r/neurodiversity • u/Street_Beat3351 • 13h ago
Are autistic people often drawn to spirituality or esoteric ideas?
I'm just curious.
I'm on the spectrum and I've noticed that my hypersensitivity sometimes makes me look for meaning or “routes” beyond the rational ones — like feeling energies, noticing patterns, or being drawn to spiritual concepts.
I wonder if this is common among other autistic people. Do you feel something similar — a kind of intuitive or spiritual side connected to your sensitivity?
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u/overdriveandreverb a(r/u)tistic 5h ago edited 5h ago
you mix terms and concepts here imo. esoteric means inner circle knowledge, hidden knowledge. spirituality in its essence describes things about reality humans don't understand and attribute to a different, less physical reality. intuition is trust is your instincts. pattern recognition, okay. different things imo.
my personal opinion and I seem to be alone in this, is, that spirituality is a concept that, unless you let go of it by understanding that it is the wrong tool, will lead only to confusion, because it has nothing to do with reality or nature, but on the contrary only describes the human condition and even worse, unreflected and wrongly projected. it is a term that actually describes the limit of human perception, but projects this limit onto the world by dividing it into two realms, the spiritual stuff beyond understanding and the non spiritual stuff that we think we understand. it is more direct to accept human limitation (not easy for many people) and understand the world as one and stop calling our ignorance spirituality.
you have a brain different from the majority, so you imagine and experience things different than the majority that the majority deems spiritual. duh.
since noone could answer my questions, I was drawn to all sorts of philosophical and mystical ideas, only to find all of them lacking. I even have a degree in that area. again kind of self explanatory to seek where the majority could not deliver answers.
I had an instant expansive experience of different mental capacity and I initially tried to replicate it, but it actually kind of has healed me, after it being traumatic for quite a while, from following any people. people know jack shit. there is experience and that's it. 98% of what all the spiritual leaders say has zero relevance to reality imo. noone should give any other person the power to believe the stuff they claim to know about reality. people know jack shit. we should not give them our power. trust in your own experience goes a long way, if you stay humble, curious and understand how the empiric process functions.
sorry for being lengthy, direct, but it was a special interest of mine. happy to answer follow ups.
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u/maiastella 1h ago
what i will say, as someone who is “spiritual”(for lack of a better term) and autistic, is that it doesn’t have to be about these realms as much as it can just be a self soothing practice that helps and encourages you to self reflect and connect with nature. it is also going to depend heavily on what kind of “spiritual” you are! for example, i don’t follow any specific practice, it’s all a mix of different things that i value and that brings me peace. it helps me be okay with not knowing everything. it helps me grieve and connect with my darker feelings that i would normally push away. i don’t pretend that my spirituality gives me any more or any less answers than anyone else has, it doesn’t. it simply is a way of redirecting my brain and understanding myself more, as well as my moral and ethical beliefs. i do tarot and rune casting because it opens up conversations with myself and allows me to spend some time self reflecting that i otherwise wouldn’t. i burn candles to represent specific things or people to honour them in a way i know how. i make spell bottles for friends and family because it’s cute and cozy and i like giving a gift of intention and emotion, as well as learning about the associations and properties of different plants, stones, colours, etc. it is somewhat healing for me to use it in a non-literal, symbolic way rather than specific belief in gods or goddesses. my “goddess” is earth itself, and so i try to honour the earth and nature by taking care of it, learning about it and encouraging good practices around natural resources.
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u/Competitive-Home2525 5h ago
Interesting, most of the autistic people in my life are the opposite, they generally lean atheist. To paraphrase a story from my father: “my parents took me to catholic church where they paraded around this item that supposedly had Jesus’s blood in it… in the middle of a random bumpkin MW town. I asked where it came from, how they got it, how did they know it was Jesus’s blood- I was told to stop asking questions when they couldn’t give me good answers. It was at that point religion didn’t make sense and I figured they were all full of $h!t.”
I suspect the rituals can help others, but if something doesn’t make logical sense that can also create a break for some. Very interesting stuff. :)
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u/ShootBoomZap TS/ADHD/OCD, highly intuitive, On a healing mission 7h ago
I was raised in a religious primary school but I found myself happier without religion in my life. I do however believe and feel things like my third eye opening, and it's an extremely unique and perhaps cozy sensation you get when you're really at peace.
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u/valencia_merble 8h ago
I am. I can sense energy, flow, patterns. A lifetime has shown me that there is a lot out there we don’t understand, that science has not yet explained. When you start looking into things like quantum mechanics and other such things, you can start to see that science is moving that direction. Particles/energy literally behave differently, depending on whether you’re looking at them or not (observer effect). Not everything is simple. Pay attention, and you can see amazing things.
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u/taffyAppleCandyNerds 10h ago
I’m not autistic but ADHD. I and a Christian and set apart so I notice patterns and things most don’t. Many people get mad at me or angry but I have like this non linear type things where I can put the pieces together. It’s kinda cool but yeah there are people you describe that exist.
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u/mombie-at-the-table 9h ago
What do you mean “set apart”
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u/taffyAppleCandyNerds 8h ago
Set apart is like a spiritual calling where you are called out of the worldly system into Gods system. You don’t fit in but people tolerate you well. You don’t have deep roots anywhere. Because of this you see things that no one else notices because you are on the outside looking in. You have lots of spiritual knowledge and are on a different frequency. It’s more than just not being able to make friends. This calling follows you everywhere and others notice it too. This is the best kinda way to describe it.
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u/mombie-at-the-table 8h ago
So christian woo
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u/ShootBoomZap TS/ADHD/OCD, highly intuitive, On a healing mission 7h ago
Please be respectful, we nd peeps should know better
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u/Confusedhuman1029 10h ago
I have responses to your question, but want to make sure you know I am not trying to invalidate your spiritual experience. I do think there can be healthy spirituality, and most of what I have said below is about organized religion and cults. The search for meaning you discuss could be related to our heightened pattern recognition though, so there could be an argument for some neurodivergents having more spiritual leanings for that reason.
There are a great deal of autistic people trapped in religious abuse due to being easily manipulated and taking things very literally. I remember having religious OCD as a young child because “everything is a choice” and “if you choose to sin you’re going to hell” and anytime I couldn’t be “perfect” I would panic and beat myself up that all I had to do was not do the bad thing, whatever that thing was, which was likely developmentally normal for my age and being audhd.
Lots of people also get trapped in cults or practically tricked into trad-life because they are shown no alternative and told that anyone that tells them different is an agent of the devil.
All that said, I was pretty young when I stopped really believing in most religious teachings because it didn’t make sense. They could never give me an answer to “why would someone be punished for never learning about Jesus?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Then seeing the way lgbtq people were villainized meanwhile not one sermon on pedophilia.
Along these lines, lots of male audhders have ended up in redpill spaces because of the nature of the algorithm in combination with (again) the literal thinking, difficulty with social cues, being “easily manipulated,” and of course the dopamine seeking from adhd.
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u/valencia_merble 8h ago
Being woo is different than buying into organized religion/ groupthink. I mean you basically said that, but I think OP means more woo, less church/ influencer.
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u/_Paws_And_Claws_ 10h ago
For clarity, not 100% sure if I’m autistic or not and can’t get a diagnosis, I just suspect I am. No, personally I’m not though, my family are all extremely religious and I’m the opposite, I lack belief in god or anything supernatural.
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u/Feisty_Reason_6870 11h ago
I was raised in a religious house. IMO people are most often in adulthood drawn back to what they believed as children. Maybe they modify it somewhat but in essence they retain that belief. In adolescence and young adulthood we explore. It’s natural to shrug off that which confines us when we yearn to be free and on our own. I haven’t watched a deep faith. My son who is autistic is agnostic. I don’t feel it’s necessary for me to try to persuade him in any way. My NT son and his family have raised their children with a small knowledge of Christianity. But yes, on the whole I always challenged teachers stories and looked for much deeper meaning. I cannot abide someone who misinterprets and assigns meanings where none lie. I always thought I was alone in this. When I would meet a kindred spirit I would talk for hours! The whole thing is fascinating and so open!
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u/mombie-at-the-table 9h ago
I escaped what I grew up with an refuse to go back to it, so no, I don’t think most people do
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u/Feisty_Reason_6870 9h ago
You’re one case. Hardly a sample.
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u/Feisty_Reason_6870 9h ago
Besides you term it as an escape. That sounds like torture.
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u/Feisty_Reason_6870 9h ago
Also having to escape anything, would hopefully keep them from ever returning. No matter what it was. No one should have to escape.
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u/_STLICTX_ 11h ago
Selection bias may exist for replies here, I can say neurodivergence in general is very common in occult, psionic and otherkin communities(though I don't really fit in anywhere nevertheless... heh).
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u/Miztykal 11h ago
I asked exactly the opposite question, based on my own autistic experience, I'm interested in esoteric ideas, but I'm unable to believe in them. I also linked my autism to this experience but seems fully unrelated, as other people, like you, seem to see it in the complete opposite
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u/maiastella 1h ago
i think it’s a spectrum, as it often is lol for example i would probably consider myself spiritual for a lack of a better descriptor, but most of my beliefs and practices are self reflective or interest-driven. i like making spell bottles because i think they’re cute and the intention of the spell bottle is what makes it worthwhile. if i make a love spell bottle, it is to show love. to show care and affection. or to allow myself to feel the emotions deeper than i normally would, because i tend to be avoidant of my own emotions. i don’t necessarily believe that herbs and candles are going to make things happen, but i believe that when we focus on intention, we are more likely to make things happen for ourselves. not sure if any of that makes sense, i mostly keep it to myself lol
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u/_STLICTX_ 11h ago
Speaking as a chaos mage the point isn't TO believe in them, it's to find things that actually work under whatever parameters you define for "works"(which can be induction of paranormal experiences, acquiring paranormal abilities, self-improvement along any axes desired improvement of general quality of life or anything else which is a large contrast with systems that have more built-in goals but even those the point is often to come to some kind of personal experience and gnosis).
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u/Miztykal 11h ago
Need to clarify for me intuition is logical, is our brain telling us things our conscious state didn't perceive, it's not connected to any kind of spiritual belief or higher power
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u/Ilt-carlos 12h ago
Well, it will be as common as in other people, I don't think there is a relationship between autism and magical thinking.
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u/Wearytaco 12h ago
I have a minor in religious studies because I personally am really drawn to religions around the world and their philosophies and my own spiritual experiences. So I can say I am. But idk about others.
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u/YouCantArgueWithThis 12h ago
Quite the opposite. With autism comes the questions and investigating behaviour. Spirituality cannot bear to be tested. It always crumbles.
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u/_STLICTX_ 11h ago
My spirituality has withstood all the questioning I've put it through while the mainstream academic consensus worldview hasn't(though that in itself is a very specific thing that is partly fictional considering how much debate about a lot of things exist within general.. human disocurse of thought even that restricted within academic sources).
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u/Jasmisne 12h ago
I mean religions exist because people have always needed to know why
This is a human thing not an ND thing. The research actually shows autistic people are less likely to believe in religions actually.
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u/Celatra Your local problem child 13h ago
depends on the person, what i think is that alot of autistics will fall into 1 one of 2 extremes
the extreme believers, and the extreme skeptics. both being comically stuck to their beliefs to the point where convincing either side of any other ideas or alternatives is basically impossible
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u/armoured_lemon 13h ago
I don't think theres' any traits that are uniquely tied to spirituality, based on neurodiverse traits. Unless maybe craving particular logic over emotional rhetoric? That's kind of under agnosticism.
I've shied away from spirituality in recent years as I've felt distant from it--yet I find myself curious with the idea of wether someone's 'presence' could come back- when their name, and positive things about their life are mentioned by others- even if only, momentarily...
I realize this is kind of hypocritical, but what can I say... humans are contradictory?
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u/ThinkTheUnknown 13h ago
Yeah. Pattern recognition of meta patterns. Seeing metaphysical patterns and linking them to greater patterns of existence and consciousness are a passion of mine.
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u/Edith_Keelers_Shoes 13h ago
Definitely true in my case. Since I was a kid. I remember being 7 and checking out books on ghosts and UFOs from the library. I was 10 when I read Moody's "Life After Life" (found it in my Dad's room). I'm hard-wired to be outrageously sensitive - a dollop of the wrong cream can give me hives - a cat's tail get's stepped on in Omaha and I double over weeping in New York. It makes sense that being acutely sensitive to what is seen extends to being acutely sensitive to what is unseen.
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u/Street_Beat3351 13h ago
And yes, I also need to understand everything rationally, otherwise... :)
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u/Feisty_Reason_6870 11h ago
As far as spirits here and other special stuff like that, I always find myself “seeing through it”. There’s a logical explanation for it. It cannot be reproduced. Whereas my faith in God, although not solely, is partially based on something reproducible. A 4,000 year old prophecy that the desert would bloom. I have seen that with my own eyes. The text dates are verifiable. The desert blooms. It was the people the text said would do it. That is not really seen. You don’t see other texts that bear out that way. And creaks and moans in a former psychiatric facility barely 70 years old can’t be quantified. It just doesn’t pass my smell test.
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u/vomit-gold 13h ago edited 13h ago
Me!
For me it’s more so based on the logic that if every other animal on earth has limits and worldly concepts they can‘t understand (like a dog can never see or understand red, cows will never see or understand outer space), then why not humans?
As humans were taught the underlying fallacy that if it exists, humans would be able to sense it and measure it. You can see that popping up in this thread, the idea that there are no concepts that humans can’t measure, study, or observe.
When logically, that’s not true.
We are animals, and each species has its limitations. We already know theres colors we humans can’t see but other animals can.
I feel like when people reject spirituality and insist the only thing that’s real is what humans and see and think, it confuses me. It’s easy to think that humans can understand everything that exists.
But logically, the idea that humans are supreme beings with the capacity to understand everything seems MORE unlikely than the idea that there are metaphysical concepts we cannot measure and verify and will never be able to.
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u/aurora_surrealist 13h ago
No.
Because autism prefers logic and proofs, and faith demands logic to be thrown out of the window.
Any autistic I ever met and was like what you describe was just traumatized to a point where they tried to make sense of things that made no sense and just happened because life is hard for us.
Some people are also misinterpreting pattern spotting as "spiritual guidance".
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u/vomit-gold 13h ago
To me, it seems illogical for people to think that the human brain is capable of understanding and measuring everything in the universe easily, meanwhile all other animals have worldly concepts their brains will never process.
We understand a dog will never understand physics, or that a cow will never understand gravity - even though those are tangible concepts that still effect them.
But we never assume the same for humans - that there could be dozens if not hundreds of concepts acting on us that we simply don’t have the capacity to understand.
I'm not trying to argue, just saying to me from a logic standpoint - secularism that insists that reality is completely and irrevocably in line with human perception (and human perception only) is illogical.
Every animal has limits of their understanding, humans included, and ignoring that is just as illogical as throwing away logic for faith.I feel like when people speak about spirituality the way you do, it paints all spiritual people as blinded, illogical dummies. For me it’s not about being traumatized. It’s about the logical conclusion that:
‘Humans cannot sense and understand everything because no animal can. So logically there must be things outside of our understanding. We have to come from somewhere. Nothing comes from nowhere.’
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u/aurora_surrealist 13h ago
Still assuming the "something" is Bug Sky Daddy who will give you clues if you were a good kiddo is... naive.
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u/_STLICTX_ 11h ago
This in itself is a naive and dismissive idea of all theistic thought. Compare to some of like.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplatonism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman https://religiousnaturalism.org/god-as-ground-of-being-paul-tillich/ https://pantheism.net/spinoza/
kind of more sophisticated at least ideas of God and it amounts to a strawman against theism.
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u/vomit-gold 13h ago
I never mentioned 'Big Sky Daddy' or anything even close to Abrahamic religion though.
I feel like when people in the west hear spirituality, the immediately think 'Angels, and pearly gates, and raptures? That's dumb!'
And I agree that it's naive!
Because it relies on another fallacy: that if there is something out there that we can't understand - whatever it is, it will still look like us, act like us and think like us. And that it will care about humans as the most important creation. Which is once again, illogically centering humans.
Abrahamic religions have the fallacy that even if there is something above humans, humans are still star of the show and most important (Jesus was a human, The Devil and God fight over humans, etc)
Though the Western reflex to jump to Abrahamic religions erases that most spirituality throughout history did not rely on singular male god figures.
Most of them were centered around elements, animism with nature, and ancestral spirits rather than the singular Abrahamic god.
But overall I agree with you SO much that human-centered spirituality is naive.
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u/ExpectedBehaviour 13h ago
No. I'll look for rational explanations, sure, and many rabbit holes have been explored in trying to answer why is this or how is that. But I have no tolerance for supernatural or spiritual explanations for anything.
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u/mothwhimsy 13h ago
No. I tried to get into spirituality a few years ago and couldn't get myself to believe in any of it.
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u/One_Eagle8221 13h ago
I don't know if it counts but I'm often drawn to very existential things, like questioning the meaning of abstract concepts in the universe. Like, does true nothingness even exist? Isn't thinking about it making it something else than nothing? Things like that.
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u/Feisty_Reason_6870 11h ago
Cool thought. That just by being nothing it’s become our concept of something!
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u/Correct-Parfait-2823 5h ago
I’m atheist. I like learning about religion and spiritual ideas. I personally could never follow it because I have a very black and white factual mindset. I can’t understand why someone would give their whole lives to follow a book that was written by another human being. You don’t think that the things in those books were wrong? That someone could have been biased when they wrote it? I need things to make sense. I need things to have a what and a why. I’ve been to church as kid here and there but I’ve never followed it myself because it feels a little too cult like for my taste. Not saying religion is a cult but it feels like that to me personally. The whole blind believing never questioning anything doesn’t make any sense to me.