Spirituality or spiritual practices are often confused for religion but are an entirely different phenomenon having a scientific core: self-inquiry.

Science And Spirituality

Certain religions like Buddhism are scientific in nature and do not talk of any all-powerful deity or God. 
They focus on inner transformation, teaching spiritual exploration, or endeavor, with practical experiments in knowing the self and looking at the world with a feeling of wonder and awe.

A Scientific Approach To God

<ul>
<li>Religion is a much broader term than what the fundamentalists have promoted. It can be as objective as science (For example Buddhism).</li>
<li>Spirituality encompasses a lot more than what various religions try to impose on individuals.</li>
</ul>

Spiritual But Not Religious

Science is only one of the many ways by which knowledge is attained, and truth is explored and discovered. The totality of being human includes other ways of exploring and knowing reality, which are beyond descriptions and explanations. One of those ways is the pursuit of self-realization.

Scientific Inquiry Is Spiritual

Being spiritual and sacred is incorrectly associated with religion, which may have rules, dogma, guidelines and other characteristics, something not part of the true essence of self-inquiry in one’s inner exploration and subsequent transformation.

Spiritual And Sacred

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Spirituality can be an uncomfortable word for atheists. But does it deserve the antagonism that it gets?

Adam Frank is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester and a leading expert on the final stages of evolution for stars like the sun. Frank's computational research group at the University of Rochester has developed advanced supercomputer tools for studying how stars form and how they die. A self-described “evangelist of science," he is the author of four books and the co-founder of 13.8, where he explores the beauty and power of science in culture with physicist Marcelo Gleiser.

The sun tries to break through the trees and mist of Cannock Chase Forest at Severn Springs in Stafford, England.

<ul><li>While the anti-scientific bias of religious fundamentalism requires condemnation, if we take a broader view, does the human inclination towards spiritual practice still require the same antagonism? The answer, I think, is a definitive "No." </li><li>Rather than ontological claims about what exists in the universe, the terms spiritual and sacred can describe the character of an experience. Instead of a "thing" they can refer to an attitude or an approach. </li><li> One can be entirely faithful to the path of inquiry and honesty that is science while making it one aspect of a broader practice embracing the totality of your experience as a human being in this more-than-human world. </li> </ul>

​The tension between science and religion is old news to us moderns. Historical events like the Catholic Church's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair">trial of Galileo </a>or the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Scopes-Trial">Scopes Monkey Trial </a>over teaching Darwin in schools, seem to imply that religion and science are incompatible. More recently, writers like <a href="https://bigthink.com/u/richarddawkins">Richard Dawkins </a>, <a href="https://bigthink.com/u/danieldennett">Daniel Dennett </a>,and other ' <a href="https://iep.utm.edu/n-atheis/">New Atheists' </a>have been vigorous in their condemnation of the anti-scientific bias of religious fundamentalism. But if we take a broader view beyond these fundamentalisms, if we ask about the human inclination towards spiritual practice in general, do we still have to find the same antagonism? The answer, I think, is a definitive "No." And that answer is important as we consider the totality of what it means to be human.

First, it's important to distinguish between religion and what I'll call spiritual practice. In his excellent book "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062316117?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1">Sapiens </a>," Yuval Noah Harari defines religion as "a system of human norms and values that is founded in the belief in a superhuman order." There are two parts of this definition that are important for our discussion. First is the "system of human norms." That phrase points to a lot of stuff, but it also means politics. There is an aspect of organized religion that has always been about establishing and enforcing social norms: Who is an authority; who justifies who is in charge; who marries whom; who tells you how to behave. This aspect of religion is about power within social hierarchies.

The second part of Harari's definition refers to a "superhuman order." Note that he does not say a "supernatural" order. Why? Because some religions like Buddhism don't pivot around the existence of an all-powerful deity. This distinction is important because it allows you to see a point many scholars of religion have made after looking at the long human history of what I'll call spiritual endeavor . From our beginnings as hunter-gathers, we have always been responding to a sense of a "superhuman order." That response has taken many different forms from beautiful paintings on <a href="https://www.oldest.org/artliterature/cave-paintings/">cave walls </a>to beautiful paintings on the ceiling of the <a href="https://m.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani-mobile/en/collezioni/musei/cappella-sistina/storia-cappella-sistina.html">Sistine Chapel </a>.

In my <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0520265866?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1">first book </a>, I looked in depth at this response, its history, and its relation to science. Even though I consider myself an atheist, experiences of a superhuman order have been with me since I was a kid. Heck, that's what science was to me—an order expressible in mathematics beyond the purely human. In fact, many of my deepest experiences of being alive had come to me through my scientific practice. Working through some line of mathematical reasoning or encountering some image of a nebula or galaxy, I'd get thrust into an overwhelming sense of the universe's presence, of its perfect unity and wholeness. At first, I saw the laws of physics as the source of that order but as I got older my focus widened.

Now, one could say that my experiences were "just awe" and nothing more. But as the great scholar of religion, <a href="https://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln101/Otto.htm">Rudolph Otto </a>noted, awe is the essential component of a spiritual experience. It is an encounter with what other scholars have called "sacredness."

So, what are we to make of these words "spiritual" and "sacred"? Some strident atheists recoil at these terms because they believe they must entail a belief in supernatural entities. This is a mistake. Both can point to something much broader. Rather than ontological claims about what exists in the universe, spiritual and sacred can describe the character of an experience. Instead of a "thing", they can refer to an attitude or an approach. This is the central point William James made in his masterwork "<a href="https://www.giffordlectures.org/lectures/varieties-religious-experience">The Varieties of Religious Experience </a>." To speak about sacredness is to understand that some experiences (the birth of your child, coming upon a silent forest glade, hearing a powerful symphony) evoke an order that is more than just our thoughts about that order . And to speak of "the spiritual" can call to the highest aspects of the human spirit: compassion, kindness, empathy, generosity, love.

This kind of understanding of spiritual and sacred have always been with us and they may, or may not, have anything to do with a particular religion. This is where we can draw a distinction between a spiritual practice and a religious one. In a spiritual practice, people purposely attempt to deepen their lived sense of the superhuman order they experience. It is, literally, a practice. You work on it every day, perhaps using meditation or ritual or service to others. The methods differ but the daily application and aspiration are the same.

The important point is that spiritual practice has a purpose: transformation . It is to become a person who lives in accord with that sense of experienced order, that sacredness. Such a lifelong aspiration and effort can happen within an individual religious tradition if there are domains within that tradition that truly support this kind of interior work. Unfortunately, the politics of religion can sometimes keep this from happening. As scholars Joseph Campbell, Walter Houston Clark, and others have said, church can be a <a href="https://www.context.org/iclib/ic12/campbell/">"vaccination" against the real thing. </a>

It's also possible to build such a practice outside of established religious tradition. In that case, the difficulty comes in inventing forms that can support a lifelong practice. There is something to be said for traditions or rituals that have endured for many generations and the best of these often occur within some religious traditions.

The bottom line is human beings have felt the need for spiritual practice for a long, long time. That means that even as participation in traditional religions <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/">drops </a>, people claiming to be "spiritual but not religious" and people who embrace science continue to grow. The writer <a href="https://annakaharris.com/">Annika Harris </a>and her spouse New Atheist <a href="https://samharris.org/books/the-end-of-faith/">Sam Harris </a>are, for example, strong defenders of science. They have also both <a href="https://samharris.org/how-to-meditate/">written </a>about the importance of contemplative practice in their lives.

I have long argued that science is one way that the aspiration to know the true and the real is expressed. It is one way we express that sense of an order beyond us. But there are other ways that go beyond descriptions and explanation, and all of them make up the totality of being human. That means you can embrace science in all its power and still embed it within the larger context of human experience. All of us can be entirely faithful to the path of inquiry and honesty that is science while making it one aspect of a practice meant to embrace the fullness of your experience as a human in this more-than-human world.

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16 values children learned from pop culture in the past 50 years

A 50-year study reveals changing values children learned from pop culture.

<ul><li>A new study tracked changes in values tweens (8-12 years old) get from popular culture. </li><li>The researchers compared 16 values over a 50-year-period. </li><li>The report was created by the UCLA's Center for Scholars and Storytellers. </li> </ul>

Change in values from tween television.

Credit: <a href="https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/">UCLA Center for Scholars and Storytellers </a>

Most watched tween TV shows from 1967-2017 in the U.S.

Labeling thinkers like Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs as "other" may be stifling humanity's creative potential.

<ul><li>Revolutionary ideas and culture-shifting inventions are often credited to specific individuals, but how often do these "geniuses" actually operate in creative silos? </li><li>Tim Sanders, former chief strategy officer at Yahoo, argues that there are three myths getting in the way of innovative ideas and productive collaborations: the myths of the expert, the eureka moment, and the "lone inventor." </li><li>More than an innate quality reserved for an elite group, neuroscientist Heather Berlin and neurobiologist Joy Hirsch explain how creativity looks in the brain, and how given opportunity, resources, and attitude, we can all be like Bach, Beethoven, and Steve Jobs. </li> </ul>

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Spiritual atheism: Can you be scientific and spiritual? - Big Think

Science And Spirituality

A Scientific Approach To God

Spiritual But Not Religious

Scientific Inquiry Is Spiritual

Spiritual And Sacred

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