Life in Balance, the Way of Spiritual Naturalism

Something magical happens when I am in the woods, and I can hear the birds singing, the wind rustling the leaves of the trees, its as if I don't have a care in the world. Watching a sunset over a vast ocean seems to transport me to another world where I am not worried about a global pandemic or if I have enough money to pay the mortgage this month.

All of us experience highs and lows in life, but why is it that the lows seem to outnumber the highs. Why is it that when I am out in nature, I feel a sense of connection, wholeness, and peace, but I don't feel that way all the time, or even just more of the time?

Aspects of our life can get out of balance, and when this happens, we do not experience wellbeing in the way that we could. To return to a state of balance in life, we have to know where to look, and we need techniques for restoring balance.

Traditional religions have helped many people find peace and balance in life. While I don't want to disparage anyone who has found comfort there, many of us today are no longer served by traditional religious offerings.

Some have been hurt when power was abused, others find it hard to identify with large institutions, and still, others find it hard to believe in an age of science.

I want to introduce you to an alternative to traditional religion, Spiritual Naturalism.

The use of "Spiritual" may sound just like another traditional religion but consider this. The root of the word for "spirit" has to do with breath, implying that spirit has to do with life. Someone who is spiritual is concerned with the big questions about life and wellbeing: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? It is possible, then, to be spiritual without adopting the beliefs that traditional religions require. What sets Spiritual Naturalism apart from traditional religions is the approach to answering the deep questions of life and finding balance.

Naturalism is a way of looking at the world that favors verifiable knowledge. Naturalism claims that all that exists is the natural, which means that we are not visitors to nature. We are a part of nature, one immense interconnected system of everything. The term natural is used in contrast to the supernatural, which would mean outside of or beyond the natural. In Spiritual Naturalism, there is no sacred book other than nature. The writings of traditional religions are sometimes referred to as "Wisdom Traditions". Wisdom in Spiritual Naturalism is that body of knowledge that helps us to live in harmony with reality. When we are living in harmony with nature, our life is in balance.

So how do we learn from nature? By observation. But our perceptions are not always accurate. For example, our perception is that the sun rises and sets around the earth and that the earth is basically flat and doesn't move. However, we know that the sun's movement across the sky is really do to the earth rotating around its axis and that the earth is flying some 66,000 miles per hour in orbit around the sun! How did we come to know this about our world when it seems so contrary to the "obvious truth" of what we see?

Naturalism starts with an assumption: the universe is knowable, and we are capable of understanding it. This assumption is a simple beginning with profound implications that flow from it. A knowable universe would mean that everything operates according to patterns and rules that are discoverable. If the world was not knowable, if it did not interact in predictable ways, not only could we never learn anything, but life as we know it would not be possible. Try to imagine a world where you could never count on anything to be the same as the last time you encountered it. Not sure if the sun is coming back. Not sure if it is still safe to eat this. Not sure if I jump up, I will come back down. This is the stuff of nightmares. Our life experience shows us that many things in our world are very predictable. When we explore our universe's mysteries using reason and verifying our conclusions, more of the mysteries of life become discernible patterns. Once we can see a pattern, the next step is to understand why the pattern happens. If we can understand why it happens, then we can make predictions with accuracy. Because we now know why the sun follows the pattern it does, we can predict with great accuracy the moment it will "rise" on a given date in the future.

[Find the complete transcript on the our website: www.CommonLife.Community]

[thoughtsurferzone]

Reason, Science and Humanity. That's the path to follow.

[Knowformo]

Great video very enlightening thanks for sharing the truth

[thoughtsurferzone]

My personal list of well-being levels would include physical, emotional, inter-personal, societal, economic and environmental.

[Flowstatecaptain]

I identify very strongly as a spiritual / sacred naturalist so I’m stoked to see this!

[elirollins]

A religion based in psychology, biology, and science 🤯

[RyanMatthews]

I can't figure out why there aren't more people interested in this movement. There's a severe lack of resources accompanying this philosophy.