Quote Originally Posted by Burney View Post
I think that a belief in human spirituality is simply a means of sublimating and rendering intellectually acceptable a pre-existing gut-level belief in a higher supernatural power. It's just a smokescreen thrown up by people who desperately want to believe in something, but won't let themselves believe in a 'God'. If you believe there are such things as 'matters spiritual', you are de facto admitting you believe in the human soul - a wholly religious construct.
I would concede that the term 'spiritual' comes heavily loaded with religious connotations, and to that extent is certainly inadequate or imperfect.

But it only takes a small broadening of our traditional concept of spirituality to encompass matters such as the mysteries of consciousness that have absolutely nothing to do with God.

Believing in such matters is not a smokescreen - it's an inevitable and unavoidable consequence of 5 minutes of opening your mind.