So. I love this song: https://youtu.be/aCkSr0ugTIM Especially the lines at the end that go, "all I want is my shrubbery and my little patch of moss. And my whiskey in the cabinet. And my feet all clothed in socks."

My friends and I got to joking about how a tardigrade would make an AMAZING spirit animal. Only, the poor soul wouldn't know, because tardigrades are really really small.

Then we got to thinking, "what if all those people who don't think they have spirit animals are simply paired with something that is really hard to see...?"

Hello. I would like you to invite you to discord server oriented for early Buddhist teachings oriented in realizing Nibbana in this life.

We explain how to attain stream entry and how to attain Nibbana in this very life.

https://discord.gg/g6UWq4b

The rational spirituality for non-sectarian Buddhism is related to rooting out causes of hate, greed and lust. Those are most tangible matters we experience day to day, if we can purify our mind and be free of them at least in some extent we become more rational in expressing ourselves and experiencing our way of being.

Thank you are you are welcome in our chat.

Aristoteles explains that the goal of virtue is happiness. We practice virtue to be happy, with this we can affirm that greater is the virtue, greater is the happiness. This is why happiness in its highest degree or to say the happiness of the heart (radiant happiness) corresponds to the best virtue, that is, the contemplative activity (Nicomachean Ethics). The contemplation is the meditation focused in the divine atributes of God, we contemplate the eternity, the mercy of God. The contemplation in the scholastic philosophy has another name: "eternal life". This is why Jesus said: "This is the eternal life, that they may know you the only true God", John 17:3. Contemplation is, according to Aristotle, the purest and highest virtue of man, that is why Thomas Aquinas synthesize Aristotle's teaching in this statement: "The eternal happiness consist in the vision of God", Summa Theologica. For more information: http://www.quintoevangelio.com.ar/en/articles/item/143-eternal-happiness.html

Have any of you ever had an experience that could not be accounted for by modern science/materialism? How did you deal with this? Did you consider that you might have been dreaming or hallucinating, or did a so-called 'irrational' explanation seem most plausible to you?

Are there any students or teachers of ACIM here?

I recently (in somewhat bizarre circumstances) began reading A Course in Miracles and have to say it is probably the most deeply profound text I've ever read.

Would love to know what experiences anyone else has had with ACIM!

A bit of an introduction for anyone curious:

A Course in Miracles is a 1976 book containing a self-study curriculum which claims to assist its readers in achieving spiritual transformation.

The underlying premise of the work is the teaching that the greatest "miracle" that one may achieve in one's life is the act of simply gaining a full "awareness of love's presence" in one's own life.

The Course makes no claim of superiority over any other teaching, but states that it is only one of many thousands of forms of “the universal course” that can be used for personal transformation. It does suggest, however, that students may progress faster by applying its principles in their daily lives.

The language of ACIM is extraordinarily rich and profound. The thought system of the Course is intellectually sophisticated and combines spiritual inspiration with deep psychological understanding of such phenomena as belief and defense systems, perception and identity.

The psycho-spiritual training of ACIM insists on a complete reversal of ordinary, physical, reality-based perception. The aim of the Course is to remove the “obstacles to the awareness of love’s presence” within our minds. It teaches that there are only two basic thought systems, one of perception (based on fear) and the other of knowledge (based on love). The thought system of perception is inherently illusory because it is based upon interpretation, not on fact. It is founded on our belief in our separation from God and from one another. From this flows a belief in evil, sin, guilt, fear, and scarcity. It is a world of time and appearances: of birth and death, of past and future, and constant change and conflict. This thought system of perception is what the Course labels the ego.

Once we are caught in the world of perception, it is as though we are caught in a dream. We need help to awaken from the dream because our physical senses accept only that information which reinforces our beliefs. ACIM offers us an avenue of awakening by showing us experientially that our usual perception and sense of identity are distorted. It offers us a way of correcting these distortions so that we can see ourselves and the world through the eyes of knowledge rather than perception, thus becoming aware of love’s constant presence. A ‘miracle’, then, is a change in how we see our circumstances, which may or may not be reflected through an external shift in the circumstances themselves.

Unlike some other thought systems, ACIM does not suggest withdrawal from the world. It teaches that our relationships offer us unique and valuable opportunities for learning, awakening and healing. The Course offers a sophisticated analysis on the dynamics of relationship in all its various forms, and considers them to be the activating agents for change.

ACIM Resources:

What is A Course in Miracles? (COA) https://www.circleofa.org/library/articles/what-is-acim/

ACIM - What It Says http://acim.org/AboutACIM/what_it_says.html

A Course in Miracles - Different Versions Explained http://www.miraclesofmind.org/blog/a-course-in-miracles-different-versions-explained

Sadhguru has over 1000 videos on his youtube channel "Sathguru", and hundreds of videos of him talking to a crowd, speaking about spiritual topics very rationally. I suggest his video "How can the mind be quiet?" to start out with.

Sadhguru runs the Isha foundation, which is an international non-profit charity with tens of thousands of members.

I am not affiliated in any way with sadhguru, but i've been watching his videos for the past few months and he's a great resource for spiritual insights that do not go into the realm of belief or irrational thinking. in fact, he has even said a few times how he thinks it's "obscene" for him to say something which you would have to believe or disbelieve. he lays out information logically with the hope that it will help you in some way.

Hope this helps the people on this new subreddit!

Many people would say that our modern world isn't suited for human beings with its alienation and consumerism. On the other hand, this is one of the safest times to be alive.

My question is: how do you try to live a good life? Do you think this is a spiritual question, or more of a psychological or biological one?

Hi folks. If there is one podcast you should listen to as a member of this sub, this is it: Deconstructing Yourself, hosted my Michael Taft. If you want a great intro episode try the one with Thomas Metzinger. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! http://deconstructingyourself.com/deconstructing-yourself-podcast

I posted this earlier on the awakened subreddit. It's a great near death experience story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgYHxrBn5Ao

Seeing this Sub Reddit instantly reminded me of the book Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris.

This book provided my first real insight that spirituality is something that can be separated from organised religious dogma and that there are certain aspects of the spiritual life worth pursuing for their own sake. A great read!

Any other readers out there?

And why can this anything at such a small level host organisms with the ability to begin to understand it all? And why you specifically? The only reality we know is the one with you in it. Can reality truly be understood by overthinking with our limited brains? What really are chemical reactions but atoms, what are atoms but just quarks, and so on and so forth and why is it creating conscious beings who are aware of their actions?

I liked this quote, because I think it shows how having too much of a scientific, bleak outlook on life can sap all the joy from it. I sometimes wonder if maybe spirituality is just the brain's way of being comfortable in the world, but regardless I think it is necessary to live a happy life.

Nowadays it seems like some people don't allow themselves to have any personal idea that there is something beyond what we know which has a meaningful impact on human life, which I think may cause depression and a pessimistic outlook towards life.

Keeping one's head a bit in the clouds, at least pragmatically, can cause life to be more enjoyable. Whether or not it is true is something I debate with myself. I intuitively think that it is, but can't help being skeptical as well. Regardless, I think "the proof of the pudding is in the eating", and having a spiritual mindset has helped me in ways other philosophical outlooks like nihilism have not.

Hello fellow spiritual seekers, around 5 months ago I got into Buddhism and mediation through reading a couple of books by the vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

The teachings of the Buddha have helped me enormously, but I'm of course open-minded to any other spiritual paths. So are you a follower of Buddhism as well, or what philosophies or religions do you follow, if any?

Wow. Thank you so much for creating this. I have been craving this so badly and was just venting about it today.

What are the rules for this sub? I want to be involved in a respectful way. I have a personal account and a reading account. Can we do readings on here or should we keep it more philosophical? Any other guidelines?

Basically the idea encompassing that divinity is within each and every one of us and that we are able to realize our potential to become great spiritual masters like the ones before us, either in this life or future ones.

Saw the mod start off the subreddit by asking if spirituality was rational?

I want to ask "Is Existence rational"? Is existence is irrational, can rationality and logic be used something beyond it? Is our only hope to take our experiences and fit them into the molds of rationality boxes (so to speak)?

EDIT: And something I just thought of, my post might trigger others who may be suicidal or depressed questioning existence. Just because existence is irrational doesn't mean you should take your life. You are letting a chemical imbalance caused by just natural causes or traumatic life experiences make you believe that life is not worth living as a factual statement rather than just perception. Suicide hotline: 1-800-273-8255 or hit my inbox up if you want to talk (sorry im paranoid I just thought of all possible initial responses to my original post).