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Theme Changer

 Topic: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?

 (Read 6570 times)
  • 12 Next page « Previous thread | Next thread »
  • Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     OP - March 22, 2010, 12:18 PM
    There seems to be a heck of a lot of atheists on here so I wonder are there any people here who have left Islam but have still remained spiritual? when I mean spiritual I'm not necessarily talking about being part of an established religion.

    Sorry if this has already been asked.
    "It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up." - Muhammad Ali
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #1 - March 22, 2010, 01:32 PM
    I wasn't very spiritual to begin with, and Islam itself is not really a very spiritually inclined religion anyways. So I've never had that tendency and becoming an atheist has compounded further my lack of interest in spirituality. I find it to be rather contrived when you don't actually believe in a higher purpose. That being said I'm somewhat interested in meditation and mental/emotional discipline - which is often dealt with via spiritually-inclined practices like yoga.

    Of course I feign a sort of spiritual mindset around the opposite sex for vaginal and mammary purposes. Apparently cold logic and ruthless practicality are not sexy to women.  Huh?
    Quote from: thinkfree on September 28, 2010, 07:58 PM
    Iblis has mad debaterin' skillz. Best not step up unless you're prepared to recieve da pain.

  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #2 - March 22, 2010, 02:10 PM
    I was pretty spiritual before I became Muslim, continued to be spiritual during my time as a Muslimah and am still so even after my apostacy.  For me being spiritual means being aware of my spirit nature and the fact that this corporeal life on Earth ain't all that and that there's life after death but no heaven or hell or any of that religious hogwash.

    I've been told by more than one person that I am an old soul, I get an overwhelming sense of deja vu from being in certain places or smelling a particular scent, etc. and there are times when I feel the presence of my departed grandparents watching over me.

    Even when I was a practicing Muslim I still believed in reincarnation and the evolution of the soul, I just tried REALLY HARD to square it with the dogma of Islam and had myself fooled for a while that I had been successful.
    Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

    The sleeper has awakened -  Dune

    Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day Give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish!
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #3 - March 22, 2010, 02:22 PM
    It depends what you mean by spiritual. I guess I can draw some form of spirituality from reading literature or about black holes (I do get bored) but that is as far as allow it to go. The 'feeling' that there is something else out there.

    In philosophy, it's usually called a numinous experience. However I don't like it when people start saying 'oh i feel the presence of god inside me' and shit like that because they start sounding a bit like religious nuts.
    "The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves."
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #4 - March 22, 2010, 02:34 PM
    numinous, so this is the feeling i would have when i prayed and read the quran?
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #5 - March 22, 2010, 02:36 PM
    Quote from: Heyjustlooking on March 22, 2010, 02:22 PM
    However I don't like it when people start saying 'oh i feel the presence of god inside me'



    Mary once felt the presence of god inside her.  cool2
    Quote from: thinkfree on September 28, 2010, 07:58 PM
    Iblis has mad debaterin' skillz. Best not step up unless you're prepared to recieve da pain.

  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #6 - March 22, 2010, 02:38 PM
    Quote from: BlackDog on March 22, 2010, 02:34 PM
    numinous, so this is the feeling i would have when i prayed and read the quran?


    Ye, most likely. I can only speak for myself though, to be honest.

    Quote from: Iblis on March 22, 2010, 02:36 PM
    Mary once felt the presence of god inside her.  cool2


    Cheesy, ye i'm going to have to erase that image from my brain now, thanks Iblis.
    "The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves."
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #7 - March 22, 2010, 02:40 PM
    You have an image of Allah? SHIRK! HARAM!!
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #8 - March 22, 2010, 02:42 PM
    Quote from: BlackDog on March 22, 2010, 02:40 PM
    You have an image of Allah? SHIRK! HARAM!!


    In my mind though. Only Allah can judge me. No one else cool2
    "The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves."
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #9 - March 22, 2010, 02:45 PM
    Only God can Judge me now. Excellent Pac track.
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #10 - March 22, 2010, 02:50 PM
    I will defo look it up, gotta love 2pac.
    "The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves."
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #11 - March 22, 2010, 03:24 PM
    Quote from: Iblis on March 22, 2010, 02:36 PM
    Mary once felt the presence of god inside her.  cool2


     Cheesy
    Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

    The sleeper has awakened -  Dune

    Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day Give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish!
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #12 - March 22, 2010, 04:04 PM
    I've left it spiritually, and actually but I think I still carry residual baggage that I have yet to fully leave behind me.

    I used to be more spiritual before I threw myself into islam, a very positive and hopeful feeling about the idea of god and spiritualism, in my islamic days I felt more like it was a burden, and more about fear and blind obediance, rather than the self growth I had sought in my more spiritual days.

    Leaving islam was the next part, and maybe spirtuality could appear again in the future, but not right now.  Where I am in my life as of now, is devoid of spirituality.  I am an atheist through and through.
    Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #13 - March 22, 2010, 06:17 PM
    Quote from: kaiwai on March 22, 2010, 12:18 PM
    There seems to be a heck of a lot of atheists on here so I wonder are there any people here who have left Islam but have still remained spiritual? when I mean spiritual I'm not necessarily talking about being part of an established religion.

    Sorry if this has already been asked.


    I have pantheist/zen/taoist/mystic leanings even though I'm an avowed atheist i.e. I don't follow and won't follow any organized, hierarchical religion, and I have no good reason to believe in the existence of any personal deity.

    I think "spirituality" gets a bad rap among some atheists because it contains the word "spirit"and so is associated still with religious belonging or with new-agey scam artists.

    But that may change - the way that "morality" is no longer associated with religion even though it had been so for the last several thousand years, I do think that what we may call spirituality,  in its myriad of forms, will be separated from the idea of religion too, once atheists stop getting harassed for being eclectic and having varied experiences and perceptions.

    For me, spirituality is the feeling of connectedness, and I think there's some good in that. Whatever it may morph into, it may not be called "spirituality" but I think the human drive to connect with other humans and other life forms and to appreciate beauty in some large, unpossessable sense will not go away. It just needs time to be appreciated on its own without the baggage of religions and dogmas.
    "Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused."
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #14 - March 22, 2010, 06:30 PM
    This is quite close to my take on the issue of spirituality:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nfXfTg92E
    "Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused."
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #15 - March 22, 2010, 06:33 PM
    Quote from: kaiwai on March 22, 2010, 12:18 PM
    There seems to be a heck of a lot of atheists on here so I wonder are there any people here who have left Islam but have still remained spiritual? when I mean spiritual I'm not necessarily talking about being part of an established religion.

    Sorry if this has already been asked.

    Me? 0% spiritual & 100% Haram
    My Book     news002       
    My Blog  pccoffee
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #16 - March 22, 2010, 06:42 PM
    Quote from: allat on March 22, 2010, 06:30 PM
    This is quite close to my take on the issue of spirituality:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nfXfTg92E

    Religion prostitutes the awe  Cheesy

    Nice vid - I hope a few muslims can get to watch it and see if they can connect with this worldview..
    My Book     news002       
    My Blog  pccoffee
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #17 - March 22, 2010, 06:44 PM
    For me I really have no spirituality. I guess now I live life more in a practical reality
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #18 - March 22, 2010, 07:00 PM
    .
    You need to read this book.
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #19 - March 22, 2010, 07:17 PM
    It's subjective and relative, just like being "moral" is. At the basis, for me, like I said, it's a sense of connectedness, with the universe, but on a very personal level. That is, I know that I am a bunch of atoms, that I'm part of the universe which is all a bunch of atoms. What does that mean in day to day life? It means I can be humble about my place and not think the universe revolves around me, but instead feel awe that I'm part of it at all and able to recognize that I'm part of it.

    Spirituality as a term has been bastardized and commercialized by religion and other dogmatic schemes, like morality as a term has been through that as well. For some people, being moral means stoning adulterers and banning homosexuality. For others, it's mostly about the golden rule. Our concept of morality has changed through times and is slightly different depending on our cultural influences. Similarly, spirituality is a concept that's also just a word for a feeling that has been interpreted differently by different people. Religion does try to prostitute it, it's true, like it tries to claim morality as its invention, it claims spirituality for itself. But the fact is that a tendency for morality, as in empathy & reciprocity for the benefit of social cohesion is built in to us (studies have shown this), and a sense of being part of a greater whole and feeling in awe at being part of it all, is also a tendency built in to us, whether we call that being "spiritual" or not, whether we associate it with a particular religious tradition or not. It also has social value as it allows us to think of other people (imagining ourselves in "their shoes"), consider the effects of our actions (as being part of the whole) and not feel as much despair about mortality if we are busy appreciating the universe and its wonders.
    "Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused."
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #20 - March 22, 2010, 07:26 PM
    For me spirituality is what you are like as a person, somebody can have a bad spirit about them (Hitler or somebody) and somebody could have a good spirit (Martin Luther-King). So ya that is it, and it can come from revering nature and love and things, its basically being a good person.
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #21 - March 22, 2010, 07:43 PM
    But doesnt the term 'spirituality' hijack the word 'awe' too?  Thats why, like Godot, I cringe when I hear it.

    Why even bring in a word that is derived from the word spirit, unless you are attempting to assign a non-scientific concept to our origination, and doing the same as religionists?

    Is science so boring that even as atheists some still long for the spiritual?  The need to bring an extra-terrestrial into the equation, but leaving an air of ambiguity as to its identity.
    My Book     news002       
    My Blog  pccoffee
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #22 - March 22, 2010, 07:51 PM
    Can't say Im very spiritual these days - I think I'm becoming an Agnostic-Atheist and complete skeptic of all things "spiritual".
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #23 - March 22, 2010, 07:57 PM
    It's not a matter of "science" being boring, but more a matter of science being a methodology of understanding the universe. Experiencing the universe, and social reality is not just a matter of understanding the mechanics of how things work, but also of figuring out how to relate to things, people, the universe, as humans who have subjective reality.

    Personally I don't use the word spiritual as much as I used to. It is too associated with everything from catholic and shia self-flagellation to getting your astrological report and thinking that has anything to do with reality. For me, reality and the concepts of beauty, love, connectedness are enough. I prefer to not label myself spiritual as I have no intention of being associated with e.g. Oprah's book club. wacko I just wanted to explain in this thread that spirituality is akin to morality in that it's one word for feeling that occurs in us all, and whatever we call or don't call it, it doesn't matter and in fact it's actually better at this point to maybe not call it anything other than its parts. I don't like the word morality for the same reasons that I don't like the word spirituality (see Thomas Aquinas' writings if you want to be turned off of the word "morality" as defined by traditions). The basis of those things, I can appreciate, but the words are loaded in social discourse with crap I don't want to have anything to do with.
    "Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused."
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #24 - March 22, 2010, 07:58 PM

    For me being spiritual has to do with feelings of awe and experiencing a feeling of the sublime. You can do that by listening to music, meditating, or experiencing extreme joy in the company of people that you love, experiencing a long hike in a place of spectacular natural beauty, turning around and looking at the landscape and feeling awestruck - these are just a few examples of how you can experience a sense of the sublime.
    "we can smell traitors and country haters"


    Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
    God is Love.
    Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.

  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #25 - March 22, 2010, 08:00 PM
    Hmmm, I forgot about my music. My "spirituality" is almost totally linked with my guitar. Its with those six strings that I ever feel anything spiritual or trancendent.
    Quote from: thinkfree on September 28, 2010, 07:58 PM
    Iblis has mad debaterin' skillz. Best not step up unless you're prepared to recieve da pain.

  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #26 - March 22, 2010, 08:16 PM
    String theory.

    When I plug on my gf's string.

    I feel awe. The universe is 1. I am 1 with the universe.

    That's me me being spiritual  cool2

    //puts down hookah 
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #27 - March 22, 2010, 10:33 PM
    Quote from: BlackDog on March 22, 2010, 08:16 PM
    String theory.

    When I plug on my gf's string.

    I feel awe. The universe is 1. I am 1 with the universe.

    That's me me being spiritual  cool2

    //puts down hookah 


    Hookah - That's Shisha, right?

    "The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves."
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #28 - March 22, 2010, 10:34 PM
    Yupp.
  • Re: Who has left Islam but not spirituality?
     Reply #29 - March 22, 2010, 10:39 PM
    Kool. Love it. Makes me feel light-headed sometimes lol, depends how strong the flavouring is i think.

    Anyway, don't wna divert this thread.
    "The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves."
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