Some contradictions of Spirituality
Standardized Transcendance
Spirituality is the claim that identically following and repeating the
same ways and actions as have been already done by millions of other
people in the past, so that anyone (including stupid people) must be
able to do it if just he tries, would be something divinely wonderful
and extraordinary.
Well, I admit that there is something we can consider wonderful and
extraordinary while it has already been done identically by a majority
of humans. Namely, love and sex. But this rather is an extraordinary
joy, that is something natural.
Logically, what is repeatedly done by large numbers of people since
millenia with no progression, should be considered something selfish
because there is hardly anyone else that it can benefit to. Thus, in
particular (and despite some claims), marital love and sex are
something selfish (unless questions of genetic evolution are
considered).
What would more precisely be absurd, thus, is to give a standardized
action (repeated by millions) with no resulting progression, to be
something of moral value, that is, a value much beyond the actor's
concerns.
In particular, marital love and sex is a high value, but this is
consistent insofar as this is directly and individually measured
and benefited.
Selfish practical quest for Inner Selflessness
Some spiritualities more or less avoid the last contradiction, in the
sense that they honestly recognize the goal of their path, to be a
selfish one. It would be a path to individual salvation.
However, such a claim is hardly tenable. Most spiritualities remain
tempted to consider themselves as the heart of selflessness, in order
to seem higher, because selfless goals naturally look "so much
spiritually higher" than selfish ones. But they have to manage the
contradiction between this theoretical principle of selflessness,
necessary for them to see themselves as a "high spiritual value", and
the practical reality their short-sighted actions with mainly selfish
benefits.
Humanly Accessible Humanly Inaccessible Truths
A truth that directly concerns human life, especially if it is very
important, should be directly accessible and thus provable by reason
and observation, with no need to take refuge if faith and trust
requests.
Indeed, what is hardly observable, is also (logically) of hardly any consequence on human life.
A possible excuse of spirituality, is when they claim to deal with not
human life but afterlife, and the way in which human life will affect
afterlife. But such claims are therefore infalsifiable (especially if
not directly suggested by a systematic and impartial record of NDE
testimonies). And if they are infalsifiable, they should be honestly
recognized as such. Or, do they deal with logical necessity on these
matters ? If they deal with logical necessities then they should admit
them as such, and develop systematic study of logic and rationality.
Claims which are neither logically necessary nor based on observation,
are mere speculation and should be regarded as such.
Whether they are to deal with accessible or inaccessible realities,
spiritualities are fond of speaking about transcendental forms of
knowledge, that is, knowledge not accessible (or at least not provable)
by direct reason, but that requires either some form of miraculous
method to be discovered, or a Word from God to specify what is true to
humans that would have no other means to guess it.
Question: are these things only hardly acessible, or radically
inaccessible by pure reason ? If they are just hardly accessible
questions, like the question of the existence of the Higgs boson, then
we just need to set up teams of experts to set up the question in
rational and verifiable ways, with no need to depend on assumed
miraculous sources of these truths.
But if these truth are radically inaccessible or unverifiable by human
reason, then, how can anyone pretend to get the proof that a given
doctrine is indeed based on higher sources as it claims to be ?
Indeed, the "radically inaccessible by reason" nature of some assumed
truths, cannot be consistent with a proper ability to discern whether a
given doctrine is indeed from God (for the case of theological
spiritualities) or transcendentally assessed by any means (for the case
of agnostic spiritualities like Buddhism), as is required by its
institutionalization (installation and propagation by the general
public).
Many spiritualities carefully turn around this question by reling on
loopholes like assumed facts (miracles) disregarding their lack of
verification, or blackmail (emergency of self-salvation that lets no
time to honestly examine the question; culpabilization of doubt towards
the Word of God).
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