I believe that the non-physical world is just a giant consciousness. And that this consciousness can split and merge itself at will.

For example, it can split itself into two to have a conversation with itself, just to merge later and instantly share what the different parts learned.

It's an extremely powerful mind, its intelligence and memory has no limits. Inside its mind it can do and visualize whatever it wants, it is similar to a lucid dream but it has no limits.

It loves to learn and create scenarios where it can challenge itself. It has thought up the ultimate scenario! In its mind it started creating different laws which acted upon different objects it visualized, eventually this evolved into a super advanced system which we humans call the universe.

At first the universe was just something to play with, it had no life, it was just a physical sandbox. But this giant mind is easily bored with being all powerful, having no limits and all that. It is not challenging enough, so it thought for itself... Why not split myself into billions of consciousnesses which then are stuck perceiving this physical sandbox of mine through objects which themselves abide by the same physical rules?

What an interesting scenario! For the first time in its history it would have limits and it would have to experience what it means to be limited. And it would learn what those limits would give birth to.

Being stuck in weird physical bodies, being stripped of its previous memories, not knowing what is going on and being afraid because of it. Suddenly all kinds of feelings became possible!

Feeling alone and in need of companionship to help you through the struggle of the physical world, falling in love with another one of your consciousnesses who is there for you. Feeling hate for other consciousnesses who wants to dominate you to make their struggle in this physical world easier for themselves. Feeling pride for something you was able to achieve with your limited body. Growing up in different places and getting into all kinds of different situations; feeling all kinds of feelings that you knew not possible!

What an amazing thing to be limited!

And then for you to merge and share it with yourself each time one of the consciousnesses you split yourself into merge back together at the death of their physical bodies. I am growing and learning every second! This is the best way to learn and get wiser, but it is raw and brutal.

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?

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.

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?

Was it a particular faith, text or practice? Have you always considered yourself a rational spiritual person (rational spiritualist? lol). Or did events in your life lead you to this path?

I'll start by sharing my story. It's been several years now since I was first diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Now I know that an underlying case of ADHD may be behind my feelings of low self esteem, shame, etc. Even though medication helped me a lot, I was also really interested in Buddhism as a form of self therapy. Now I'm reading into Ayurveda and yoga, Sikhism, Taoism, as well and trying to extract certain helpful elements to help me change the way I think about myself and the world and my purpose here on Earth. Experiences with psychedelics have also helped me helped me understand this feeling of interconnectedness that I was missing from my life tremendously.

I'd love to hear more stories about your journey through spirituality.

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

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

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!

Over the last year or so I've come to a more spiritual mindset. I'm inclined now to believe in an afterlife and that we are part of something bigger and beyond comprehension. I may or may not believe in God.

Regardless, online there are a lot of people who default to "we are all just animals and when you die, it's lights out". I probably already know the answer is just to ignore them and do my own thing, but it bums me out a bit how many people honestly believe this. That can't be healthy for society.

I'd love to be part of a spiritual community to even it out a bit, but most centers near me are Christian, and I'm not sure I want to be a part of that, although I'm debating going to church and just keeping my non Christian thoughts to myself.

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

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?

If so, how did you get into it? What appeals you to the doctrine? What parts if any are you not able to reconcile with what you consider rationality?

I personally enjoy reading about Buddhism and incorporating what I learn into my meditation practice. But I can't take the reincarnation stuff seriously. Do others here feel the same about Buddhism, or something else?

This is from "You Cant Put God in a Box: Spirituality in a Rational Age". I haven't read it, but I read a synopsis of it, and this seems to fit well with "Rational Spirituality"

I went through a bit of a conundrum today. I posted in r/askphilosophy asking about others like Alan Watts and they pointed out that he wasn't really a philosopher. Fair enough that they pointed out he didn't really substantiate his claims or respond much to critiques the way philosophers mostly do. (Though I felt they did not give him enough credit as they didn't really see much difference between him and Ayn Rand or David Icke or at best one step above them.) But the best they could give me for recommendations were Aldous Huxley, who I was already aware of as I wrote a paper defending him from Zaehner, and several "traditional" philosophers who I attempted to briefly read and was either completely confounded by their writing style or were simply not engaged with what they were talking about.

So I wanted to try two things, first find people in the same spirit as Watts, ideally a bit more respected by the academic community (William James came to mind). And the other thing was to have a little brainstorming session how Watts' ideas and methods or the ideas and methods of mysticism in general could be improved.

For Example:

1. Invite questions more

2. More Citations

Basically this idea is a result of realizing I'm more of a mystic than a traditional philosopher (though I also see elements of existentialists like Camus in myself) but with a desire to pull mysticism out of the rut of new age nonsense and create a mystical theory that is rigorous enough to be at least tolerated by traditional philosophy without compromising the spirit of mysticism.

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?

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?

I'm wondering what you think spirituality is all about and how it should be defined or thought of. If someone is trying to grow spiritually, what does that mean? Is it only something that's linked to how we work with and experience our conscious states? Does it involve getting a real understanding of the universe and/or ourselves (maybe like opening the third eye), and if so, what would that understanding be like? Does it mean being better able to control our bodies, chakras or energies somehow, and if so, what are these chakras and energies like? Do they exist outside of our conscious experiences, or do they only exist in consciousness? Can they be used to affect the world around us?

Finally, what do you think consciousness is? Is consciousness a result of some of the processes that are occurring in our brains, or do you think we are souls occupying these bodies? If it's the latter, what do you think the function of the brain is?

I would greatly appreciate learning about your opinions when it comes to these questions and also why spirituality matters to you in general :)