Philosophy / Wisdom

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Here you will find a growing volume of references to philosophy, history, teachings, lessons, and ethics that would be of use to the spiritual life of a naturalist. In addition to these articles, don’t forget to check out our Local Group Center, where we have materials submitted by local chapters, as well as our forums where you can discuss these ideas with other Society members. You can read more about the authors presented here on our archive contributors page. If you have suggestions for additions to this section, we would like to hear them – please contact us.

 

Traditions, Introductory

A Naturalist approach to personal gods

About Stoicism

Buddhism 101

Complex Systems Theory

Naturalistic Christianity 101

Taoism 101

The Humanist Contemplative

What is Humanism?

What is Naturalistic Paganism?

 

Spiritual Naturalism, General

What is Spiritual Naturalism?, Daniel Strain

6 Reasons you will see more of Spiritual Naturalism in the future

Do Spiritual Naturalists believe in God?, B.T. Newberg

Agnosticism or Naturalism?

Religious Naturalism and its Place in the Family of Religions, Donald A. Crosby

[Video] Overview of Bucknell University course on Religious Naturalism, Carol Wayne White

A Naturalist approach to personal gods, Daniel Strain

Beyond Meditation, Daniel Strain

Real Religion?, B. T. Newberg

Sacred Tongue, Daniel Strain

The new Copernican shift: How science is revolutionizing spirituality, B. T. Newberg

Embracing a Natural Life, Daniel Strain

Compassion as Foundation, Daniel Strain

Nature-Based Spirituality and Our Sense of Value, Thomas Schenk

How Mindfulness Can Defeat Racial Bias, Rhonda Magee

Vibrations across the Centuries: Anne Conway’s Early Modern Cosmology and Postmodern Spirituality, Carol Wayne White

Distractions to Spiritual Practice (full expanded edition), Daniel Strain

Agnosticism or Naturalism?, Daniel Strain

How Mindfulness Can Defeat Racial Bias, Rhonda Magee

The Meaning of Life in 3 Minutes (video), Lawrence Rifkin

ALSO: visit our public multimedia resources page

 

Naturalistic Buddhism & Taoism

Buddhism 101, Ted Meissner

Taoism 101, Daniel Strain

A Secular Buddhism, Stephen Batchelor

What am I doing? (book excerpt: Zen & the Art of Consciousness | video: Living without Free Will), Susan Blackmore

A Naturalistic Approach to Buddhist Karma & Rebirth, Daniel Strain

The Condensed Chuang-Tzu, Daniel Strain

The Seven Stages of Meditation, Ray Rawles’ summary of book by Ajahn Brahm

Deep Ecology – Radical Dharma, by Guhyapati

[external link] Secular Buddhist Association

 

Naturalistic Christianity

Naturalistic Christianity 101, Daniel Strain

Evolutionary Christianity, Michael Dowd

Christianity Without God, Arthur G. Broadhurst

An Evangelical Pentacostal Naturalist?, Michael Dowd

Review of Lloyd Geering’s ‘Christianity Without God’, Daniel Strain

Is Biblicist Christianity Bankrupt?, Michael Dowd

Numenius and the Hellenistic Sources of the Central Christian Doctrine, Marian Hillar

Evolutionize your Life (part 1 | part 2), Michael Dowd

[external link] ChristianHumanist.net

[external link] ThankGodForEvolution.com

 

Naturalistic Humanism

Humanism 101, Daniel Strain

The Humanist Contemplative, Daniel Strain

Foundations of Humanism, Robert D. Finch

The Humanist Lifestance: Important Issues in the Lives of Individuals, Robert D. Finch

Humanist Ethics: Emotion and the Ethical Foundations of Humanism, Robert D. Finch

Humanism, Art, and Technology, Robert D. Finch

Humanist Futures, Robert D. Finch

Michael Servetus: Champion of Humanism and Freedom of Conscience, Marian Hillar

Is A Universal Ethics Possible? A Humanist Proposition, Marian Hillar

[external link] HumanistContemplative.org

 

Naturalistic Paganism

What is Naturalistic Paganism?, B. T. Newberg

Steps Toward A Dionysian Naturalism, Wayne Martin Mellinger

Saving the Marriage of Science and Myth, B. T. Newberg

Big History: The Heart of Spiritual Naturalism, B. T. Newberg

Isis in Big History (part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4), B. T. Newberg

[external link] HumanisticPaganism.com

 

Naturalistic Stoicism & Ancient Greek Thought

Stoicism 101, Daniel Strain

The Stoic Handbook, Erik Wiegardt

Stoic Infographic (Poster), Michel Daw

Stoicism as a Spiritual Path, Michel Daw

Introduction to Stoic Ethics, Jan Garrett

Values in Classical Stoicism (w/Chart), Jan Garrett

Classical Stoicism in a Nutshell, Jan Garrett

Compassion and Stoic Philosophy, DT Strain

An Introduction to Stoic Practice: The Three Disciplines of Stoicism, Donald Robertson

Controlling Control, Daniel Strain

Trials & Tribulations, Pamela Daw

Hiding Under A Bushel, Pamela Daw

The Concept of Logos in Greek Culture, Marian Hillar

Philo’s Logos Doctrine: Bridging Two Cultures and Creating the Philosophical Foundations of Christianity, Marian Hillar

[external link] A Stoic Course – at TheStoicLife.org, Michel Daw

Was archaic Greece naturalistic?, B. T. Newberg

Stoics Are Not Unemotional!, Donald Robertson

Moral Philosophy and Modern Science, Marian Hillar

 

Related Science & Philosophy

Complexity Science 101, Daniel Strain

The Nature of the “Force”, Daniel Strain

Simmias’ Harmony: Socrates’ Arguments for the Soul, Revisited, Daniel Strain

The Ethics of Philo of Alexandria (20 BCE to 50 CE), Marian Hillar

The Cognitive Science of Wisdom (video), John Vervaeke

A tropical rainforest ontology: in search of a non-reductive naturalism, John Halstead

Transcendence Without the Bull, Lawrence Rifkin

10 Sublime Wonders of Science, Lawrence Rifkin

The Paragraph I Wish Sam Harris Would Write, Lawrence Rifkin

 

The Spiritual Naturalist Dialogues

The Spiritual Naturalist Dialogues is a growing and ongoing series of audio posts (podcasts) that will feature conversations on topics of interest to Spiritual Naturalists.
Click here to listen to this series

 

Influential Thinkers

Chuang-Tzu

Lao-Tzu

Heraclitus

Zeno of Citium

Epictetus

Epicurus

Seneca

Marcus Aurelius

Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha)

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Inspirational People

Stephen Batchelor
Susan Blackmore
Ralph Wendell Burhoe
Joseph Campbell
Donald A. Crosby
Michael Dowd
Willem B. Drees
Albert Einstein
Owen Flanagan
Lloyd Geering
Ursula Goodenough
Jürgen Habermas
Philip Hefner
Mordecai Kaplan
Gordon Kaufman
Stuart Kauffman
Stanley A. Klein
Thomas Metzinger
Brendan Myers
Karl E. Peters
Varadaraja V. Raman
Chet Raymo
Loyal Rue
Carl Sagan
George Santayana
Baruch Spinoza
John Shelby Spong
Jerome A. Stone
Brian Swimme
Paul Tillich
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Alfred North Whitehead
Henry Nelson Wieman