What do you recommend to people who feel they've fallen into a spiritual void?

I’m an atheist, and I honestly don’t have any spiritual needs. I think people like to be part of things, and that its easy to say “its meant to be” when bad things happen, than to just admit that its a bad thing and to feel like you’re on your own instead of having support from some invisible deity.

Perhaps they could find what they are looking for with the American Ethical Union or the Ethical Society Without Walls

@dee1313 – It’s my observation that some atheists have spiritual needs and others don’t. My question would include the first group. But there are also theists who fall into a spiritual void. My question would include those as well.

@YARNLADY – I like the AEU’s mission statement! Thanks for sharing the links.

LSD

Beatles songs can be very inspiring ;-)

I’m an atheist and I have gone through such periods. I found music and concentrating on the concrete helped ease the nihilism. Keep busy, keep social. If you have no purpose, give yourself a purpose and fulfill it. I found voluntary work rewarding and reading Nietzsche comforting. Do something you enjoy, for example, I like art and listening/playing music helped ease the ache. I think science can help if you find the world fascinating, beautiful even in its pointlessness if not it could just make you feel spiritually sterile. I’m one of the former so it helps.

I’m just in awe in the miracle that was my birth. I remember Joni Mitchell’s lyric that we are stardust. Then I watch this. He’s not my favourite of the boys, but ‘e’s a clever one, ‘e is, just the same.

I’d tell them to look into the works of Alex Grey

There are a lot of different ways to regain a sense of spiritual connection.

-Walks through the woods where you pay attention to the natural world around you.
-Prayer or meditation where you allow the material world to fade away for a while.
-Service to others.
-Long conversations with those people to whom you feel strongly connected.
-Finding a purpose that is greater than yourself.

Primarily, you need to find a way to get out of your own head and stop glorifying your own thoughts above all else. People who are depressed or overly egotistical can’t see past their own reflection which cuts them off from any possibility to connect.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir – Why Alex Grey?

I found that by exploring his art and by being inside his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (which no longer exists here in NYC, has been moved upstate) I learned a lot (can’t put it into words) and felt a lot, a connectedness to the universe that transcends organized religion

LSD or mushrooms is a good idea.

Another good idea is not to assume that someone needs something just because someone else might, and to not judge people because you think they lack something. (not you, personally).

Evelynism, for all the obvious reasons.

Rob Bell is doing a great job of helping people see the true, history, orthodox, story of God reconciling the whole world to himself. I listen to the podcasts from his church and sometimes attend. (it is a 2 hour drive) www.marshill.org

My recent personal favorite is one entitled: “The importance of beginning in the beginning”

cheers

There are those of us who feel that there is a looming spiritual crisis of major proportions that traditional religion is not in a position to deal with. Our technology and lfiestyles have been raising issues about what it means to be human. We have lost contact with nature and surounded ourselves with technogy and glutted ourselves on consumer goods while isolating ourselves from one another. Obesity and depression have reached epidemic levels.

The future promises even worse. There is talk about fiddling with genes, including those related to our minds and there is talk of implanting chips in our heads, which would have the effect of blurring the distinction between human and machine.

Add to this the impact of global warming, pollution and the impending exhaustion of fossil fuels and you get the motivation for a secular spirituality unlike anything in the history of the world.

A voluntary simplicity movement has arisen. Some people have flocked to intentional communities based on living a simpler life. Some of these communities are religious but some are completely secular. I visited one such community and I can see how this type of lifestyle can become the basis for a shared spirituality.

Go to an AA meeting; I’m sure there is one near you…It is a spiritual program, not religious, and looks at a lot of the things fireside mentioned, not just drugs and alcohol. Also, listen to this guy, and check out what he has to say. If drugs are your thing, dont miss the part (might be 9 or 10) about a drug from Brazil that sounds useful for this purpose.

@mattbrowne In the definition in the question, I have some quibbles. The part that interests me goes as follows:

A sense of connection is central of spirituality — connection to a reality beyond than the physical world and oneself, which may include an emotional experience of awe and reverence. Spirituality may also include the development of the individual’s inner life through practices such as meditation and prayer, including the search for God, the supernatural, a divine influence, or information about the afterlife. Spirituality is the personal, subjective aspect of religion, mysticism, magic and occult.

I agree that spirituality is a sense of connection. I do not think of it as a “reality beyond” the world as we know it. In my experience, it is part of the world I know. I believe this understanding can be reached most easily through ritual practices. These practices, if done over and over, gradually make it much easier for you to experience that sense of connection to others and to the world around you. While this sense orf connection can also be an intellectual realization, I think that ritual is key.

It’s easiest to understand if you experience the feeling of oneness. There are many “spiritual technologies” or rituals that make it easier for folks to access that experience. What I recommend to people in a spiritual void is that they pick up one of these ritual practices and commit themselves to it. I have my preferences, but different techniques work for different people.

The practice, however, is best if it is unique to them. It’s best if it is something the person actually enjoys. While many organizations know many different spiritual technologies, they often tend to be proprietary about them, saying this is the only way to feel the numinous. I reject such organizations, and am highly suspicious of them. Spirituality, I believe, can only be accessed through techniques that appeal to the individual. Some may believe suffering is the way to spiritual experience. That works for many. I prefer to get there joyously.

The problem, for me, with prescribed formulas, is that spirituality is an inherently creative process. When creativity is reined in by the application of a single “correct” ritual practice, it’s much harder to experience it. When spirituality is attached to dogmatic beliefs and rules, it is much harder to experience it—indeed, it is impossible for some.

Spirit is free and cannot be contained. It is an intensely personal experience, and no one can know someone else’s spiritual experience. We can only share descriptions of our own, and often even that is impossible, because words generally can not capture spiritual experience. That’s what makes it spiritual. For most people, spirituality takes place beyond words. For a very few, however, words can be the ritual that allows them to experience their true spirits.

So my recommendation to those experiencing a spiritual void is to find a ritual practice that feels natural to them. I am biased towards practices that can be individualized, since I think they are more effective. Once you find your practice, practice it. Practice, practice, practice! Your void will be filled once you have given in to your practice.

Read books or watch movies about inspirational people who made life worth something, even without religion. Join Habitat For Humanity, read up on the doings of the Peace Corps, watch online documentaries about new environmental/social projects around the world, etc.

@daloon – GA

www.venganza.org/

@mattbrowne Well, although I’ve never felt the need, I do enjoy to stand by water and just experience nature. The place we’re stationed now is absolutely beautiful, lots of mini-forests with tall, skinny trees you can look through, and when we drive by them I can almost feel like I’m standing in the forest itself. The marches are pretty when the tide is high. I’m not much of a fisher, but I don’t mind going because I like being near the water.

I wouldn’t say its a spiritual need, but it kind of feels like… I guess one could say it makes me feel restful or at peace.

So, I guess an answer to your question could be nature appreciation. When I was in my transition phase from Christian to atheist, I was looking towards nature.

@daloon – Thanks for your well-written thoughtful response! I’m not sure I agree with the Wikipedia definition of spirituality either. But as is often the case those definitions are helpful to start a discussion. We need some idea of what we are talking about.

It’s interesting that you point the importance of rituals. I wholeheartedly agree. In my opinion both spiritually-oriented theists and atheists need rituals and practice. Yes, creativity is key. Though the experience is individual, community and social bonding seem important to me as well. More and more neurobiological evidence shows we are innately social creatures. In many cases a spiritual void cannot be filled without other people. But it’s still wise to stay away from dubious religious organizations. But alternatives are needed.

I agree with the important connection between spirituality and community. Without launching into a diatribe, I do think that we have been losing our sense of community of late and that this has contributed to what I perceive as a spiritual crisis among both those who are religious and those who are not.

There is a place in San Francisco, where I grew up, where the coast turns inward from the Pacific Ocean toward the bay. I like to walk down through the wind-swept pines in the fog or bright moonlight and feel the booming of the surf against the rocks. It seldom fails to snap me out of the sad smallness of my petty self and sweep me up and away in the power and grandeur of it all.