12 Symptoms of a Spiritual Awakening

[Starboard Tack]

Food for thought and I think attainable with or without religion.

[Skittles]

1. good pot will do that too

[liberalmuse]

2. +1

[demosincebirth]

3. Sure, but your problems will still be there when you wake up

[Skittles]

4. the problems are still there if you are "spiritual"

you're just more adept at ignoring them

[demosincebirth]

6. Discussing this with you will probably be like banging my head on a wall.

[Skittles]

9. then you will understand EXACTLY how agnostics feel

[roguevalley]

11. nothing in the list speaks of religion. it is a statement of behavior and change

that some people feel when their hearts change and then become more open to the now and living for now than worrying about things that don't matter. It took the death of my parents, four dogs and my sister's injury in the space of five years to make it clear to me that the items on the list can be true when change comes to you.

I don't see religion there at all.

[Skittles]

12. spirituality is traditionally seen as a part of religion

you are correct: religion is NOT required to be a better person or a happier person

[cbayer]

15. Agree. It does not require religion at all.

Some find it there, others do not.

[cleanhippie]

5. As well as mushrooms, LSD, and DMT. Especially DMT.

[rug]

7. I'd like you to tell me more about #12.

[cbayer]

8. He's pretty much got all these down, but...

sometimes they infuriate me.

[rug]

10. Groovy.

[cbayer]

13. Perfect. It is, in fact.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

14. Hmmmmm...

[raccoon]

16. DECIDEDLY attainable without religion. nt

[edhopper]

17. Sounds closer to Maslow's

idea of Self-Actualization.

I don't know what the "Spiritual" part means. Seems superfluous.

[GliderGuider]

18. Yes, they're attainable with or without religion. However...

Most of the people I've met who exhibit these symptoms don't develop them within either a purely secular or a traditionally religious framework. Most of them seem to come from one of the more recent schools of personal development that incorporate depth psychology along with with a spiritual philosophy like Buddhism or some other non-dualist school of thought.

Traditional religious and secular approaches tend to leave out different symptoms from their overall structure, and end up being incomplete as a result.

[trotsky]

19. Sounds like some of the best bowel movements I've had.

So definitely attainable without religion.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. It's strange to see "let things happen rather than make them happen" in the list

It makes it seem like a very subjective list - many people who would regard themselves as "spiritually awake", "aware" etc., whether religious or not, would regard activism as vital part of spirituality, not a hindrance to it.

[Starboard Tack]

21. It is very subjective. Spiritual enlightenment is always subjective.

It always brings me back to Huxley's "After Many A Summer" and the conversations between Propter the philosopher, Jeremy the scholar and Pete the romantic idealist. Propter explains about the three levels of existence; the animal level, the spiritual level and the strictly human level.
Activism operates on the strictly human level.

[GliderGuider]

22. Remember it talks about "tendencies" - YMMV

Engaged Buddhists definitely see activism as a part of their practice.

To me that point speaks of dropping one's attachment to specific outcomes. I may work toward preferred outcomes, but if things don't go the way I want I accept that and go on to something else.

It's kind of like seeing the universe as a democracy - all outcomes are result of a vote consisting of the actions or influences of all the stakeholders (ranging from other people to the laws of physics). My vote/action is only one of many that has a bearing on the outcome. If I get outvoted I accept it and move on. To me the symptom doesn't mean "don't vote" so much as it means "vote, then accept whatever the outcome is."

One more thought:

Action in favour of a preferred outcome can be judgement-free, while "activism" seems to have more to do with getting other people to behave the way you think they should. I do have issues with that, since I think that right and wrong are human illusions, and that "should" is the single most pernicious word in the English language. But that's just me. YMMV, and you get a vote in everything too.