This article by Saif Rahman is cross-posted from the New Humanist magazine
Dedicated to the late Robin Williams, based on a conversation between Hughman and Warner
Is there any value in spirituality? As a non-believer you might expect me to say no, but the sentimental part in me would like to say yes. Of course when I talk about the human spirit, I’m not talking about some ghostly ethereal entity living inside my body. I’m talking about the non-material essence of being ‘human’. My colleagues might prefer the term ‘humanity,’ but for me this doesn’t capture our inter-relationship with the universe. There aren’t many words in our language that do, so I use the words spirit or spirituality in the same way I loosely use the phrase ‘Bless You’ when you sneeze. I can only describe it as an acute sense of the sublime, to feel its awe and succumbing to its wonder.
Some religious groups of course attempt to usurp its grandeur by pointing behind the sky’s celestial curtain. But whilst bottling our universe’s mystique may control her essence, it also strips her from a majesty of her very own.
I recall a moment standing on a cliff’s edge looking down towards the sea, watching the waves below beating at its sides, the mountains above cutting through the clouds… and I could feel the presence of something much greater than myself, I knew it was all around me.
I remember lying on the grass underneath a clear night sky, gazing up and seeing more stars than I could imagine; from a billion miles away I could see their intense beams still radiating a billion years after their death.I felt humbled to be a part of them, honoured to still be their witness.
And there are simple, everyday moments too: being with good friends, the magic of a frolicking kitten, a quenching sip of freshly-squeezed juice on a sunny day, that game of tennis which goes to tie-break, or the soft embrace which stops space and time. At times I can be so overwhelmed by the sensation of being alive that I melt; sometimes I just smile and breathe deeply with a sigh.
I no longer imagine any of this belonging to a supernatural. But I do believe the thing which built those mountains has a name. It’s called plate tectonics. The thing causing those stars to twinkle is called nuclear fusion. I understand that my body naturally craves specific foods for nutritional value, sometimes just for psychological reasons. Humility is simply recognizing our muted relevance in an infinite universe, and being grateful for it doesn’t require a someone or a something to be thankful towards. I recognise that being happy in a comfortable social setting is an evolutionary trait of my species. And the intoxication of romance is most likely driven by the need to procreate.
Understanding provides me with the depth of perception to view the world as profoundly and with as much empathy and compassion as humanly possible. I am one with the universe, not metaphysically, but physically. So whilst I may be that bungling imperfect gene, I made it against all odds to be here. I am as much the universe as a supernova. Made of the same particles; governed by the same forces.
I treasure its magnificence and to think that out of all the things in the universe, I am lucky enough to be one of the only things that can. I love learning, hitting that perfect serve, and hearing the sound of uncontrollable laughter. What a beautiful time to be alive and to explore ourselves, our time and our place in this universe. And that’s simply wonderful.
Saif Rahman is a strategic consultant, author of The Islamist Delusion, and founder of HCMA (the Humanist and Cultural Muslim Association).
Mr. Rahman, your words brought tears to my eyes. I’m with you, every step of the way. Including hitting “that perfect serve.” Thank you.
When humanists look at spirituality, it becomes a whole lot more meaningful than the rather shallow, superstious feelings experienced by the religious. It seems as if their belief allows them to put to one side most of the real value in that expression of consciousness we identify as “spirit” and which Saif Rahman so eloquently expresses here.
Do you care? That many if not all religionists will take your claim of spiritual (when you don’t take the time to explain, or most times even if you do) as an additional arrow in the “heart” of those who want to remove control of societies from the superstitious religious. The religious can still use the popularity of the term “spirituality” to allow lawmakers to lean toward keeping and extending laws that favor superstition based religions, that is, christianity and similar.
In my opinion, if you choose to go down that road you are obliged to find a word or way of making the distinction obvious.
This is indeed exquisite and profound, but please do not lump all religious spirituality into a clumsy caricature. It does not do justice either to many religious people nor to those humanists who embrace the concept of human spirit. They are not always that far apart!
What a lovely piece of writing. The truth about what we know so far of the universe is so much more fantastic than a story of 7 days. It takes your breath away.
I have just read your article regarding spirituality for humanists. As an (anti-clerical) atheist and humanist, brought up in a Catholic environment and who grew up amidst the murky ‘New Age’ of the 1990s with all its wishy-washy spirituality scams, I am very wary of the term ‘spirituality’ and have denied the concept itself in my way of looking at the world and my human experience of it. However, your article has given me the scope to view it from a humanist point of view, maybe giving it a meaning I can accept or at least explore and try to make sense of. I cannot say I am completely comfortable with words like ‘spiritual’ or ‘spirituality’ yet, but when you write about the feeling of connectedness to the universe (something Carl Sagan so often spoke about with such earnest glee) I recognise this and am very familiar with it. It is indeed one of the most beautiful things about my own experience of life. It is infinite… so, thank you so much for your beautiful and thought-provoking article!
When you try to look up the word “Spirituality” in a legal dictionary, it will give you the suggestion to look for “immateriality.” Being part of a legal community I try my best to look at the “real” or factual meaning of everything which is clearly doesn’t work with this one.
Love how you mentioned “ghostly ethereal entity.” Whenever I have thought of or have explained “what spirit is?” I have always come up with “being alive.” But I must say, you have explained it beautifully in your article. Something to be read more than once. I found it to be very relaxing and meditative.
Thanks for writing and sharing it.
Mona
Do you also have a legal or real definition of ‘love’? We cannot limit all definitions to one context. A whole philosophical treatise can (and many have) be written on the concept of what reality is or what truth is. These, indeed, are partly at least, spiritual questions.
Reminds me of a song,
“I wonder is there a conductor somewhere?
Among the space and streams of milk white light
And silk-like folds of old solar systems
They lean in like they know I’m listening
But nah, that’s not it at all
They’re just masses of gas and minerals, like me
That could disperse any minute and fall outwards
Fragmenting into atoms like shattered mirror balls
And that’s cool, the fact we’re in it all together
Me and the stars, a gigantic miracle together”
Bad Science – My Mate Paul
All this sense of “spirituality” and awe can be described in material terms. Our brains have evolved to accept/love/value certain things and reject others. The taste of orange juice, the feel of sunshine and enjoying a lovely view can all be explained in evolutionary terms. But wait, dont spoil it with non-literary scientific terms, they say, we want to read it like fiction because then it sounds more interesting and magestic and it “feels” good to read. But some people like to read fiction and some dont.
If feeling lucky to be part of this universe gives you that warm feeling of self importance then sure enjoy the feeling but would you feel lucky if you are in the middle of a desert with no water for miles? You feel lucky because you feel privelged in experiencing things that your brain has evolved to love. What you feel about being part of this world is purely contextual. Religious people take this same stance of self importance but they give the credit for being here in this world to an external agency that drive this world.
I am just being skeptic about weaving too much fiction around the facts that it becomes “magical” and “spiritual”.
If spirit is all things non material then “human spirit” is only a very small part of it. If spirit is what it means to a “live” animal (i.e. a being with mind), then what about live vegetables? It if it is about “being” in general, then what about rocks?
Certainly not an atheist, and not even a materialist or a behaviourist, would deny the non material existence and central importance of thought, feeling and sensation. Indeed, physics will remain incomplete until it can account for spirit.
However, as said above, this concept of spirit needs too be seen as completely and logically distinct from the fossilised moral judgements and historical claims of institutionalised religion, whose efforts in self perpetuation have long since resulted in them becoming the enemy not only of other religions, but of reason.