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minor PSA: we have a Spirituality community now (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by alyaza to c/support

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this was made a few days ago when i was off but nobody announced it, so i guess i'm doing that now. the sidebar describes its purpose as follows:

Spirituality is a broad concept with room for many perspectives. In general, it includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life. As such, it is a universal human experience—something that touches us all. People may describe a spiritual experience as sacred or transcendent or simply a deep sense of aliveness and interconnectedness.

Some may find that their spiritual life is intricately linked to their association with a church, temple, mosque, or synagogue. Others may pray or find comfort in a personal relationship with God or a higher power. Still others seek meaning through their connections to nature or art. Like your sense of purpose, your personal definition of spirituality may change throughout your life, adapting to your own experiences and relationships

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[–] SalaTris 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For me as an non-sectarian, the good parts from organized religion are advice and lessons about living life, which science doesn’t particularly address.

I recently read an elder theologist reflecting on the stages of enlightenment and I realized that I agreed entirely with them. The difference was our journeys for how we arrived at these same conclusions. They spent their entire life figuring that out. And I had figured it out probably by the end high school. I am not saying I am smart or flawless, because the other person has a lifetime of experience that I don’t have culminating in their wisdom. But they chose to spend their time on such matters, and I chose to spend my time differently.

[–] flora_explora 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hm yes, I've heard this argument before and this I agree that people can benefit from the community aspect of religion and the wisdom of religious/spiritual scholars. But I don't see how this is necessarily connected to religion/spirituality itself? Why not have these outside of religion? How is it necessary to be religious or spiritual to form a community?

I have the feeling that it is indeed harder for people to form communities without religion or some sort of spiritual believe. Like, back in time people were much more connected via these institutions, while today people are much more individualistic (at least in western societies). But I think the underlying problem here isn't the missing religious community but rather capitalism. As an anarchist I imagine a world in where people are connected in a community by the motivation of a communal project (which is the community itself) and how to have a good life for everyone.

We can certainly learn from religious/spiritual teachings, but the problem is when you project stuff into the unknown you easily end up with a belief that mirrors your worldview. And this has caused tremendous harm. As a gay, neurodivergent trans woman, I would have been excluded and discriminated against a lot in religious/spiritual communities. And the same scholars from which we could learn something would often see women or POCs as sub-human. The same goes with most philosophers btw. We can try to nitpick what knowledge can benefit us, but we have to be careful what teaching only makes sense in their limited, discriminatory and hegemonic worldview.

All in all, I don't see how communities can actually benefit from religion or spirituality. I can see that accumulated knowledge by religious scholars can offer us something, but I cannot see how this is tied to being religious? When they tell you to perform rhythmic prayers five times a day, great, but why not just have a communal gymnastics class or something? And when they teach you how focus on the things that are important or to look inside than this isn't connected to religion/spirituality either.

A bit offtopic: Now I'm imagining an alternative community approach where the connecting factor is an anarchist, anti-capitalistic idea and where we could have accumulated knowledge of how to live life better together in a community. But even this would create a very fragile balance because scholars could then powertrip etc... An endless topic to explore! I really enjoyed Ursula le Guin's book The Dispossessed (fiction) and cannot recommend it enough ;)

[–] SalaTris 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the book recommendation! Yeah, discrimination can happen with or without religion. It seems to me that any human system is capable of being exploited or corrupted.

I look at religion from the perspective of "what purpose does the manufacturing of religion serve?" assuming there's good intention. I am with you that what organized religion typically offers is not exclusive to religion.

What is "community"? Is it surrounding myself with people who are exactly like me?

Personally, I find it helpful to have a "safe space" to talk to other people who are going through a similar experience that I am. Although I am not great at it I also think it's healthy to interact with the outside world from time to time. At best we learn something from one another, at worst (I hope) we tolerate one another.