wonders, beauties, fears, and excitements as theists can. Some might be from a different perspective, but the emotions are all the same.

It’s almost like you’re asking how can atheists enjoy the wonders and mysteries of life if they don’t believe in god. As if that’s exclusive only to believers.
 
Atheists are exactly like theists with that one tiny little exception being “god”. Even theists are atheists when it come to all the other gods out there except theirs.

So, atheists can experience any and all of the same emotions, wonders, beauties, fears, and excitements as theists can. Some might be from a different perspective, but the emotions are all the same.

It’s almost like you’re asking how can atheists enjoy the wonders and mysteries of life if they don’t believe in god. As if that’s exclusive only to believers.
There's different types of theism. Polytheists believe in the existence of more than one god.

I agree that atheists can experience "revelation". Through it some have even converted.
 
Atheists are exactly like theists with that one tiny little exception being “god”. Even theists are atheists when it come to all the other gods out there except theirs.

So, atheists can experience any and all of the same emotions, wonders, beauties, fears, and excitements as theists can. Some might be from a different perspective, but the emotions are all the same.

It’s almost like you’re asking how can atheists enjoy the wonders and mysteries of life if they don’t believe in god. As if that’s exclusive only to believers.
So minus the concept of a God, Atheists believe that our flesh and blood is merely the external dwelling. habitation place for what is essentially the real us , our soul, spirit ?
Do you believe this is pretty much the way all Atheists view it ?
Just in this short survey it would seem some Atheists do not think this way at all :

" I'm not spiritual or religious, so no." ( Nomad4ever )
 
So minus the concept of a God, Atheists believe that our flesh and blood is merely the external dwelling. habitation place for what is essentially the real us , our soul, spirit ?
Do you believe this is pretty much the way all Atheists view it ?
Just in this short survey it would seem some Atheists do not think this way at all :

" I'm not spiritual or religious, so no." ( Nomad4ever )
I don't personally believe in souls. I don't think there is any concept of "me" that exists outside of my physical body. My view is that humans are just complicated computers.

Other atheists can be spiritual. I'm just not one of them.
 
If an experience doesn't have a rational explanation, the correct response is to be skeptical about it, not just arbitrarily label it a spiritual experience.
 
I don't personally believe in souls. I don't think there is any concept of "me" that exists outside of my physical body. My view is that humans are just complicated computers.

Other atheists can be spiritual. I'm just not one of them.

Same. There is no evidence of a soul. In fact all the evidence we have points to consciousness being directly part of one's very fleshy brain.
 
Why does it appear some think all theists think, believe, and react to things the same way, and that all atheists must then obviously think, believe, and react a completely different way???

Surely there’s millions and millions of theists who don’t experience spiritual revelations.
 
Some atheists experience spiritual discoveries and revelations. Just as one example, many Buddhists are also atheists, but nonetheless seek spiritual enlightenment.
 
I don't personally believe in souls. I don't think there is any concept of "me" that exists outside of my physical body. My view is that humans are just complicated computers.

Other atheists can be spiritual. I'm just not one of them.

Most computers run some kind of software. There is a concept of Sid Meier's Civ VI that exists outside of any physical computer. The soul of Civ VI is a mathematical process for processing inputs to produce an output. I would recognize it no matter what hardware you might choose to run it on.
 
Same. There is no evidence of a soul. In fact all the evidence we have points to consciousness being directly part of one's very fleshy brain.
That's pretty much what the Bible teaches...we are living souls, when we die we'll be dead souls...there is no separate, invisible being that flies off somewhere...
 
That's pretty much what the Bible teaches...we are living souls, when we die we'll be dead souls...there is no separate, invisible being that flies off somewhere...

There is no evidence that any soul exists. Why should anyone believe what a Bronze Age book of mythology says?
 
There is no evidence that any soul exists. Why should anyone believe what a Bronze Age book of mythology says?
If you exist, you are a soul...your very being is a soul...
 
If you exist, you are a soul...your very being is a soul...

I am not a soul. I am a physical body with a consciousness entirely derived from that same physicality. There is no evidence for souls.
 
I am not a soul. I am a physical body with a consciousness entirely derived from that same physicality. There is no evidence for souls.
You are still a living soul...

  • Soul
    • The traditional rendering of the Hebrew word neʹphesh and the Greek word psy·kheʹ. In examining the way these terms are used in the Bible, it becomes evident that they basically refer to (1) people, (2) animals, or (3) the life that a person or an animal has. (Ge 1:20; 2:7; Nu 31:28; 1Pe 3:20; also ftns.) In contrast to the way that the term “soul” is used in many religious contexts, the Bible shows that both neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ, in connection with earthly creatures, refer to that which is material, tangible, visible, and mortal.
    • https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=soul&p=sen&r=newest
 
You are still a living soul...

  • Soul
    • The traditional rendering of the Hebrew word neʹphesh and the Greek word psy·kheʹ. In examining the way these terms are used in the Bible, it becomes evident that they basically refer to (1) people, (2) animals, or (3) the life that a person or an animal has. (Ge 1:20; 2:7; Nu 31:28; 1Pe 3:20; also ftns.) In contrast to the way that the term “soul” is used in many religious contexts, the Bible shows that both neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ, in connection with earthly creatures, refer to that which is material, tangible, visible, and mortal.
    • https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=soul&p=sen&r=newest

Why should I or anyone else care what a Bronze Age book of mythology claims?

The ancient Greeks also believed the Earth was the center of the universe. The ancient Hebrews believed the Earth was a flat circle covered in a dome. Why should I care what they had a word for?
 
Why should I or anyone else care what a Bronze Age book of mythology claims?

The ancient Greeks also believed the Earth was the center of the universe. The ancient Hebrews believed the Earth was a flat circle covered in a dome. Why should I care what they had a word for?
lol...like it or not, you've expressed the same belief that the Bible teaches for "soul"...
 
lol...like it or not, you've expressed the same belief that the Bible teaches for "soul"...

Except the Bible very clearly teaches that the soul is a the spiritual aspect of a person and I wholly reject the claim that any kind of spirits exist.
 
Except the Bible very clearly teaches that the soul is a the spiritual aspect of a person and I wholly reject the claim that any kind of spirits exist.
It does not...
 
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