Reddit reviews The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality

Don't get too caught up on the higher power thing. A lot of people are too literal (on both sides of the coin) and end up missing the point.

I'm an staunch Atheist but have no problem relating to and using the concept of a higher power in my recovery. Religion and Spirituality are not the same thing. I have met a lot of people who come into AA or NA and immediately get defensive or riled up when they start hearing the word god. They start calling people out or putting them down. Thats wrong and disrespectful.

On the flip side, I see people who think because that word is used, its OK and appropriate to read bible passages in a recovery meeting, or speak about Jesus as if he should be (or is) everyones higher power. Thats wrong and disrespectful too. "God" in this context is really just a place holder for wherever your personal strength and understanding comes from.

There are some really great books that deal with the compatibility of Athiesm and Spirituality, and explain the difference between those and Religion.

For example, I can look at a mountain and know how its made, how it formed and the process that created it. That doesn't mean when I'm hiking and look up at it, I can't be in complete awe of how beautiful it is, what it needed to come to be, and the fact that its something so much bigger than I am. Not in size, but in the fact that I couldn't create in on my own, its been there millions of years longer than me and will be there for centuries after I die. That feeling of being so small compared to the enormous existence of that mountain(in size, in history, in the pure power if it just being there), is connection with with something. Its Spiritual.

Heres one of my favorite books, if you are interested

[The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Book-Atheist-Spirituality/dp/0143114433), Its a great jumping off point.

Your image makes sense to me now (I am atheist).

Like most of us who left religion altogether once we realized Mormonism is false, I interpreted the word "spirituality" almost as a synonym of "religion" or, at best, connected to mystical, faith-based notions.

As an atheist, however, I knew (and still do) I hadn't "lost" anything once I cleansed myself from a faith-based perception of reality. I remained the same ethical, moral person. My personal principles remained unmoved if not higher now than before. I was still sensitive to other people's pain. I felt the same love towards my family and friends. I would still be emotionally moved by music and books and movies. I still had "spiritual" experiences in the presence of nature, and the universe, and a new born baby... etc.

So I started considering that maybe "spirituality" is not exclusive to religion, you know?. Maybe the tacit definition was incomplete, or the result of cultural bias. Maybe "spirituality" is our ability for empathy, for connecting with other fellow humans or with nature and its creatures, for being selfless towards those in pain; for feeling small in the presence of the cosmos, for wanting to spread good and leave things better than we found them, etc.

My searches led me to a small, wonderful book that explained it all in plain English. It is called The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality.

I think in the end it doesn't matter what word(s) we use to describe our "meditational", introspective, self-examining abilities. Personally, I've learned to call it Spirituality without embarrassment because I now know it exists by itself, religion or not :)

> Can a Deist be spiritual? Is the belief in energies, spirits, and other entities against the concept?

Your two questions are actually unrelated. Rationalist/anti-supernaturalist/atheists can be spiritual.

http://www.spiritualatheism.com/

http://www.uua.org/beliefs/welcome/atheism/

http://chrisstedman.religionnews.com/2014/04/10/religious-atheists-interview-maria-greene-unitarian-universalist-humanists/

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/a-plea-for-spirituality

http://www.amazon.ca/The-Little-Book-Atheist-Spirituality/dp/0143114433

I think that deists can also believe in energies, spirits and other entities but they typically do not.

I haven't read either of these, but they seem to be the kind of thing you're looking for.

The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality by Andre Comte-Sponville

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Atheist-Spirituality/dp/0143114433/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376775957&sr=1-1&keywords=the+little+book+of+atheist+spirituality

The Good Book by A. C. Grayling

http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-Book-Humanist-Bible/dp/0802778372

Anti-theist Humanist here. I experience what might be considered a spiritual feeling when I contemplate the scale and beauty of the universe, or the desert, or the forest. I also think there are intrinsic benefits to quiet contemplation, aka meditation. I suppose it depends on what one calls "spirituality," but I think it's a useful part of being human, regardless of whether supernatural things exist.

See also The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality.

I found this difficult for a while too. These days, I've come around to the more typical anti-theistic stance on God (a "celestial North Korea" and all that), but coming to terms with godlessness was a painful process for me.

I found André Comte-Sponville's Little Book of Atheist Spirituality very helpful. Not sure if your wife's ready to read a book that identifies her as an atheist, but if so it may help her too.

This is exactly one of the points of this book. The ideas of communal support, getting together with the goal of talking and listening, and knowing one is not alone in their thoughts are all excellent ideas. Unfortunately, this idea had baggage known as organized religion. This idea will evolve, like everything else. Hopefully it will catch on and places like this will spout up in more and more places.

There's a book for that: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Atheist-Spirituality/dp/0143114433

It all depends on the goal. If OP wants to send a message, then choosing The God Delusion or God Is Not Great would certainly send that message. If OP wants a book that's a good read, both are still good choices, but now there're other books that are equally good choices.

The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality, The Portable Atheist, On Bullshit, On Truth, The Good Book: A Humanist Bible, The Moral Landscape, The Demon Haunted World, Religion and Science, and many others are excellent reads, but don't send that little (possibly unnecessary) jab.