Note: The following is supposedly the book "Natural Atheism" by David Eller (2004). I still have not read the book or, indeed, it is only today that I heard about it, but if this is representative of its contents, will probably be a next purchase. Nor have confirmation that this is the book in question, but I have no reason to doubt this. I saw this in a comment (a little larger than normal) on Facebook, and I can not resist copying it here. The theme is the use of terms like "spiritual" and "spirituality" by atheists and non-believers in general.
My translation, by the way. No idea if this exists in Portuguese.
I contend that this kind of talk is false, and, even more than false, it is anti-human conversation - the kind of conversation that degrades and diminishes human beings and the natural world ... It is the assignment of life itself to another reality, another dimension, distinct from that in which we live every day - and, even more crucially, a reality or dimension to which we have no access ... It is as if we ligássemos an additional source of life and energy, this source could only be from the source of all life and energy - out of us ... And yet we are - weak and insignificant material beings - we have these experiences ... What is usually described as spiritual life is indeed, humanity.
Thus, spirituality is the greatest betrayal of humanity possible. Talk about the spirit and the spiritual alienate the best part of what is to be human - literally, in order to make it weird or separate from ourselves. This conversation says, "This is the best, the exponent of the maximum that I can feel and be - and not me." Thus, minimizes and denigrates the human and natural (as does any dualism) and gives the best of what we are able to plane or reality. Not only deprives us of part of our humanity, but the best part of our humanity, and assigns it to a supernatural world - and so unnatural. In the process, we are diminished. We are alienated from ourselves and convinced that no mere human could be the source of wonder.
But we are the source. Esperience are actually spiritual human experiences - the best, the strongest, the most profound human experiences, but human in it. There is a kind of non-humanity, but a form of ultra-humanity. We are enriched by them and for them, but empobrecemo us when we refuse - or let's be denied - our better nature, and attribute these feelings, and capabilities to non-human, the unknown, and almost certainly the imaginary and unreal ...
Never again shall we say, "I had a spiritual experience." Instead, say ... "I had an experience of life" - or, better yet, "I had a human experience" - and encourage others to do the same.
