Question: I am listening to nature sound recordings on CDs : birdsong, river sound, ocean waves sound, sound of the rain forest while I try to think to nothing and relax. Does that mean I am practicing yoga?

Answer: No, it means you are listening to new age music

Is this true? Am I listening to music belonging to the New Age spirituality? If so, tell me, because I don’t like New Age spirituality. Please respect my likes and dislikes.

*sigh*

No, nature sounds are not "New Age". They’re NATURE SOUNDS. Nature sounds aren’t affiliated with a particular spiritual path.

If you enjoy it, it’s perfectly harmless and you shouldn’t worry any more about it.

Is it just a cover up for being religious. Cause religion tends to have a negative connotation attached to it. So tell me, what exactly is a spirit? Is it tangible, or feelings, something you feel? If so, that’s just neurological processes. Humans are just animals, with higher intelligence. Do only humans have spirits? Just tell me what a spirit is, and spirituality, what it means to be spiritual.

Spirituality as defined by the wisdom of Kabbalah is acquiring the quality of bestowal. Right now human beings function according to the quality of reception for themselves and only for themselves. As soon as a person reverses this quality and starts to give instead of receive that person starts to live and feel the spiritual world. I’m not talking about giving money, or anything material, i’m talking about the intention with which a person functions on a daily bases. A person who has achieved spirituality is in intention of bestowal at all times. There are very few souls in history of our world that have achieved spirituality, Adam, Abraham, the ARI, Baal HaSulam to name a few. These people are called Kabbalists. The interesting thing about humanity today is that we are being pushed towards a global spiritual awareness and existence. All of humanity must attain the quality of bestowal in order to continue to exist.

There is a great, free online class that starts next week that goes into a lot of detail about what it means to be spiritual, and what spirituality really is: http://www.kabbalah.info/course/lc/?utm_source=yahooanswers&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=lc-spring-2010

I hope that is helpful.

Please state what religion you are, the religion answering the question, and why.

If you are atheist or agnostic please answer as well.

I’m Christian. The religion I relate to the most is Judaism. Because that is the religion which Our Lord Belonged to.

My sister told me that there is some religion that if the serving silverware touches your plate then you aren’t allowed to eat. Is that true? If it is, then what religion is it?

That sounds more like customary manners than religion. What does that have to do with morality and the divine? I never heard of that.

for example, can you become a more enlightened person through following the so called new age movement? or is non-spirituality "period" the only logical path to self-awareness?

I’m not going to give any credence to anything "New Age", but, yes, there *is* a great deal of enlightenment to be obtained through higher levels of consciousness.

That’s why psychotropics are one of my favouritest things in the world.

I’m not saying what my beliefs are here, I’m just wondering why people assume that the very word "religion" implies that believers in gods (especially those believers of 1 god only) some sort of ownership or alliance to the catagory.
It seems a little piggish of those folks.
Is it some sort of exclusive club?
Where’s the spirituality?
That’s the spirit!

If you’re raised in a culture where your idea of "religious diversity" means some neighbors are Catholic instead of Protestant, then you’re going to have a very limited idea of what "religion" constitutes.

If it’s a Christian-only forum these people want, I don’t know why they don’t just go to one. Yahoo Groups ALONE has over 100,000 of them, literally.

I’ve never belonged to a religion, and believe they do more harm than good. I’m also very passionate about my own beliefs and spirituality, but that seems to go unrecognized the second I say I’m not a Christian. Suddenly I’m a godless heathen or at best an ignorant who needs saving.

Well, to be fair to the Christians, their view is that they hold the "one true path" to Heaven. In that sense, it doesn’t really matter whether you believe in a different god than them or none at all (or some other spiritual/religious beliefs), since to them all of those paths are still the "wrong" ones. It should be pointed out, though, that some Christians are much more flexible on this point than others.

Not really condoning it, but the point is that your relative level of "spirituality" doesn’t usually mean squat to the folks who think they’ve got all the answers.

Not in the context of religious beliefs, but more of in the context of those with no religious beliefs and atheists. How do you scientifically explain or prove spirituality?

Define "spirituality".

How does the spirituality of human work fit in the benedictine principle?

i can’t seem to find the answer to it…

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?

What is a way that religion has attempted to force itself on the government and a way that the government has attempted to force itself upon religion?

Is either one justified or are they unjustified?

Check out Falwell

I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!
– Rev Jerry Falwell, America Can Be Saved, 1979 pp. 52-53, from Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom

Check out scary quotes

http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/qframe.htm