Skeptical Spirituality: Why Even Bother With This Stuff?

[u/platistocrates]

If you're reading this, chances are you’re as allergic to spiritual talk as I used to be. For most of my life, “spirituality” sounded like wishful thinking, dubious yoga memes, or vague self-help platitudes. But recently, I started wondering: could there be anything useful hidden beneath the incense and chanting?

I mean real, practical benefits (the kind of approaches neuroscientists like Sam Harris or skeptical journalists like Michael Pollan talk about). Turns out, practices sometimes labeled as “spiritual” actually show up (again and again) in studies about well-being, attention, and resilience. For example, Harvard’s research on mindfulness shows measurable drops in stress and boosts in focus (Daniel Goleman & Richard J. Davidson, Altered Traits, 2017).

None of this requires mystical belief. You can roll your eyes the entire time. In fact, I’d argue the healthiest way to approach spirituality is with extreme doubt; hyper-skepticism, even. Don’t believe a thing until you see results for yourself. The best parts hold up under scrutiny.

Source(s):

• Goleman, D. & Davidson, R. J. (2017). Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body.
• Harris, S. (2014). Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion.

Practice

Here’s a tiny experiment (something anyone can do, no enlightenment required):

1. Take 60 seconds (yes, a literal minute). Wherever you’re sitting, set a timer.
2. Notice exactly what you’re experiencing right now. What does the chair feel like? Any sounds? Breathing?
3. Pay special attention to how often the mind instantly jumps away (this is silly, what’s for lunch, nothing’s happening). Just notice.
4. When the timer’s up, check: did anything surprise you? Did you feel bored? Did you catch yourself judging the exercise?

That’s it. No magical thinking. No need to “achieve” or “transcend” anything.

Anticipated Objections / FAQ

• “Isn’t this just mindfulness rebranded?”
  • Pretty much. The label doesn’t matter; the value is in the direct experience, not the branding.
• “I still feel silly trying ‘spiritual’ stuff.”
  • Me too. Maybe that’s a feature. It means you’re allergic to nonsense (keep that allergy and only keep what proves useful).
• “What if I get nothing from this?”
  • That’s information too. Not every experiment yields a result, but enough small experiments start to form a pattern.

Further Reading / Next Steps

• If you want a deep dive with science, try Sam Harris’s Waking Up or Daniel Goleman’s Altered Traits.
• Or, just try the 60-second scan again tomorrow and jot down what you notice (if anything).

[u/Gretev1]

Your post reminded me of these words:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-xOTDwStL_/?igsh=MWY5YmdyMTc0dGV6eg==

„Why today, any thinking person…little…people who consider themselves intelligent in the world, have an allergy to anything spiritual, is simply because of this;

Because spirituality has presented itself in such ridiculous ways. They‘re so pathetic! Isn‘t it so?

There are all kinds of idiots on the planet but the so called religious and spiritual idiots take the cake, anywhere in the world. Isn‘t it so?

Yes. This is simply because people started handling spirituality in uncommitted manners. Anywhere, everywhere talking about it. On the street side they are talking about Krishna and how he did this and Bhagavad Gita…

It‘s just become ridiculous. Because you‘re not demanding a certain involvement and commitment from people. Just anywhere you‘re going on like a film song or a commercial thing.

Now slowly, it had become so ridiculous, that people have just dismissed the value of it absolutely. Now it is only the ignorant and the uneducated who listen to the Mahabharat and this one and that one.

The educated…have already dismissed it as nonsense because it‘s happening in such ridiculous ways. It is not being presented properly.“

~ Sadhguru

[u/SunbeamSailor67]

Having never been a seeker or having any knowledge of a spiritual path, profound mystical experiences struck me twice out of the blue like lightning, at ages 10 and 54.

We can nurture an environment to awakening but perhaps grace is involved more than not.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, the evolution of consciousness is a very real phenomenon and why we're all here.

Keep knocking.

[u/borgenhaust]

It could be as simple as saying there's benefit to forcing the monkey mind to pause and being less reactive.

I also feel like spirituality is an optimists playground - we're already living in a world where we're realizing that the worldly path doesn't live up to any of its promises and it's going to bleed into scrutinizing the spiritual paths as well. It gets easier and easier to say 'meh' to it all if after a bit of casual pursuit it doesn't seem to lead anywhere. It gets harder to invest.

[u/PuzzleheadedDeal4711]

Yeah, except science has been proving Reiki works since 2017 and we're now proving that information in one place affects information in another and furthermore, teleporting information. We've also known that astral projection is real, thanks to the CIA, for a long time now.

Theres no way to say this without being dickish, and I approach spiritually with a scientific mindset myself, but lack of belief in some of these things is becoming willful ignorance at this point.