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Spirituality for the Skeptic: The Thoughtful Love of Life
Is it possible to be spiritual and yet not believe in the supernatural? Can a person be spiritual without belonging to a religious group or organization? In this book, philosopher Robert Solomon offers challenging answers to these questions as he explodes commonly held myths about what is means to be spiritual in today's pluralistic world.
Based on Solomon's own struggles to reconcile philosophy with religion, Spirituality for the Skeptic offers a model of a vibrant, fulfilling spirituality that embraces the complexities of human existence and acknowledges the joys and tragedies of life. Solomon has forged an enlightened new path that synthesizes spirituality with emotions, intellect, science, and common sense. His new paradigm, "naturalized" spirituality, establishes as its cornerstone the "thoughtful love of life"--a passionate concern for the here-and-now, and not the by-and-by. Being spiritual doesn't mean being holed up as a recluse, spending hours in meditation and contemplation, Solomon argues. It demands involvement and emotional engagement with others in the struggle to find meaning in our lives. As such, this modern-day spirituality encompasses a passionate enthusiasm for the world, the transformation of self, cosmic trust and rationality, coming to terms with fate, and viewing life as a gift, all of which
are explored in depth throughout this book.
Spirituality for the Skeptic answers the need for a non-institutional, non-dogmatic spirituality that leads to personal fulfillment and satisfaction. By examining the ideas of great thinkers from Socrates and Nietzsche to Buddha to Kafka, Solomon arrives at a practical vision of spirituality that should appeal to many seekers looking to make sense of the human condition.
Based on Solomon's own struggles to reconcile philosophy with religion, Spirituality for the Skeptic offers a model of a vibrant, fulfilling spirituality that embraces the complexities of human existence and acknowledges the joys and tragedies of life. Solomon has forged an enlightened new path that synthesizes spirituality with emotions, intellect, science, and common sense. His new paradigm, "naturalized" spirituality, establishes as its cornerstone the "thoughtful love of life"--a passionate concern for the here-and-now, and not the by-and-by. Being spiritual doesn't mean being holed up as a recluse, spending hours in meditation and contemplation, Solomon argues. It demands involvement and emotional engagement with others in the struggle to find meaning in our lives. As such, this modern-day spirituality encompasses a passionate enthusiasm for the world, the transformation of self, cosmic trust and rationality, coming to terms with fate, and viewing life as a gift, all of which
are explored in depth throughout this book.
Spirituality for the Skeptic answers the need for a non-institutional, non-dogmatic spirituality that leads to personal fulfillment and satisfaction. By examining the ideas of great thinkers from Socrates and Nietzsche to Buddha to Kafka, Solomon arrives at a practical vision of spirituality that should appeal to many seekers looking to make sense of the human condition.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2002
41 people are currently reading
468 people want to read
About the author
Robert C. Solomon
124 books172 followersRobert C. Solomon (September 14, 1942 – January 2, 2007) was a professor of continental philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin.
Early life
Solomon was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a lawyer, and his mother an artist. After earning a B.A. (1963) at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to the University of Michigan to study medicine, switching to philosophy for an M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1967).
He held several teaching positions at such schools as Princeton University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1972 until his death, except for two years at the University of California at Riverside in the mid-1980s, he taught at University of Texas at Austin, serving as Quincy Lee Centennial Professor of Philosophy and Business. He was a member of the University of Texas Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Solomon was also a member of the inaugural class of Academic Advisors at the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics.
His interests were in 19th-century German philosophy--especially Hegel and Nietzsche--and 20th-century Continental philosophy--especially Sartre and phenomenology, as well as ethics and the philosophy of emotions. Solomon published more than 40 books on philosophy, and was also a published songwriter. He made a cameo appearance in Richard Linklater's film Waking Life (2001), where he discussed the continuing relevance of existentialism in a postmodern world. He developed a cognitivist theory of the emotions, according to which emotions, like beliefs, were susceptible to rational appraisal and revision. Solomon was particularly interested in the idea of "love," arguing against the notion that romantic love is an inherent state of being, and maintaining, instead, that it is instead a construct of Western culture, popularized and propagated in such a way that it has achieved the status of a universal in the eyes of many. Love for Solomon is not a universal, static quality, but an emotion, subject to the same vicissitudes as other emotions like anger or sadness.
Solomon received numerous teaching awards at the University of Texas at Austin, and was a frequent lecturer in the highly regarded Plan II Honors Program. Solomon was known for his lectures on Nietzsche and other Existentialist philosophers. Solomon described in one lecture a very personal experience he had while a medical student at the University of Michigan. He recounted how he stumbled as if by chance into a crowded lecture hall. He was rather unhappy in his medical studies at the time, and was perhaps seeking something different that day. He got precisely that. The professor, Frithjof Bergmann, was lecturing that day on something that Solomon had not yet been acquainted with. The professor spoke of how Nietzsche's idea asks the fundamental question: "If given the opportunity to live your life over and over again ad infinitum, forced to go through all of the pain and the grief of existence, would you be overcome with despair? Or would you fall to your knees in gratitude?"
Solomon died on January 2, 2007 at Zurich airport. His wife, philosopher Kathleen Higgins, with whom he co-authored several of his books, is Professor of Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin.
Early life
Solomon was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a lawyer, and his mother an artist. After earning a B.A. (1963) at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to the University of Michigan to study medicine, switching to philosophy for an M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1967).
He held several teaching positions at such schools as Princeton University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1972 until his death, except for two years at the University of California at Riverside in the mid-1980s, he taught at University of Texas at Austin, serving as Quincy Lee Centennial Professor of Philosophy and Business. He was a member of the University of Texas Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Solomon was also a member of the inaugural class of Academic Advisors at the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics.
His interests were in 19th-century German philosophy--especially Hegel and Nietzsche--and 20th-century Continental philosophy--especially Sartre and phenomenology, as well as ethics and the philosophy of emotions. Solomon published more than 40 books on philosophy, and was also a published songwriter. He made a cameo appearance in Richard Linklater's film Waking Life (2001), where he discussed the continuing relevance of existentialism in a postmodern world. He developed a cognitivist theory of the emotions, according to which emotions, like beliefs, were susceptible to rational appraisal and revision. Solomon was particularly interested in the idea of "love," arguing against the notion that romantic love is an inherent state of being, and maintaining, instead, that it is instead a construct of Western culture, popularized and propagated in such a way that it has achieved the status of a universal in the eyes of many. Love for Solomon is not a universal, static quality, but an emotion, subject to the same vicissitudes as other emotions like anger or sadness.
Solomon received numerous teaching awards at the University of Texas at Austin, and was a frequent lecturer in the highly regarded Plan II Honors Program. Solomon was known for his lectures on Nietzsche and other Existentialist philosophers. Solomon described in one lecture a very personal experience he had while a medical student at the University of Michigan. He recounted how he stumbled as if by chance into a crowded lecture hall. He was rather unhappy in his medical studies at the time, and was perhaps seeking something different that day. He got precisely that. The professor, Frithjof Bergmann, was lecturing that day on something that Solomon had not yet been acquainted with. The professor spoke of how Nietzsche's idea asks the fundamental question: "If given the opportunity to live your life over and over again ad infinitum, forced to go through all of the pain and the grief of existence, would you be overcome with despair? Or would you fall to your knees in gratitude?"
Solomon died on January 2, 2007 at Zurich airport. His wife, philosopher Kathleen Higgins, with whom he co-authored several of his books, is Professor of Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin.
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July 29, 2020
This book is unlike the vast majority of books contemporary philosophers write, for a number of reasons. It deals with a topic that has been written off as belonging to the domain of religious dogma or of fuzzy-minded new age folk: spirituality. It invokes a panoply of philosophers across traditions, including Buddhist, Indian, Chinese, and Islamic traditions. It is written in a general but to-the-point tone; there is none of the hairsplitting analysis, typical of contemporary philosophy, that can distract from the main point at hand. And yet it is not written in a wishy-washy way; the points are never overstated, and are backed by minimal but convincing argument.
Solomon examines key components of spirituality in a manner that is agnostic with respect to any faith tradition and that is compatible with scientific and atheistic world views. He never explicitly defines spirituality, for any sentence definition would be either uninformative or reductive, given how embodied and experiential spirituality is. Let me summarize the key components Solomon identifies include these.
Spirituality is based on an emotional/passionate attitude through which the world shows up, and emotions have been falsely distinguished from reason. In fact, emotions are necessary, meaning-making frameworks, which determine the significance of objects in our world. So emotions precede our reasoning capacities. In order to reason about something, we must start off with certain premises about that thing, and such premises will be influenced by our emotional states. Spirituality consists in an emotion of love and reverence, towards people and the world. Love involves identifying ourselves with the beloved people or objects, e.g., wishing for what they wish. Reverence involves recognizing our limitations in the face of the profundity of the existence of an other; it also involves responsibility and action for the other.
Spirituality is also based on an attitude of trust towards the world. Trust, in this context, is not a relation towards a specific person or thing. Rather, it is a dimension of any relationship whatsoever. If we are trusting, we feel secure in our own existence and confident in our place in the world. This is a necessary attitude to be open and loving; the opposites, paranoia and resentment, are incompatible with spirituality. We should not be blindly trusting towards anything, however; a mature attitude of trust involves the wisdom to more or less trust something at any particular moment.
Spirituality is rationality, when this latter term is understood appropriately. Solomon examines how the western philosophical tradition has developed a highly inappropriate and misleading conception of rationality, a conception on which reason is opposed and superior to emotion. This conception is tied to modern notions of self-interestedness and utility maximization as the principles of reasonableness. Solomon shows how these notions are antithetical to spirituality. Instead, we need to understand rationality as emotional to the core, and to understand spirituality as finding the right rational/emotional stance that refuses to take people and objects for purely their instrumental values.
Spirituality involves acknowledgment of tragedy, or the fact that painful events in our lives can be unpredictable and happen due to sheer arbitrariness or contingency. We need to overcome the temptation to identify people or things as targets of blame, for any of our sufferings. Doing this is essential to spiritual wellbeing because it allows us to overcome resentment and paranoia; and it is also simply acknowledging a truth about life, which will allow us to live more skillfully, with less self-deception.
Spirituality, however, also involves a certain, delicate understanding of fate and fatalism. Not everything is sheerly arbitrary; there are explanations that can be given for many events, and often these explanations appeal to variables that are beyond our control (e.g., Heraclitus's dictum that a person's character is her fate). Acknowledging that forces beyond us can necessitate aspects of our life should not lead to despair. We still have a role to play in many parts of our and each other's lives. That something was necessary can provide a sense of direction or meaningfulness to that event; the higher order narrative that explains the event is a sort of power that we can have reverence towards and trust our lives to. And throughout this, we can be committed to contributing to that narrative.
Solomon also discusses the sort of relationship we should be towards death that is conducive for spirituality. We should not deny death, or think that it will not happen to us but only happens to others. We should also not avoid existential grappling with death, by instead focusing on sociological analyses about people's attitudes towards death, a trend Solomon saw in his time. But there is an opposite, extreme relationship with death that is perhaps even more destructive. There is a way of fetishizing or romanticizing death, on which death is the most sublime experience in all of life, or that one can choose when to have it. Instead, Solomon recommends that our acknowledgment the inevitability of our personal deaths could be a way to feel united with humanity and sentient beings at large; we all share this in common. Also, awareness of the fact of death gives us a space to recollect and make meaning of our lives.
My only gripe with this book is that some parts of it seem to be just orderly collections of general truisms about what a good life looks like. I sometimes found myself wanting deeper explanations of the facts about our existential situation that make certain truisms hold; or, I wanted more specific guidelines regarding how to realize a certain truism in one's own life. Nonetheless, there are many points of elegant, penetrating analysis of commonplace ideas, which delightfully renew and make these ideas more concrete (e.g., conceptual analyses of reverence vs. awe, and of luck vs. fate; a survey of different cultural attitudes towards death). I'd recommend this book to anyone who (1) wants to see a legitimate philosopher talk about spirituality, or (2) is looking for a light, easy read, but that is still substantial and enlightening.
Solomon examines key components of spirituality in a manner that is agnostic with respect to any faith tradition and that is compatible with scientific and atheistic world views. He never explicitly defines spirituality, for any sentence definition would be either uninformative or reductive, given how embodied and experiential spirituality is. Let me summarize the key components Solomon identifies include these.
Spirituality is based on an emotional/passionate attitude through which the world shows up, and emotions have been falsely distinguished from reason. In fact, emotions are necessary, meaning-making frameworks, which determine the significance of objects in our world. So emotions precede our reasoning capacities. In order to reason about something, we must start off with certain premises about that thing, and such premises will be influenced by our emotional states. Spirituality consists in an emotion of love and reverence, towards people and the world. Love involves identifying ourselves with the beloved people or objects, e.g., wishing for what they wish. Reverence involves recognizing our limitations in the face of the profundity of the existence of an other; it also involves responsibility and action for the other.
Spirituality is also based on an attitude of trust towards the world. Trust, in this context, is not a relation towards a specific person or thing. Rather, it is a dimension of any relationship whatsoever. If we are trusting, we feel secure in our own existence and confident in our place in the world. This is a necessary attitude to be open and loving; the opposites, paranoia and resentment, are incompatible with spirituality. We should not be blindly trusting towards anything, however; a mature attitude of trust involves the wisdom to more or less trust something at any particular moment.
Spirituality is rationality, when this latter term is understood appropriately. Solomon examines how the western philosophical tradition has developed a highly inappropriate and misleading conception of rationality, a conception on which reason is opposed and superior to emotion. This conception is tied to modern notions of self-interestedness and utility maximization as the principles of reasonableness. Solomon shows how these notions are antithetical to spirituality. Instead, we need to understand rationality as emotional to the core, and to understand spirituality as finding the right rational/emotional stance that refuses to take people and objects for purely their instrumental values.
Spirituality involves acknowledgment of tragedy, or the fact that painful events in our lives can be unpredictable and happen due to sheer arbitrariness or contingency. We need to overcome the temptation to identify people or things as targets of blame, for any of our sufferings. Doing this is essential to spiritual wellbeing because it allows us to overcome resentment and paranoia; and it is also simply acknowledging a truth about life, which will allow us to live more skillfully, with less self-deception.
Spirituality, however, also involves a certain, delicate understanding of fate and fatalism. Not everything is sheerly arbitrary; there are explanations that can be given for many events, and often these explanations appeal to variables that are beyond our control (e.g., Heraclitus's dictum that a person's character is her fate). Acknowledging that forces beyond us can necessitate aspects of our life should not lead to despair. We still have a role to play in many parts of our and each other's lives. That something was necessary can provide a sense of direction or meaningfulness to that event; the higher order narrative that explains the event is a sort of power that we can have reverence towards and trust our lives to. And throughout this, we can be committed to contributing to that narrative.
Solomon also discusses the sort of relationship we should be towards death that is conducive for spirituality. We should not deny death, or think that it will not happen to us but only happens to others. We should also not avoid existential grappling with death, by instead focusing on sociological analyses about people's attitudes towards death, a trend Solomon saw in his time. But there is an opposite, extreme relationship with death that is perhaps even more destructive. There is a way of fetishizing or romanticizing death, on which death is the most sublime experience in all of life, or that one can choose when to have it. Instead, Solomon recommends that our acknowledgment the inevitability of our personal deaths could be a way to feel united with humanity and sentient beings at large; we all share this in common. Also, awareness of the fact of death gives us a space to recollect and make meaning of our lives.
My only gripe with this book is that some parts of it seem to be just orderly collections of general truisms about what a good life looks like. I sometimes found myself wanting deeper explanations of the facts about our existential situation that make certain truisms hold; or, I wanted more specific guidelines regarding how to realize a certain truism in one's own life. Nonetheless, there are many points of elegant, penetrating analysis of commonplace ideas, which delightfully renew and make these ideas more concrete (e.g., conceptual analyses of reverence vs. awe, and of luck vs. fate; a survey of different cultural attitudes towards death). I'd recommend this book to anyone who (1) wants to see a legitimate philosopher talk about spirituality, or (2) is looking for a light, easy read, but that is still substantial and enlightening.
January 28, 2013
As I begin reading the Contents page and Preface of this book my own experience of philosophy arises. The references immediately apparent here are Hegel and Nietzsche, both of whom I am yet to read directly. Part of me wants to hold off from reading further until I do experience these well-known and much quoted and analysed writers. Part of me is sick of all those interpretations by others getting in the way of my own experience and understanding.
But what most arises here for me is the awareness that no university course has enticed me into an interest in philosophy. It is actually through a writer and lecturer much denied by others that I found my interest and challenge and reason to persist in these studies at all – Rudolf Steiner.
Now, I know that others will immediately take the mere mention of that name as meaning that I have a particular stance. But most importantly to me has been the deep awareness of those who stand by this stream of thought as if it were the only river providing fresh water for humanity. Personally I have found most people who fall into this category have little understanding of Steiner’s teachings at all. But I also have come to understand why there is a tendency toward fundamentalism and quoting Steiner rather than being able to test out for oneself the contents Steiner suggested they apply for themselves. It is because of my own struggle to find anyone worthy of spending time with on this basis that I have found myself alone still investigating much of what he wrote while also challenging myself against those who would simply wipe him out as irrelevant. If he were irrelevant to them no anger would arise in their voices as they said such a thing.
The strongest image I have as I begin reading Solomon’s volume though is of an installation poem I have written which has given me my own map, if you will, my own central pathway from which I can now observe the ideas and beliefs and opinions and even practices of others. It is from this central pathway that I now find myself in the world, and through which I find it possible to navigate the similarities and discrepancies in the experiences of others without losing myself in the process.
What lead me to this poem was very much based in my reading of Steiner. But it was also through formal studies in holistic kinesiology, informal and formal studies in business development and particular marketing, and both studies and practice in community development through art, social cohesion and political and economic models which are all currently going through major shifts both internationally and locally.
The very focus of philosophy having changed from intellectual thought to non-emotional (or sentimental, as it is usually referred to) passion for the topic of spirituality to be raised above mere religion, is a major shift in itself. The hold of The Church over society has lessened in many jurisdictions, yet in others it is still playing a significant role. It is still where the Church of one society differs from the Church of another that the confrontations are most heated – Christian versus Moslem gaining the most attention on the world stage.
But all of these differences arise out of a striving together before any differentiation began. The idea of monotheism had a common origin geographically as well as by race and social contact. Those who refute a personal god and base their beliefs in ideas and principles find themselves in conflict against each other in their own regions of the world – Buddhism and communism for instance in the China-Tibet dispute.
Where conflict arises it seems a common family began. Then someone wants to ‘leave home’ but often by making the other leave. In Solomon’s terms this might be seen as the difference between religion and spirituality. Yet Solomon remains a philosopher by confining himself and his study to ‘thought’. Much of what people experience as religion is based in ‘ritual’, which may also be interpreted as ‘habit’. Much of culture is the habits of everyday life. And so by devotion we find ourselves in repetitive action, or ‘behaviour’.
It is by this means that we identify who is similar enough to our own way of thinking by their own way of behaving. Yet most philosophers would probably argue (don’t they love that behaviour?) that they enter into the thought behind the behaviour as the purity of practice. Many would concur that this is the preserve of religion also. But any philosophy in action also needs to consider both the feeling life and the will life as it works in tandem with the thought life. That it is actually the combined forces that raise the level of study to become worthy of the name philosophy, rather than the single stream of thought study that the Rationalists have narrowed us to.
And so the term ‘spirituality’ is now brought forward into the field of debate. The claim for the omnipresent quality of experience is divided out from the merely habitual in behaviour, argument and alignment. That which raises above the others in this field – “self-righteous hypocrisy and… mindless New Age platitudes” – to become the organizing link and necessary common ground for uncommon awareness that all human beings must travel to develop within themselves a capacity through which they can meet each other with all their similarities and differences equally available for attention and adjustment.
It is my poem-self which has always lead me to question life. It is through this part of me that I have begun to understand my own questions were not necessarily the questions of others around me. And it is through this expression that I have both understood my own imperfection and striving for a better understanding of how best to live my life. Poetry has no pre-defined method by which to achieve any specific outcome, yet it turns up throughout history and throughout the world as a means by which others both express and explore their understanding of life – from the most mundane observation to the most sublime interpretation.
Imperfect though this method may be, it is still the easiest one for me to approach any study of ‘great thoughts’ without getting trapped in the analytical highways of the thoughts of others. It is my method for cutting across highways on small local roads, changing lanes or sitting in the emergency lane watching the traffic fly by. And it is the means by which I reveal to myself the questions which will most easily succumb to inspection and challenge without retreating behind some other shadow or veil when analytical thought processes would kill them before interrogation.
I look forward to reading Solomon’s volume based on this openness within myself to re-examine my own previous thoughts and experiences, as well as with an open interest in the developments he is finding within himself and the field of philosophy. I am not sure what need I have ever felt for a God. But I do know that this is the term through which so much human experience has been passed on to me that I cannot, and never have been able, to ignore it as if it does not exist simply because Nietzsche declared it dead. Nietzsche is dead – yet many others still read his works and feel something of themselves come alive. I consider these ideas and feelings rather than the personality, and enter this territory with my own sense of awe and trepidation.
Let the journey begin.
But what most arises here for me is the awareness that no university course has enticed me into an interest in philosophy. It is actually through a writer and lecturer much denied by others that I found my interest and challenge and reason to persist in these studies at all – Rudolf Steiner.
Now, I know that others will immediately take the mere mention of that name as meaning that I have a particular stance. But most importantly to me has been the deep awareness of those who stand by this stream of thought as if it were the only river providing fresh water for humanity. Personally I have found most people who fall into this category have little understanding of Steiner’s teachings at all. But I also have come to understand why there is a tendency toward fundamentalism and quoting Steiner rather than being able to test out for oneself the contents Steiner suggested they apply for themselves. It is because of my own struggle to find anyone worthy of spending time with on this basis that I have found myself alone still investigating much of what he wrote while also challenging myself against those who would simply wipe him out as irrelevant. If he were irrelevant to them no anger would arise in their voices as they said such a thing.
The strongest image I have as I begin reading Solomon’s volume though is of an installation poem I have written which has given me my own map, if you will, my own central pathway from which I can now observe the ideas and beliefs and opinions and even practices of others. It is from this central pathway that I now find myself in the world, and through which I find it possible to navigate the similarities and discrepancies in the experiences of others without losing myself in the process.
What lead me to this poem was very much based in my reading of Steiner. But it was also through formal studies in holistic kinesiology, informal and formal studies in business development and particular marketing, and both studies and practice in community development through art, social cohesion and political and economic models which are all currently going through major shifts both internationally and locally.
The very focus of philosophy having changed from intellectual thought to non-emotional (or sentimental, as it is usually referred to) passion for the topic of spirituality to be raised above mere religion, is a major shift in itself. The hold of The Church over society has lessened in many jurisdictions, yet in others it is still playing a significant role. It is still where the Church of one society differs from the Church of another that the confrontations are most heated – Christian versus Moslem gaining the most attention on the world stage.
But all of these differences arise out of a striving together before any differentiation began. The idea of monotheism had a common origin geographically as well as by race and social contact. Those who refute a personal god and base their beliefs in ideas and principles find themselves in conflict against each other in their own regions of the world – Buddhism and communism for instance in the China-Tibet dispute.
Where conflict arises it seems a common family began. Then someone wants to ‘leave home’ but often by making the other leave. In Solomon’s terms this might be seen as the difference between religion and spirituality. Yet Solomon remains a philosopher by confining himself and his study to ‘thought’. Much of what people experience as religion is based in ‘ritual’, which may also be interpreted as ‘habit’. Much of culture is the habits of everyday life. And so by devotion we find ourselves in repetitive action, or ‘behaviour’.
It is by this means that we identify who is similar enough to our own way of thinking by their own way of behaving. Yet most philosophers would probably argue (don’t they love that behaviour?) that they enter into the thought behind the behaviour as the purity of practice. Many would concur that this is the preserve of religion also. But any philosophy in action also needs to consider both the feeling life and the will life as it works in tandem with the thought life. That it is actually the combined forces that raise the level of study to become worthy of the name philosophy, rather than the single stream of thought study that the Rationalists have narrowed us to.
And so the term ‘spirituality’ is now brought forward into the field of debate. The claim for the omnipresent quality of experience is divided out from the merely habitual in behaviour, argument and alignment. That which raises above the others in this field – “self-righteous hypocrisy and… mindless New Age platitudes” – to become the organizing link and necessary common ground for uncommon awareness that all human beings must travel to develop within themselves a capacity through which they can meet each other with all their similarities and differences equally available for attention and adjustment.
It is my poem-self which has always lead me to question life. It is through this part of me that I have begun to understand my own questions were not necessarily the questions of others around me. And it is through this expression that I have both understood my own imperfection and striving for a better understanding of how best to live my life. Poetry has no pre-defined method by which to achieve any specific outcome, yet it turns up throughout history and throughout the world as a means by which others both express and explore their understanding of life – from the most mundane observation to the most sublime interpretation.
Imperfect though this method may be, it is still the easiest one for me to approach any study of ‘great thoughts’ without getting trapped in the analytical highways of the thoughts of others. It is my method for cutting across highways on small local roads, changing lanes or sitting in the emergency lane watching the traffic fly by. And it is the means by which I reveal to myself the questions which will most easily succumb to inspection and challenge without retreating behind some other shadow or veil when analytical thought processes would kill them before interrogation.
I look forward to reading Solomon’s volume based on this openness within myself to re-examine my own previous thoughts and experiences, as well as with an open interest in the developments he is finding within himself and the field of philosophy. I am not sure what need I have ever felt for a God. But I do know that this is the term through which so much human experience has been passed on to me that I cannot, and never have been able, to ignore it as if it does not exist simply because Nietzsche declared it dead. Nietzsche is dead – yet many others still read his works and feel something of themselves come alive. I consider these ideas and feelings rather than the personality, and enter this territory with my own sense of awe and trepidation.
Let the journey begin.
September 8, 2012
A reaction against the new atheist movement of the time, this poignant work offers a means of finding personal meaning in rituals while continuing to remain agnostic about metaphysical matters
August 15, 2020
Huge fan of Professor Solomon (he passed away way to early). Have taken several of his classes and absolutely love him. This book has sections that shine and others where it seems he assumes you know about this or that philosopher and his brief mention of it would make sense. I found myself Googling quite a bit. Lots of good points. Page 14: "Spirituality may encourage us to take life, and the very existence of the world as a gift, even as a miracle, so long as this isn't taken as an excuse to close the door on scientific curiosity and inquiry." His take on organized religions versus true spirituality takes a look at many different religions and philosophies from around the globe.
June 28, 2020
I have a great deal of respect for Robert Solomon and enjoyed his Great Courses lectures on Existentialism. I read this book about a year ago, and could probably give a better review if I hadn't waited so long. He is very thoughtful and authentic, but I found this a rather dry academic book - well-written and sincere - but I remember so little of it that it's almost like I never read it. The book may resonate with others, but it didn't move me. Thus I will keep this review short! Perhaps I need to re-read it.
November 15, 2017
I was dismayed to read that Robert C. Solomon died in 2007 in Zurich, Switzerland. I've seen his lectures on existentialism in my Life Long Learning Institute classes and I really enjoyed reading his book. He subtitles it: The Thoughtful Love of Life and proves to my satisfaction that it is possible to be a spiritual skeptic in the finest tradition of philosophical inquiry, to have a spirituality that allows one to be skeptical of supernaturalism and authority-based religious claims.
February 16, 2018
Možná cesta ke spáse filosofie i vlastní duše.
November 2, 2008
A good book, I was looking for something more -- something a bit deeper from Solomon, however. And, as usual, although Solomon acknowledges the existence of the rich philosophical tradtions of Asia, I would like greater depth with the analysis. I'm myself working toward a Zen Natualism, and was hoping to get some resonating ideas from this book, but it's apparent that spirituality is still a new field for Solomon, so as good as this sometimes is, from a western perspective, it is still somewhat 'unripe,' undeveloped for what I was looking for.
Still, it is a helpful addition to the dialogue and may perhaps help other skeptics to open to the possibility of a revaluation of just what spirituality can be in a culture that rejects super-naturalism.
Still, it is a helpful addition to the dialogue and may perhaps help other skeptics to open to the possibility of a revaluation of just what spirituality can be in a culture that rejects super-naturalism.
February 19, 2008
A fascinating, yet technical read, Spiriuality for the Skeptic is a heartfelt and deeply probing book. I was searching for a book on the topic, and by the way there are few. Few modern ones anyway. It was a time in my life where the supernatural was frivolous and I welcomed secularity with open arms. Only, how can we have morals without God? Personal meaning without universal meaning? Robert Solomon quotes classic philosophers on these enduring questions. This book is a testament for a thoughtful passion for life, independent of all else. It is a great book for those curious about the nature of their own spirituality.
August 5, 2008
I really liked this book but it was not an easy read. I read a chapter a night and jotted down quotes to think about and process the next day or so. It defines terms as a philosopher,the author,would. I have always felt that I am deeply spiritual though I don't tie this spirituality to any religious doctrine. Finally someone gave me the words to describe and define my spirituality.
The author discusses what he calls "naturalized spirituality" as well as supernatural. Individual chapters deal with such topics as: Spirituality and Trust, Spirituality as Rationality, Science Spirituality and Rationality.
The author discusses what he calls "naturalized spirituality" as well as supernatural. Individual chapters deal with such topics as: Spirituality and Trust, Spirituality as Rationality, Science Spirituality and Rationality.
May 29, 2013
This is a must-read for all those who find themselves seeking a "connection" to the universe but who also acknowledge that there isn't a mythological being out there to make our lives better. It's a great way for the skeptic, or the humanist, and the atheist to look at life and find joy in it.
May 16, 2008
The place of spirituality of the non-believer. The section on fate and destiny was worth the purchase.
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