So, the crux of the issue is that much of the world we live in (as well as ourselves) cannot really be known for certain. We may believe we know a thing ... until we consider that what we believe we know is really only as good as the device we are detecting or evaluating with. Or, interpreting with.

Oh wait, this is exactly how I would start out the page defining skepticism!

Can it be that skepticism and spirituality play a role with one another?

For many of us, they do. For many of us, they don't.

For those of us who desire a Spirituality that is based upon what is Real (even if it is not [yet] knowable), then Skepticism will play a big part in the development of a spiritual relationship with That Which Is.

We tend to discuss the spiritual in terms that are reserved apart from the kinds of things that can be measured or quantified. That is because quantification type communication is usually intended to be shared with another person who would be expected to interpret things the same way. For example, if you tell a person that something is 2 feet long and weighs 20 lbs, that person will also expect that when they examine that object they will also find it to be 2 feet long and 20 lbs in weight.

Not so with Spirituality.

While the experiences of spirituality are very real to us (we really feel them) they are not quantifiably comparable between people. This is because spirituality exists at the instinctual level. And everyone, at the instinctual level, is built a little differently.

When ConserveLiberty speaks of Spirituality or the spiritual experience, what is intended to be conveyed is that:

• A "relationship" with something apart from our thinking mind is being experienced at an instinctive level.
  
  
• This "something apart from our thinking mind" could be another person, another animal, a location, an object, a concept, a part of our own body, a notion of God, etc.
  
  
  
• The relationship that is considered healthy is often one that elicits feelings of harmony (for those of us who can feel harmony sufficiently to care.)
  
  
• Other feelings (grounded in instinct) that can be aroused in the experience of our Spirituality are:
  • Closure
  • Epiphany
  • Certainty
  • Beauty
  • At-One-ness
  • Understanding
  • Forgiveness
  • Gratitude
  • Joy

The thrill from Spirituality comes in understanding the Truth of Things a little better, not in confirming our own prior suspicions about the matter.

Wait! That description of the thrill sounds very similar to the thrill Skeptics get when they understand Truth a little better. Fascinating thing to ponder.

It is most certainly true that the existence of Spirituality as a behavior is a function of behavioral filters that we are graced with by virtue of our biology, our genes. (Skeptics (again!) should be bristling at the certainty of this last statement!) What we should say is that this resource hypothesizes that the degree to which one can be successfully spiritual is a matter of both naturally endowed biology (genetics) as well as training for those who have the biology for it. Thus, it will be elaborated on as a behavioral filter at a later date, and this section will then be updated.

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