What is Natural (or Secular) Spirituality?
J.X. Mason July 29, 2024
From the free online book at www.ContinuingCreation.org
Natural-Spirituality, or Secular–Spirituality, emphasizes the inner peace of the individual, rather than a relationship with the “divine.” Secular spirituality is often a search for meaning outside religious dogma and religious institutions. It consists of a person’s relationship with the self, others, Nature, the ‘Path Toward Perfection,’ The Interlinked Sum of All Natural Processes, or whatever one considers to be “The Ultimate.” Often, the goal of Natural or Secular Spirituality is living happily and/or helping others.
Nature-based (or Secular) Spirituality is not opposed to science or the scientific method, and it has no need for the ‘other‐worldly’ or the ‘supernatural.’
Nature-based Spirituality seeks and appreciates instances of awe through experiencing Nature and a diversity of unique environments and situations. Nature-based Spirituality adapts well to modern world views and is therefore compatible with other modern beliefs and ways of life. Some even say that modern individuals can increasingly connect with the secularly spiritual through technology. Natural (or Secular) Spirituality can be augmented through traditional practices such as yoga, mindfulness meditation and Native American rites.
An important aspect of Natural Spirituality is its promotion of community, creating solidarity through shared universal truth. This ‘universal truth’ can be experienced without the need for a concept of ‘higher power’ or a ‘supernatural being.’ Secular spirituality emphasizes humanistic qualities such as love, compassion, patience, forgiveness, responsibility, harmony, and a concern for others.
Mindfulness and meditation can be practiced in order to cherish, foster, and promote the development of one’s empathy, solicitude and forgiveness. This can be experienced as beneficial, or even necessary, for a human’s fulfillment, without any supernatural interpretation or explanation. Spirituality in this context can be a matter of nurturing thoughts, emotions, words, and actions that are in harmony with a belief that everything in the universe is interconnected and mutually dependent.
Scholar Daniel Dennett suggests that all spirituality is connected to “awe and joy, peace and wonder.” However, critics suggest that Nature-based or Secular-Spirituality cannot be considered true spirituality without a supernatural element, and so Nature-based Spirituality and Secular Spirituality boil down to being synonyms for Humanism.
(Note: All the above passages are paraphrased from the July, 2024 Wikipedia article, “Secular Spirituality.” Please see that article for its referenced source documents.)
— J.X. Mason, Author of
Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation
www.ContinuingCreation.org
Finding Life’s Purpose & Meaning
In Nature, Science, & History