I think for atheists 'spirituality' is expressed as awe of existence and compassion for everyone the same as for yourself, as no-one is really separate. Therefore compassion for others is identical to compassion and forgiveness for yourself. As for suffering, it comes from a mismatch of our expectations. Marcus Aureilius said something like 'If you imagine yourself to have not been harmed, you won't have been.' Sometimes in life the going is good and sometimes the going is rough, that is the way of it. Rudyard Kipling said to treat the imposters of triumph and disaster just the same.
> The point about baby-eaters and wasps and starving elephants isn't, just, that Hart's God – the "Three O" (omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent) God – is dead. That's the easy part. I'll call it "shallow atheism." Deep atheism, as I'll understand it, finds not-God in more places. Let me say more about what I mean.
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[ 2.3 ms ] story [ 17.4 ms ] threadmindless apathy in the real
and then solipsism
the least of all realities.