-Removed-Not really. But, as I have stated many times, human consciousness is perhaps the best evidence theists or deists have got of there being a creator being [albeit not enough to make me become a religionist].
A metaphysical perspective allows us to examine the subjective experience of having consciousness rather than its origin, if that origin is supernatural. At least that's how I see it.
@divegeester
I'm not sure why I would feel a need for a "metaphysical dynamic".
Physical Reality is wondrous enough for me.
Isn't metaphysics 'just' things that science can't yet explain? The big inexplicables to me are where did everything come from, how life began on earth, and how homo sapiens became self - aware and imaginative. Scientists have for now posited the 'big bang' theory, theists will say it was god, neither of which explains very much. The first cells formed from amino acids and natural stuff that was lying around; theists will say this is impossible, (the odds against it, blah blah blah...) scientists will say it isn't, we just haven't worked out how it happened yet. Enter 'belief', religion; if science can't explain it god must have done it, just choose your god. (Or more likely have it chosen for you) Once you have first cells, the rest is evolution, which is pure, evidential and explicable science.
The 'self awareness' thing is the reason that we are asking the questions in the first place. Uniquely, we are aware of our own existence, and therefore that we are going to die, and what happens then? Theists will say we go to heaven (again, choose your version of heaven) or hell, atheists will say we don't; death is the end of us in our current physical form, we become something else. Where there is belief there is non - belief, and agnosticism.
We have (somehow) the capacity to imagine, which is where I think belief comes from, and to feel 'spiritual' in the face of beauty or experience, whether we believe in a god or not.
I once read an analogy where science and religion are climbing different sides of the same mountain in their attempts to explain life, the universe and everything, and if they ever meet at the top, neither will have all the answers. Anyway that's it for now, got to take the dogs out....
@fmf saidI think we often give human consciousness airs and graces when in actuality it’s the same as a dogs consciousness. It’s a mixture of curiosity and a survival instinct. What more do you need to create gods and afterlife’s. Long before monotheism reared it’s head we had gods and afterlife’s.
As far as I am aware, 'science' has still got a long way to go to explain human consciousness.
Consciousness is a functionality not a gift from the gods or an end in itself.
-Removed-Well, 'spirituality' is just a word, use another word if you want, but us atheists have our 'spiritual' moments as well, which is really just another and very mysterious aspect of brain function. It doesn't seem to matter what you're doing, either, I can have moments of enlightenment or inspiration when I'm ironing a pair of trousers...
And then of course there's creativity, which we have over the beasts of the field, from whence comes this? We are inspired and driven to create works of art and so on, to represent ideas and images of the world to the world, which serves no function other than to be creative. ( We could get by quite well enough without the Mona Lisa or the Taj Mahal) With me in my small way it's writing, if I don't write something for a few days I get twitchy, (not literally but you know what I mean) , it seems to be something which I need to do to fulfill some inner something or another.
There's a lot to talk about once you break open the chestnut...
-Removed-You can use the words "religion", "mysticism", "theism" and even "superstition" [in its non-pejorative 'belief in supenatural causality' sense] to refer to all this stuff.
I think my proposed 'unified' [and still pending at the OED New Definitions Office] definition of "spirituality" gets to the heart of the actual origin of both belief and disbelief, i.e. the curiosity and capacities that define the human spirit.
I read about a study on what is actually happening in the brain during "spiritual" moments. At the core, it involves suspending one's sense of individuality and feeling a part of something larger.
If this is right, then it seems possible for many different people to have "spiritual" experiences, with or without the presence of the supernatural.