mattnewport comments on The scourge of perverse-mindedness - Less Wrong

95 Post author: simplicio 21 March 2010 07:08AM

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Comment author: LauraABJ 23 March 2010 12:58:29AM 5 points [-]

While not everyone experiences the 'god-shaped hole,' it would be dense of us not to acknowledge the ubiquity of spirituality across cultures just because we feel no need for it ourselves (feel free to replace 'us' and 'we' with 'many of the readers of this blog'). Spirituality seems to be an aesthetic imperative for much of humanity, and it will probably take a lot teasing apart to determine what aspects of it are essential to human happiness, and what parts are culturally inculcated.

Comment author: mattnewport 23 March 2010 01:25:35AM 4 points [-]

Well, coming back to the original comment I was responding to:

The materialist in me figures from first principles, that it would seem that life has no meaning, morality has no basis, love is an illusion, everything is futile, etc.

I don't feel that way, despite being a thoroughgoing materialist for as long as I can remember being aware of the concept. I also don't really see how believing in the 'spiritual' or non-material could change how I feel about these concepts. It does seem to be somewhat common for people to feel that only spirituality can 'save' us from feeling this way but I don't really get why.

I acknowledge that some people do see 'spirituality' (a word that I admittedly have a tenuous grasp on the supposed meaning of) as important to these things which is why I'm postulating that there is some difference in the way of thinking or perhaps personality type of people who don't see a dilemma here and those for whom it is a source of tremendous existential angst.