From: Amara Graps (Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de)
Date: Mon Jun 25 2001 - 10:56:33 MDT
About the word "spirituality" ..
First, one comment: if a person in this particular community has the
role of spokesman/woman for "transhumanists" or "extropians", then I
understand that one must aware of the public perception and
interpretation of the words they use. Otherwise, I don't think a head
bashing of the definition of this word: "spirituality" is useful or
important. In my mind, what is relevant is the _actions_ of that
person (hopefully they are acting on their core values), and how they
live their life.
I'm not a spokeswoman, so I'm not concerned with how strangers
interpret my use this word. If someone who has observed my life wants
to know more of what I call my spiritual path, then they can ask me,
and I will tell them. Otherwise, I do not spend time promoting my
ideals to people outside of my group of acquaintances.
From: Russell Blackford (rblackford@hotmail.com),Fri Jun 22 2001
>I suggested at one point on this list that there is no need for us to
>use words such as "spiritual" and its cognates (I had in mind a
>comparison with the word "sin", but did not mention this).
[...]
>Secondly, one response I had was that the word "spiritual"'s very
>vagueness can be useful in some contexts. Well, if anyone finds that,
>I'm not going to be a pest about the issue. Use whatever language you
>find useful by all means.
(So now, commenting on the above paragraph... )
IF words in the particular language exist!
IF one can find short and concise descriptions!
Last year at the request of someone, I wrote down how I would view
god. I'm an atheist, and my spiritual views center around a deep
reverence of and respect for life, not around a creator. However, I
was not successful in finding a short, concise description. In the
English language, my description of my spirituality was several pages
long, with phrases from physics, chemistry, humanities, budhism,
psychology, mathematics, mythology, etc. Not very useful for strangers
to read. I would much rather strangers observed how I lived my life,
in order to know what I mean by spirituality.
In other cultures, and with other languages, I have an even harder
time finding the appropriate words. "Spiritual" (in those other
languages) is as concise of a description as I can find when I am
living in a foreign (foreign, relative to me) culture. In those
situations, I have to consider all of the cultural contexts.
If you've not lived for long in other cultures, then try imagining
what is involved to describe the psychological and philosophical
concepts (which are sometimes subtle, and sometimes bold) that
comprise living a committed lifestyle of being true to oneself. Now
imagine that you are already a little bit of a freak in that
culture. If you can use words that people are already familiar with,
then it helps alot for communicating with strangers.
Amara
(presently in Boulder, Colorado)
--
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Amara Graps | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Interplanetary Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1
+49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://galileo.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~graps
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"Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke
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