As I said before, everything depends on the people, their
needs and capabilities. Here are the main ideas that come,
unpretentious comprehensiveness:
- In matters of truth there
is science, the scientific method and its many applications.
- A specially interesting use of rational thought is the one that concerns philosophical questions, on the sense of life, such as those considered in this site. So, there needs to be some more relevant and useful practice of philosophy than the traditional one, to be no more locked in academic environments with its biases, but to inspire new ideas, projects and opportunities in facing effective
problems of life. This would include surveys and studies on the troubles in
the life of people, on different religious or other affairs and their
impacts on the
happiness of people, their psychological or intellectual evolution,
their possible changes of opinions, and the possible causes of suicide;
research of relevant methodologies. (Example
of small interesting study)
- As for the mission to accomplish on this earth, there is
the protection of nature with its biodiversity, the support to the
positive evolution of the human species and the construction of
civilization.
- As for the development of morality, there is the
apprenticeship of the sense of responsibility, and the scientific study
of
all links of cause to effect that is necessary to build practical
responsibilities; a whole lifetime is not too long to learn it, even
hundreds of lives of scientific research in this regard would be
welcome, not forgetting that part of the challenge would be to
automatize and operate by software.
- As for the faith in God
and hope in eternal life, there is the reading and hearing of
near-death experience testimonies. To do more, one can further and support investigations of these and
other related testimonies. Do not advocate or demonize any experience
whatsoever, leaving everyone free of his opinions and his personal
"spiritual search", and compile the results in a neutral way, aiming to
feed as objectively as possible any future theological debates on the
compared merits or relevances of different approaches. Among other
ideas, it may be interesting to create committees of near death
experiencers (without taking it as any sort of absolute
reference either).
- As for happiness there
is love and family life, and
also, depending on people, other things
can contribute to more or less fill human life: trips in nature or
elsewhere, music and other arts, games, science again for those who can
study it...
- If you like to meet friends you
already know or make new ones on Sunday or on any occasion whatsoever,
sing beautiful songs with them, and meditate a few moments in
silence or in a musical meditative background in beautiful
architectural
monuments or not, hear great stories and good life lessons, share
good advice and good resolutions, you are welcome ! I just cannot see
whatever Gospel or other alleged divine revelation whatsoever, should
have to do here. So:
We can try to sort and collect what is positive in
different existing religions and spiritualities. For example, as to the
organization
of worship, some aspects may be interesting to consider, develop and
complement to bring finally good fruit. For the use of fans of religious songs: review
the fine religious melodies, revise the texts of songs or invent new
ones,
make directories of songs not allowing any misconceptions now haunting
religions to remain. In their place, put more true and meaningful ideas
that might bear better fruit. Ah, if
only one could sort the wheat from the chaff, manage to take good
things and get rid of associated
ideological errors ! This is far from simple, it is a civilization
which is yet to be invented and built. This cannot be the work of only one man. This
development work to be done is vast; which is why some people who would happen
to specially feel inspiration for it (among the so many other things to do), should take the initiative to start contributing (without passively waiting for
any revelation of the Holy Spirit...). It would
be an open and multidisciplinary work, opening and developing wide possibilities where individuals could find specialization...
Instead of a
Bible allegedly inspired by God, for those who need reading, one can
make books honestly declared as man-made, developed in accordance with specified
methodologies. Studies open to developments, filling libraries,
structured with useful classifications for different needs.
Indeed there already exist religions without God, like Ethical
Culture. Developing this way
some friendly social practices of religions, deprived from the
dubious metaphysical or theological doctrines that were linked with them, is good. It
would be
better to complete cleaning their speeches from doctrinal and methodological
errors of traditional religions in matters of practical life and
morality,
and replace them by some positive, more truthful and challenging developments. In short, much
work
remains to be done.
- Perhaps one day, will be found some available and relatively safe method for astral travel, including possible chances to "meet
God" as some reported, whatever this may really mean, by as practical
and not ideological
methods as taking substances in the form of a pill or any other medical method.
- Not forgetting, of course,
works of charity (also following methodologies open to
studies and developments; unless a global revolution would address
the problem otherwise, with little need of monetary donation or other personal self-sacrifice).
There is
therefore in what I deeply respect, a multitude of things that largely
suffice to feed all possible "thirst for spirituality" of most
people. Therefore, please do not call me a nihilist.
And some
may pretend I would be contradicting myself, putting forward ways that
I
advocate to fill the thirst for spirituality of man, while I just
explained that there can be no such a thing as a true spirituality.
My point is that
not only are the above true approaches very different and sometimes opposed
to traditional spirituality, but it would be inappropriate to take
this list as a new definition of "authentic spirituality", insofar as it is
definitely not one quest nor
even a series of quests that could be
properly grouped under the banner of a common expression, but a
diversity of quests clearly
unrelated to one another, which thus require to be named by completely
different names, to be much clearer and more specific than any vague
catch-all pompous
name as the one of "spirituality".