# What's a "spiritual person"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040 "2011-07-14T18:53:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/21 "2011-07-15T16:50:31Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > When I hear “spiritual,” I think “flaky and pretentious.” Perfection. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/22 "2011-07-15T16:51:39Z")
Woo. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/23 "2011-07-15T19:02:15Z")
Spiritual is someone who tries to make the earth a better place for their having been alive on it. Bears no connection whatsoever to religious. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/24 "2011-07-15T23:11:41Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Spiritual is someone who tries to make the earth a better place for their having been alive on it. Bears no connection whatsoever to religious. Perhaps. But would you agree that spirituality doesn’t reject, negate, oppose or conflict with religion? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/25 "2011-07-16T00:05:07Z")
You don’t need to break it down too far because the people that claim they are “spiritual” generally can’t break it down into anything coherent themselves. I asked a number of females in college (that is a common demographic that describes themselves that way) what they meant by that exactly and none could give an answer worthy of this board. It just means anything from “I am not a true atheist but I don’t like the religion I was brought up in” to “I meant some cool guys at a craft fair and we had a blast after the beer and MJ started”. It is just a response meaning that the person is confused and not dead set on any established religion and more than likely a little flaky. It means nothing other than that. OTOH, being confused in young adulthood about basic things isn’t the worst thing in world so I don’t hold it against them but it doesn’t win any intelligence points either. Most likely, you will see a weird assortment of candles and crafts in their bedroom. They thought “Oh pretty!” and bought them and had to justify a reason why to themselves and others. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/26 "2011-07-16T00:08:14Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Spiritual is someone who tries to make the earth a better place for their having been alive on it. Bears no connection whatsoever to religious. I disagree completely. Someone who is \*ethical \*believes and behaves as you’ve described. “Spirituality” is all about believing in all the wrong reasons, not about taking all the right actions. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/27 "2011-07-16T01:47:14Z")
As I noted in the previous thread: To me, being more spiritual means working to live closer to my ideals: To be kinder, more patient, less angry, more honest, etc. All values that can’t be objectively measured. Nothing to do with the supernatural/religious. For me, spirituality is _applied_ ethics. I recognize this is not a mainstream view, but it works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/28 "2011-07-16T10:21:19Z")
Nutter, either of the harmless wishy-washy hullo-clouds-hullo-trees type, the moderately scary religious type or the deeply unpleasant proselytising type. Prejudiced? Yup, and I have no patience for flakes. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/29 "2011-07-18T00:48:49Z")
Consider that the US Senate has a chaplain, whose duties: > [@](#): > > …include counseling and **spiritual care** for the Senators, their families and their staffs, a combined constituency of six thousand people. [The Senate Chaplain]’s days are filled with meeting Senators about **spiritual** and moral issues… From the [US Senate official site.](http://www.senate.gov/reference/office/chaplain.htm) (bolding mine) If the definitions given in this thread are valid, Ogg help us all. ---
**Author:** ![Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Picard_Kills_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/30 "2011-07-18T01:30:52Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > When I hear ‘spiritual’, I generally place it in contrast to ‘religious’. A religious person is interested in their relationship to the Divine, but looks to a human organization, such as a church, to give it meaning. A spiritual person is interested in their relationship to the Divine, but looks within. Thus a person can be spiritual, religious, or both. I like this answer. If someone asked me what the difference between being religion and being spiritual, I would say the religious person observes practices and traditions to go along with their belief. I think being spiritual is more like living and believing, having faith. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/31 "2011-07-18T01:38:16Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I think of a spiritual person as one who “feels” a lot. Feels vibes from others, feels the rhythm of the Universe, feels the life force coursing thru their veins. One who is guided more by sensations than facts. One heavily into metaphysics and Eastern mysticism. They are probably religious, but not necessarily Western mainstream. +1 ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/32 "2011-07-18T11:02:06Z")
Wants to believe there’s a god, doesn’t want to believe that he expects us to follow rituals or sacrifice anything in any way. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/33 "2011-07-18T19:06:05Z")
The way I usually see it used, someone who believes in God, usually for a rather vague and informal definition of “God”, but isn’t into organized religion. Though I’ve seen it used in many other ways. (I keep wanting to write “disorganized religion” as the opposite of “organized religion”, but somehow I don’t think that’s quite right). ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/34 "2011-07-19T01:24:48Z")
I translate this in my head to “wants credit for believing in God but can’t to be arsed to go to church” which is probably unfair. At least some of the time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/35 "2011-07-20T14:41:49Z")
The previous three answers hit it directly on the head for me. “Do you believe in God?” “Of course!” “Do you go to church, pray for any reason other than ‘gimme that’, tithe, or do anything else connected to any recorded teaching of God?” “Ohhhh…nooooo, I’m _spiritual_, not religious.” Ok. By the way, you’re a moron. But I’m \* judgmental\*, not an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/36 "2011-07-20T15:26:44Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Perhaps. But would you agree that spirituality doesn’t reject, negate, oppose or conflict with religion? No. To me, someone who is spiritual would have a strong sense of honor and integrity. They would not willingly follow or espouse the lie that is religion. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040/37 "2011-07-20T15:41:00Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > No. To me, someone who is spiritual would have a strong sense of honor and integrity. They would not willingly follow or espouse the lie that is religion. Hoo, boy. While you’ll get no argument from me, equating a religious person with a lack of honor and integrity will get you into serious philosophical hot water with many. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-spiritual-person/589040.md?page=1)