Every individual is possessed of two very important characteristics.

1. Human beings are emotional creatures. They have desires; they love; they cry; they think; they get angry; they get upset; they become happy. They wonder at the existentiality of life and what it means to them.

2. Human beings are always in search of the truth. They progress; they invent; they question.

The above two traits together make every single human being - atheist or otherwise - a spiritual being at its very basest level. It is precisely because humans will at one point or other seek to question their very existence and purpose, that makes them spiritual.

Here's a quote:

"There is no one definition for either atheism or religion, but the two are generally thought to be mutually exclusive. Where religion constitutes a system of beliefs in a higher divine power, atheism rejects this very divinity in the absence of empirical evidence.

In other words, religion is more spiritual; atheism is more empirical. It does not mean though that an atheist cannot be spiritual, nor that the religious cannot be empirical. It is just that atheists cannot accept the divine until it is proven, while the religious believe that their faith will be vindicated in good time."

If an atheist is said not to be spiritual, perhaps his/her only fault is that he/she questions too much. But is that grounds for denying his/her spirituality?

Nonetheless, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs indicates that there are a few different levels of needs that all human beings aspire to - including survival needs, wealth and power etc. The final level however, is spirituality. In other words, when all is said and done, humans will still desire to find their own spiritual self.

People live and people die. People will want to know where they go after they die. Even atheists.

Learn more about this author, Harry Lamer.
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