is it ok to call oneself Spiritual when they don't believe in Spirits?

by dragotron

Dec 30, 2012

The Spiritual Atheist..

If the purpose of speech is to convey a message. And an atheist calls himself spiritual. Isn't that person misrepresenting himself by using a word that is most largely viewed to be synonymous with "soul"? Even if he himself has his own unique meaning for it (which takes a 5 minute video to understand)

Let's be honest most people hear the word spirit and think soul.. don't they?

It seems like a way of justifying for no reason. If there is a lack of a better word... make a new one. To me I find that people are kind of ridiculed or perceived in a derogatory way if they admit or "come out" with believing they do not have a soul. Like you are somehow less of a person, lacking mystery, etc.. So when someone tries to find a convoluted means of explaining why they call themselves "spiritual". I feel that they are pandering to this unfortunate misperception.

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  • up

    MikeLong

    Well Sam Harris has an opinion, but, in my opinion, he's using the word "spiritual" in a sense he would like it to have - not in its generally-accepted sense.

    Sure, words change their meanings constantly. Perhaps in a decade or two Sam Harris won't come under the same amount of fire for his (currently incorrect) definition of the word.

    Jan 6

    • up

      MikeLong

      archaeopteryx:

      Ok I hit the link called "> Reply" directly under your post, I created a reply (which you'll find somewhere), and then I clicked "Add Reply". My post is now being displayed as if it were a top-level post - a reply directly to the originating post. Further my post is not displayed with the indent symbol (the down/right arrow) preceding it. What am I not understanding? Please and thank you.
      2

      Jan 6

      • up

        MikeLong

        OK. Your post which starts "Are you saying..." is displayed with a down/right arrow indicating that it is in reply to some other post - mine, I assume. At the bottom of that post there is a "> Reply" link which I clicked. The system then displayed this page (page 8) of this thread with the original post at the beginning of the page followed by a "> Reply to This" link followed by the white text box into which I am now typing. I would have expected this box to appear immediately below your post, to which I am (supposedly) replying.
        "Are you saying, Mike, that you posted it to my comment that began,"Bingo"? "
        Yes!
        "What browser are you using?"
        I'm using Chrome.
        "Sorry I took so long to get back to you, but 7 hours ago, I was kinda sleeping "
        I'm on the other side of the world so I'm used to next-day interactions.
        Thanks for your help, I'll put together a message for Morgan.
        3

        Jan 6