It has been ages since I last posted anything on here. I’d like to start up again now that I’ve settled in to medical school. Something I have wanted to post about for a long time but was never sure how is the subject of spirituality. Obviously this is a word than might have as many different meanings as there are people.

I feel a useful definition is “a belief in something supernatural that forms the core of a person’s psychology.” I realize this definition might raise more problems than it solves by introducing the word ‘supernatural.’ However, I don’t think writing a treatise on what is supernatural is necessary in understanding my definition of spirituality.

Whether your understanding of supernatural is cosmic energy, a Creator, nirvana, or any number of other concepts, the root of spirituality remains the same. It is a belief in this idea, God, or meta-narrative that a person uses to fundamentally define who they are.

I also believe spirituality can be charted on a spectrum, with pure spirituality on one side and pure religion on the other. Pure spirituality is a belief in something supernatural that while forming the basis of a person’s psychology has no direct influence on their interactions with other people. That is, this person could potentially have the same lifestyle and actions as someone that did not hold this belief at all.

I feel that pure spirituality is fairly rare; usually it is mixed with some degree of religion. Religion is the actions a person takes as a result of their belief in something supernatural.

Pure religion then would be a set of actions inherited from a religious system or spiritual understanding that a person practices without any regard for the original belief that generated these actions. That is, a person who practices pure religion could have a totally separate psychology and belief system which has nothing to do with their actions. They inherited a list of rules and practices that they follow rigidly without any supernatural belief for doing so.

Now the reason I am defining these terms and introducing these concepts is to be able to elucidate my journey out of spirituality. Don’t get me wrong. It is not that I journeyed to a different point in the specturm; rather, I left it altogether.

I have the deepest respect for the psychologies that people use to define themselves. One of the unique aspects of the human species is the psychological need for ‘meaning,’ as vague or arbitrary as this may be. I am no different from any one else I know in this regard.

However, what I have discovered through my own experiences and reflections, is that I find meaning and base my psychology on certain principles and beliefs that are not supernatural in origin. One does not leave or enter spirituality lightly; and my journey out of it is a very long story.

What I want to accomplish in this post, however, is not to explain what I have left but what I have entered. I titled this post ‘apatheism’ because if asked about what my position on God, spirituality, or the supernatural is, I would say I am an apatheist. I like this somewhat colloquial defintion I found for apatheism:

At some point something happened and somehow something or someone was created and somehow I, a bunch of other people, and a lot of other animals got here. I can live with that.

What this means is that I just don’t think about these subjects that much anymore. If I find someone that is fulfilled with their life and points to some type of spirituality or religion as the reason why, I think that is awesome, as long as their actions don’t harm or infringe on other people’s freedom. If someone finds fulfillment with their life and points to something non-spiritual as the reason why, I think that is also awesome, again as long as their actions don’t harm or infringe on other people’s freedom.

I will admit I don’t have that much love for people who make it their life’s work to attack religion and spirituality. I also don’t have much love for people who use their combination of religion and spirituality to impose restrictions and judge people who aren’t where they are. But at the end of the day, I find it much more beneficial and interesting for me to talk about the values I choose to live by and always be learning and adjusting these values based on my interactions and experiences with people, whether spiritual or not, that I have the pleasure of getting to know.

Since I have already used up more space than I like in a blog post, I will outline my current beliefs and values without much description, with the expectation of elaborating more in future posts.

People I talk to generally find my philosophical underpinnings rather boring, which I get – it can be a heavy subject. So, let’s skip right to the important stuff. Put simply, I find meaning in health. I divide health into three tiers:

Tier 1

• Physical: diet, exercise
• Mental: meditation, weekly paradigm
• Career: study, documentation of my involvement in some type of leadership role, community service, shadowing, research, and other education

Tier 2

• Emotional: long-term goals (MedVoices.net and popular opinion yearly updated dictionary), monthly challenges (planning on getting back to these next month)
• Relationship: keeping up with family and friends, dating
• Social: Toastmasters, miscellaneous weekly events
• Medical: yearly checkups, dental work, pill schedule, occasional massage or other therapy
• Service: at least a once a month event (looking into joining a group helping the homeless)

Tier 3

• Societal/Political: Wolf-Pac, voting
• Environmental: practicing daily conservation in the ways I can

I hope my readers take away something positive from this post. As always, comments are welcome. Peace and love.