Is Spirituality a Crutch?

[mangalavara]

I’ve heard it said before that spirituality is a crutch. Some say that the weak hold onto it whereas the strong don’t require it. Do any of you think crutch is a good metaphor for spirituality?

A crutch is a device used for support when one is incapable of walking on one’s two feet. When you see a person with a broken leg using a crutch, do you think their life would be better if they were to toss away the crutch and try walking the way everybody else walks? If spirituality is, metaphorically speaking, a crutch, the person holding onto their spirituality is obviously broken and must really need it.

Not all spiritual individuals are people with metaphorical fractures though. Many are best described as seekers. In their case, spirituality is not a crutch. Maybe it’s a vehicle, a road, or both?

What are your thoughts?

[Note: I started this thread because a similar one that I tried to reply to had vanished. Much of what I’ve written here was originally for a reply.]

 

[Augustus]

’ve heard it said before that spirituality is a crutch. Some say that the weak hold onto it whereas the strong don’t require it.

That’s the kind of conceit held by people who don’t have the self-awareness to understand how much their own worldview is a crutch too.

A “rational” worldview like Secular Humanism is no different in this regard to spirituality or religion.

We need to create our own myths to make sense of the world, give it purpose and find our own place in it.

Do any of you think crutch is a good metaphor for spirituality?

Probably not as all functioning people need their myths, and a crutch is for those with an injury or disability.

It should just be seen as something normal but that takes many forms.

 

[Audie]

I’ve heard it said before that spirituality is a crutch. Some say that the weak hold onto it whereas the strong don’t require it. Do any of you think crutch is a good metaphor for spirituality?

A crutch is a device used for support when one is incapable of walking on one’s two feet. When you see a person with a broken leg using a crutch, do you think their life would be better if they were to toss away the crutch and try walking the way everybody else walks? If spirituality is, metaphorically speaking, a crutch, the person holding onto their spirituality is obviously broken and must really need it.

Not all spiritual individuals are people with metaphorical fractures though. Many are best described as seekers. In their case, spirituality is not a crutch. Maybe it’s a vehicle, a road, or both?

What are your thoughts?

[Note: I started this thread because a similar one that I tried to reply to had vanished. Much of what I’ve written here was originally for a reply.]

Sometimes.
And sometimes it's what trips you.

 

[Audie]

That’s the kind of conceit held by people who don’t have the self-awareness to understand how much their own worldview is a crutch too.

A “rational” worldview like Secular Humanism is no different in this regard to spirituality or religion.

We need to create our own myths to make sense of the world, give it purpose and find our own place in it.



Probably not as all functioning people need their myths, and a crutch is for those with an injury or disability.

It should just be seen as something normal but that takes many forms.

Being sensible is a crutch.
That's amazing.

 

[sun rise]

started this thread because a similar one that I tried to reply to had vanished.

(Insert an unwritten rule 2 violation here)

 

[Augustus]

Being sensible is a crutch.
That's amazing.

“Being sensible” is not a worldview.

What constitutes “being sensible” may be a product of a worldview.

 

[George-ananda]

I am a believer in the actual reality of good spiritual teachings and the positive effects they can have. Crutches are useful too for those that need them.

 

[Audie]

“Being sensible” is not a worldview.

What constitutes “being sensible” may be a product of a worldview.

Didn't say it was.
You are looking at what I said, from your
chosen " worldview" pov.

 

[Augustus]

Didn't say it was.

Generally quoting a post indicates a reply to what was written, but if it wasn’t then fair enough.

You are looking at what I said, from your
chosen " worldview" pov.

Of course. We all necessarily do that.

 

[mangalavara]

That’s the kind of conceit held by people who don’t have the self-awareness to understand how much their own worldview is a crutch too.

I don’t think their worldview is necessarily a crutch. In some cases it might be, but I highly doubt it.

Probably not as all functioning people need their myths, and a crutch is for those with an injury or disability.

Exactly. A crutch is a device that helps a person with an injury, for instance, to walk. In my opinion, a person’s spirituality is only a crutch when that person is so broken that it is something that gives them needful support. If that is their crutch, who am I to belittle it?

 

[Audie]

Generally quoting a post indicates a reply to what was written, but if it wasn’t then fair enough.



Of course. We all necessarily do that.

Reading what's written is kind of a thing too.
I responded to your observation that being sensible
isn't a worldview.

But that's still somewhat to my point, that
there's much to be said for just being sensible,
not running everything through a distorter
(" worldview").

In the waall dept you can speak for yourself.

 

[mangalavara]

I am a believer in the actual reality of good spiritual teachings and the positive effects they can have. Crutches are useful too for those that need them.

I like what you say here. I think of spiritual teachings as a form of guidance. Guidance is something available to anybody who wants it, whether the person walks on their two feet or has to use a crutch in order to move.

 

[Augustus]

But that's still somewhat to my point, that
there's much to be said for just being sensible,
not running everything through a distorter
(" worldview").

Other than perhaps instinctive self-preservation, what constitutes being sensible is generally a product of one’s worldview not an objective characteristic of the action or belief itself.

We can’t help but see the world through a filter/distorter because it’s a legacy of our evolved cognition.

We can mitigate aspects of this at times, but we can’t escape it.

What do you think constitutes being sensible? How would you say this can be separated from worldview?

 

[Muffled]

I’ve heard it said before that spirituality is a crutch. Some say that the weak hold onto it whereas the strong don’t require it. Do any of you think crutch is a good metaphor for spirituality?

A crutch is a device used for support when one is incapable of walking on one’s two feet. When you see a person with a broken leg using a crutch, do you think their life would be better if they were to toss away the crutch and try walking the way everybody else walks? If spirituality is, metaphorically speaking, a crutch, the person holding onto their spirituality is obviously broken and must really need it.

Not all spiritual individuals are people with metaphorical fractures though. Many are best described as seekers. In their case, spirituality is not a crutch. Maybe it’s a vehicle, a road, or both?

What are your thoughts?

[Note: I started this thread because a similar one that I tried to reply to had vanished. Much of what I’ve written here was originally for a reply.]

I believe that some may appear strong but all are broken and need help or they will fall.

 

[Muffled]

I am a believer in the actual reality of good spiritual teachings and the positive effects they can have. Crutches are useful too for those that need them.

Rev 6:17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

 

[Quintessence]

The crutch metaphor is, for better or worse, often misused.

A crutch (or similar device like a wheelchair, walker, cane) is used to improve or assist mobility for a patient. The need for this assistance may be temporary or permanent. In either case, physical mobility is considered the norm in humans so when that is compromised, assistive devices are used.

Before I go on, I do want to point out that using the "crutch" metaphor is often ableist. Disgustingly so. Gods forbid we acknowledge that humans are differently abled, that some of us are in wheelchairs for our entire lives, or broke a limb and it never healed right. But whatever.

Comparing some particular worldview to a "crutch" is essentially saying that the norm for humans is to not have this specific worldview. That using this worldview is an assistive device only for the temporarily (or permanently) disabled. I don't think I really need to explain how mean-spirited and pejorative this is, even forgetting about how ableist the "crutch" metaphor is to begin with. Frankly, this mean-spiritedness is often the entire point by those who call the worldviews of others a "crutch." They intend for it to be insulting, because they think their way is better, the norm, or whatever... and that other ways are unnecessary or something to be cured.

Ew. Just... ew.

I find it particularly weird when this gets applied to something as broad as religion and spirituality, because practicing religion is actually hard. I could tell a lot of personal stories along those lines but it suffices to say that practicing religion comes with challenges and hardships and is definitely NOT just some magic happiness blanket. On balance, religion should be a force of positivity and wellness in life - if you're practicing the right religion for you - but it isn't all rainbows and sparkles.

 

[mangalavara]

I do want to point out that using the "crutch" metaphor is often ableist. Disgustingly so.

Yes! That usage of the metaphor indeed betrays an ableist mindset.

Comparing some particular worldview to a "crutch" is essentially saying that the norm for humans is to not have this specific worldview. That using this worldview is an assistive device only for the temporarily (or permanently) disabled. I don't think I really need to explain how mean-spirited and pejorative this is, even forgetting about how ableist the "crutch" metaphor is to begin with.

This is very well said.

I find it particularly weird when this gets applied to something as broad as religion and spirituality, because practicing religion is actually hard.

Exactly. Religion is more than believing in ‘sky daddies,’ as some people call deities, and feeling good. From my perspective, a religion is a way of life. Each has its own standards. Trying to uphold some of the standards can sometimes be inconvenient for the individual.

 

[Quagmire]

For me, spirituality is what you're left with once you've thrown away your crutches.

 

[John D. Brey]

I’ve heard it said before that spirituality is a crutch. Some say that the weak hold onto it whereas the strong don’t require it. Do any of you think crutch is a good metaphor for spirituality?

A crutch is a device used for support when one is incapable of walking on one’s two feet. When you see a person with a broken leg using a crutch, do you think their life would be better if they were to toss away the crutch and try walking the way everybody else walks? If spirituality is, metaphorically speaking, a crutch, the person holding onto their spirituality is obviously broken and must really need it.

Not all spiritual individuals are people with metaphorical fractures though. Many are best described as seekers. In their case, spirituality is not a crutch. Maybe it’s a vehicle, a road, or both?

What are your thoughts?

[Note: I started this thread because a similar one that I tried to reply to had vanished. Much of what I’ve written here was originally for a reply.]

One thing I find ironic about the idea that only the weak need spirituality is the fact that many, if not most, of the strongest people in the world have had a strong spirituality. We can speak of Isaac Newton, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Douglas Mac Arthur, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, hell, Jesus, Paul, Moses, David, Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc., etc., etc..

I challenge anyone to read Tipler and Barrow's, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle. We're talking about brilliant Phd scientists who know the ins and outs of science, physics, philosophy. Nevertheless, Tipler, who was an unrepentant atheist when he wrote The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, came to realize that science proves there's a God, so powerfully, that Tipler, an atheistic science-believing Jew, converted to Christianity, not as a weak, uneducated person, but as a brilliant Phd scientist. And he didn't adopt spirituality as a youth, in innocence, but as a mature adult, confronted not with a traveling evangelist selling snake oil to weaklings, but rather, he converted for the same reason most of the fathers of modern science were Christians. He converted because the facts, if they're truly understood, demand spirituality.





John

 

[Augustus]

I don’t think their worldview is necessarily a crutch. In some cases it might be, but I highly doubt it.

It's not a term I would use, other than to point out the conceit of those who use it towards others but think they bravely "see the world as it is" without the need for comforting illusions (which of course is a comforting illusion in itself).

We all create meaning through fictions, and these fictions play a key role in how we view and interact with the world.

Exactly. A crutch is a device that helps a person with an injury, for instance, to walk. In my opinion, a person’s spirituality is only a crutch when that person is so broken that it is something that gives them needful support. If that is their crutch, who am I to belittle it?

Worldviews, be they religious or secular (and there is no meaningful distinction between the terms), support all of us, not just the broken.