Spiritual Naturalism - Orientation

Orientation

Spiritual Naturalism has advocates that cover the religious spectrum from neo-theism (neo-Christianity, process theology) to atheism. The majority probably are agnostic or atheistic while many prefer not to be categorized. There is a vast difference in opinions on how to address the question of a deity of some kind, if at all. There are those who see God as the creative process within the universe, those who define God as the totality of the universe (The All), some who use God in metaphoric ways, those that have no need to use the concept or terminology of God even as a metaphor and some who are atheistic proclaiming there is no such entity what so ever and rebel against usage of the term.

Spiritual Naturalism is chiefly concerned with finding ways to access traditional spiritual feelings without the inclusion of supernatural elements incompatible with science and a broad naturalism. Adherents believe that Nature, in all its diversity and wonder, is sufficient unto itself in terms of eliciting the intellectual and emotional responses associated with spiritual experience, and that there is no need for faith in the traditional anthropomorphic concept of 'god' and similar ideas.

Adherents of Spiritual Naturalism are generally scientifically-oriented in most aspects, with their primary difference from other naturalists being their belief that the abandonment of superstition does not necessarily entail the abandonment of spirituality. To adherents, the intellectual and emotional experience of something greater than oneself is seen as a phenomenon of enduring value, a positive facet of the human condition to be preserved even while they purge themselves of so much that has traditionally accompanied it. Furthermore, some adherents of spiritual naturalism view their philosophy specifically as a form of mysticism.

There is some debate as to the similarity of, and differentiation between, the view of spiritual naturalism and the related view of religious naturalism. They are both clearly form of pantheism but it is unclear which category they fit best. The term "spiritual" seems to imply that spiritual naturalism is Monist idealist Pantheism. This debate is generally viewed as purely academic or meaningless semantics.

New Religions, A Guide states that:

after the Second World War, the religious landscape in the West dramatically changed” and cites the reasons for this, two being religious pluralism and better communication of all kinds. Also “Religion is increasingly a private rather than a public matter… as religion is simply a matter of personal preference, and since there is little evidence to establish the validity of one choice over another, or indeed to establish the validity of any choices, there are few reasons to limit choice….consequently, spirituality is being explored in some unexpected areas of Western life… it is not a return to previous ways of being religious, but rather the emergence of new ways of being religious.

The Guide continues “the term ‘spirituality’ tends to be associated more with non-institutional forms of practice and a radical rethinking of tradition, space, community and the body. In this sense, postmodern spirituality reflects the collapse of religious authority and institutional practice…. Post modern spiritualities question the division between the transcendental and the immanent… the transcendent is seen either as present or a false division, making creation divine.” Thus Spiritual Naturalism (Naturalistic Spirituality) along with its related naturalisms, can be seen as a rebellion against traditional religious thinking and a naturalizing of the concepts of God.