I think you'll also like Nostalgia for the Absolute... there's some spiritual yearning conflated with community yearning
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yes! and my big thing is that they're connected, effectively the same thing
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There I disagree. There is overlap. THere are forms of spirituality that are communal, but there are also indie aspects.
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Going off to meditate is non-communal spirituality. 90% of even ritualistic communality (tailgate?) has 0 spirituality.
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For practitioners yes. For fans, no. They just think there is because they've experienced nothing much better.
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I think where you and I may differ is that I think there is an element of skilled striving to spiritual development
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Communatarians wishfully like to believe that community is a shortcut. It isn't. The road through Burning Man isn't shorter
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I don't think it's a shortcut. I think the two are profoundly linked though, and both hard. but maybe SO hard that we need to focus...
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on possibilities for happiness GIVEN isolation, as you say.
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There is also a downside you're ignoring. Community may be an actively anti-spiritual force.
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hmmm example? I can see community (co-location) both causing and preventing certain desirable mental states, at least
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If you participate in a ritual, there's 10% chance it will push consciousness into a new state you haven't experienced
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Again, those alive to the significance of ritual, such as you, often don't take note of the bureaucratically ritualistic
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I do think e.g. saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school is a strong anti-ritual, numbing people to good rituals
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