Is spirituality just the emotional response of awe and wonder at something amazing?

I know from experience at being a very spiritually in tune Christian and now being an atheist that the same sense that we term "spiritual" is experienced regardless of belief. It is an emotion that tends to be invoked by prayer when you believe but also by being close to nature or learning about some scientific reality beyond our intuitive imagination.





So I've been wondering what the common causal effect here is and then Angel of Caffeine JPA reminded me of it in a recent question when referring to the fact that it's what you feel when you begin to understand evolution.





So I'm just thinking perhaps it's an innate response to power, perhaps giving us a useful ability to co-operate under a leading figure. This could be a person or a god etc. but perhaps it is also invoked by any powerful idea (such as you often find in science) as a side effect of that trait?





Anyway that's just the barest idea I had but I'd be interested to hear refutations or alternatives or any other ideas.|||Yes.. I think it could very well be. I asked a similar question before about whether people mistake the feeling from Nature as God, or vice versa.





I've been close to Nature all my life and before I ever read of evolution I could feel it working all around me. It was a feeling of awe and wonder.. Wonder at the wings of a moth which appear as eyes of an owl or bird and thus scare away birds thinking to catch an easy meal... The awe at seeing an octopus change it's colour and texture to hide from it's predators. The amazement for the wolf who's wild ancestors came from the depths of the forest to sit by man's fire and become in time our greatest helpmeet.. the dog.





My spirituality definitely comes from those feelings I get when I observe and learn about the Natural world, and all who reside in it. I have often claimed that if one is raised in Nature without being taught any religion, one could instinctively, and spiritually KNOW the truth. I've never felt God as in the bible, but I have always felt Nature as it is all around us. I feel that same spiritual awe for evolution as I am sure some feel for creation.. It comes from my connection with Nature.. which is unadulterated by man's interpretation, the connection some feel for creation comes from the unnatural construct of God and so I feel cannot be seen as truth since it comes from the fallible hands of man himself.





Nature is in and of itself it's own holy book, the equivalent of the bible for theists. However the book of Nature was not written by any man, nor can it be read and misinterpreted. It is what it is, you either see it or you don't. There is no margin of error.. what you see and feel, is what you know. In religion what you see and what you feel comes from a book, written by man.. it is adulterated by man's arrogance.





That's why when you start to understand evolution you feel a great awe and wonder.. unclouded by bigotry or doubt, without any reward or punishment behind it.. It's Nature greater than man and greater than anything man could ever create.. of course it is an innate response. We all come from nature..





It's just that some label Nature as God, and some label God as Nature. Who has the truth? I'll stick with Nature.. it's been around longer than any man made idea of god/s.|||From my understanding spirituality is just a common pscychological awe that anyone can experience when they actually just look at the beauty of the world. I myself am an atheist, and I just enjoy staring at the beauty of the trees and other things of nature, and I just find myself in awe and respect that they had to fight their way to be where they are today.|||You mix up:


- Cause and Effect


- Body and soul.





Even if awe and wonder lead to religion. You have to ask why did God create the man like this?


So religion is the cause!!





Even if there are corporal affections that are connected to religion religion is anything spiritual. Man realizes his spirit in corporal actions.|||If you believe there is an afterlife then you are spiritual even if you are not having an emotional response.|||A sense of the intellect being able to rest in certainty.|||What were you praying to if you are an atheist?|||I think the feeling of "spirituality" is a chemical reaction to being vaguely aware of a situation in which you feel "blessed" .not necessarily in a religious sense but in a sense of empowerment , self confidence , peace or even appreciation of what we have at that momement in time . It is the opposite of dispair .





Edit: the opposite is the *feeling* of despair . The feeling of despair / emptiness is the opposite of the feeling of spirituality , a feeling of goodness . Hope is the opposite not of dispair / emptiness , but of fear . dispair is the absence of both hope and fear .|||I'm not sure I understand what you're saying..... but, I have had "spiritual" emotions when not practicing a religion.


For me, now a very religious person, the feeling is different but very similar and I have to take care to guard myself.





The "spiritual" feeling, for me, is a oneness with all things- it's feeling the life-force and a harmony with all things.


I felt that the strongest during the most difficult time of my life- a four month period of time when I was a stripper lol. I am, by nature, very introverted and private. I would hear the music and FEEL it at my core, and the world around me would dissolve. Looking back, I think I was disassociating.


I can bring the feeling back, most of the time, by listening to certain music (Jekyll and Hyde's "No one knows who I am", "Sympathy, Tenderness" especially).





Those feelings can suck me in and make me loose myself.





Being religious is emotional in a different way. Even though love, happiness ect is involved, it's based and built on logic, study, research and fellowship.





Generally speaking, a lot of people get a "high" from "eureka" moments- discovering certain truths about things of interest. And they can get the same high from things that trigger certain emotions or memories.|||I think what you're calling "spirituality" is better described as "NUMINOUS". The Numinous was defined in a book called "The Idea of the Holy" by Rudolph Otto --





He said that the Numinous is the "Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinas"


See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numinous





- or what evokes "absolute astonishment" in humans, and that they are predisposed to detect it. There is even evidence of this in modern neuro-psychological and biochemical research.





It is not just power, it's awe, wonder, mystery, delight, fear and fascination, all mixed in together.





The Numinous is That which is essentially beyond definition, but it's what makes us gasp in astonishment or wonder, laugh out loud in delight, and weep with joy or grief .....It simultaneously puts us in touch with what is most human and most Divine.....





And imo, this is *exactly* what Spiritual paths are suppposed to do -- introduce a way to help people EXPERIENCE the Numinous directly, personally, immediately.





In light of that, how sad and frustrating it is that many are now afraid of the very word/ concept, %26lt;i%26gt; "mystic" %26lt;/i%26gt; -- A "Mystic" is one who believes that it is possible -- even necessary -- to experience the Divine personally, immediately and directly.





Transpersonal psychologists are attempting to restore the element of spirituality to the study of psychology. They have determined where our sense of the numinous comes from and how it develops. I won't bore you with the details on this (unless you ask!) but suffice it to say that it it inherent in all human beings, and is related to our earliest, most essential experiences as human beings.





I think "Spirituality" is the (culturally determined) effort to evoke the Numinous. For some people, that's sitting in a great cathedral...for others, it's dancing around a fire; for some, it's meditating on profound concepts; for others, it's reaching out in love and compassion to help others . . . .





I think 'Religion' is yet another step REMOVED from the Numinous; it usually includes such things as statements or creeds of belief, expectations of behavior and sanctions to encourage or DIScourage such behavior; formal and informal systems of authority and power, etc.





I think it's very sad that so many people seem to confuse these terms -- they get the idea that 'Religion' is the same thing as 'Spirituality' which is the same thing as 'belief' or God.





Also, many get the idea that everyone has to have the very same "path" or form of Spirituality, to get the "right" answers to spiritual questions.








I think everyone ultimately has to determine what is "NUMINOUS" for them -- what gives them that experience of wonder, delight, joy, and awe that is at the heart of the "Numinous" -- what, for them, is the "Mysterium Tremendum" - and how they want to pursue it. It's really not something that anybody else can tell you --


They can only tell you what worked (or didn't!) for THEM.





Blessings -


~Gaia|||There is a difference between identifying with a group and being a participant. There is a difference between a religion or spirituality and having a relationship.





Your comments seem to express complication, when a a relationship with someone makes things much more simple.





The real question is, with whom is my relationship? Who is most important in my life?





Being a Christian is not religion; it's about getting to know the One who created us for His purpose, not man's. It's a walk of faith, not based on man's control, insight, logic, emotion, or reasoning. God's ways and thoughts are far above man's and cannot be brought down to our inferior level of scientific thinking. Some Christians become frustrated (as I have been) because God is invisible, seems too far away, our prayers seem unanswered, and that His commandments appear too narrow, difficult, etc. So they give up. But when you do, you lose.





God promises that when we draw close to Him, He draws close to us. By drawing closer to God, I've been set free from much frustration, lack of direction, self-pity, despair, and other emotional torment. He's promoted me in ways I never expected. Sometimes I feel Him, sometimes I don't. Feelings are not the issue. Right standing with God is. If you put God first, there's no telling where He'll put you, or places you'll go.