Has anyone read this book? "This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom" by Martin Hagglund. I'm curious after reading this article about it.
[newyorker.com]
My perspective of faith and spirituality is non-religious and independent of any need for God. Basically, if you believe in something enough to work for it, you are demonstrating faith in that thing, even if it's just having enough faith to go into work because you believe you will get a paycheck. Without faith, we wouldn't accomplish anything. Abstract principles like faith and similar concepts form the basis of our spirituality. I believe there is a wealth of knowledge in a secular understanding of spirituality.
I have never heard of the book but will see if I can get my hands on it myself. I've struggled to find resources for non-religious spiritual ideas.
This is my take: One of the worst things about religion is the persecution throught history of the "heretic." Having to "believe" according to edicts is a form of slavery. There is so much written about the nature of life but in the end it is for us, for each individual, to do his own figuring out. We can pick and choose what to read or what to rely on for fodder. But we all need to have our own book inside us...and then to recognize each other's need to come up with their own original thoughts. I notice whenever I write my "take" on this site, there is always one or two that like to slap me down. I am on this site to be with free thinkers. It is a source of fresh air. By the way, yes, I enjoyed this article on the New Yorker.
Thank you for an echo to my sentiment precisely....let me kick the down slappers in the balls 4 ya
@GreenAtheist My hero!!!
It's looks very interesting and goodness knows we need a replacement for religious spirituality. I'm not optimistic at the moment. I fear that, like secular humanism, secular spirituality is only being taken up by a minority of intellectuals. He's probably preaching to the converted.
Haagland is clueless about human love nurturance and our True FEMINIST Atheist birthrights or Woods censored that chapter in prudish style....our loving each other is the only sacred "spirit" in action
James Wood New Yorker review must be at least a tenth as long as Haggland. And he provides a lengthy survey of historic Atheists for Marrianne Robinson to digest. HOUSEKEEPING is also a lovely movie based on Robinson book about Grandpa Train Engineer his 2 daughters and his 2. granddaughters....however Haagland won't win the Pulitzer for his books quite similar to the winning book 4 decades ago I memorized it DENIAL OF DEATH by Ernest Becker "closure on psychology"...I don't agree with Woods longing for the specifics of Lenin ....read Walden TWO by BF SKINNER for that.....Robinson glorifying suicide....Hemmingway did that with a shotgun in his mouth....the simple question is defining our Atheism in our own meaningful ways in our own good time and radically reject monetarism by more than refusing to sell human breastmilk organs or our labor for a penny to a billionaire like TrumpOLINI