Why aren't the English a spiritual people?

Question

Why aren't the English a spiritual people?

Answer 1

WHY are you a Generalising person?

Answer 2

if you mean religous, its because were a rather intelligent bunch I think. I dont know a single person who is religious, none. And I'm glad of that.

Answer 3

I wouldn´t say that they are not spiritual ... it´s just that many (but not all) of them do not conceptualize nature in terms of stories made up of beings with intentions, which is what traditional religions do.  

I would say that many people from England are still spiritual about some aspects of their lives, but maybe not all or maybe even not many. Birth and death are things that keep even the English in spiritual awe I would think! ;-)

Hey ... the British still have a Queen, and the king always used to be regarded as mirroring and representing the creator of order in the cosmos - the microcosm/macrocosm analogy (which most religions have in some way).

Rather, from a "scientific" mindset, they believe that nature is "ruled" not by beings that are alike humans in some ways, but nature is "ruled" by impersonal "forces", "processes", "systems", "feedback loops" etc.  In other words, they think of nature not as a tribe or a group of persons (with intentions, etc.), but as a "machine" (mechanistic conceptions ot nature), a sophisticated machine called "computer" (cybernetic conceptions of nature such as biocybernetics), or as "evolution" which they think of as "ruled by" necessity and chance.

It´s just a different way to think about nature - one that has advantages as well as disadvantages in my opinion; and in the ecological movement, many old religions ideas are being revitalized (such as the Gaia hypothesis - the idea that the Earth is a living being and not a dead thing, as modern science prefers to conceptualize it).

So ... that the English aren´t as spiritual as most traditional cultures is probably due to the greek philosophers and the renaissance enlightenment movement, where these ideas of the cosmos not as made up of living beings, but of "dead", "objective" forces and processes without intentions were radicalized and generalized.

Coming back to your question, why is that?!? I must say ... that the historical origins of greek thought and greek society - some of the most important if not THE most important roots of the roots of our modern occidental way of life - are rather obscure, even to science!

Historian talk about "dark ages", and the historical transition from mycenean society to the greek polis with its characteristic features - abstract philosophy, private property in land, coined money, democratic government, etc. - is obscure.

The question you ask ... is a deep one, I would say, and most people probably could not really give a satisfactory answer!

Cheers!

Answer 4

they all worship the devil

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Answer 5

Who says we're not spiritual?

Answer 6

They are,they worship Money,they pray in Pubs and clubs they go on a pilgrimage every Saturday to watch there favourite football team and then back to worshipping money.

They do this everday of the week everyday of the month everyday of the year.

Answer 7

That's a serious generalisation, where is your proof of this?

Furthermore, what does a person have to do/be for you to label them as spiritual?

Answer 8

hmm could u explain your question a bit more?

Answer 9

Spiritual does not mean religious, you can be spiritual and philosophical and moral without a god. I think oyu will find if you come that we are intensely spiritual in beingness - just don't bang the drum that much -  Maybe our pagan past stays with us we have a great sense of history.

You won't get good answers if you phrase your question in a closed way. You might get a better response for instance if you ask

"Are the English a spiritual people?'

Answer 10

I am sorry i totally disagree with you.. Its like saying why

are all church people not spiritual..