Any Spiritual Advantages

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Has anyone been able to use their unique thoughts to understand spirituality or religion? Years ago, I have been more about to not only understand God, but the purpose of Christianity, Buddhism and the like. I am still leaning towards new age, but my understanding about God is clearer than ever.

You? Has anyone ever had an epiphany or an idea about their real idea of religion?

Whilst I don't believe that we retain memories of supposed "previous lives", I do have a vague belief that we do retain ancestral memories.

In 1995 I was driving along a dirt track in the Daintree Rainforest in tropical Far North Queensland, Australia. There was a sudden cloudburst and as I couldn't see the track ahead, I pulled off into a small clearing to wait it out. Once the rain had stopped I wound down the windows, and was instantly assailed by this quite incredible smell. It was a smell that I could best describe as being primeval. It was a smell I had never smelt before, yet it seem to evoke some kind of ancestral memories.

I could sense the adrenaline beginning to surge, and felt very much aware of my surroundings and some kind of inherent danger. Something deep inside my mind was warning me to tread very carefully. I found myself constantly glancing behind myself and around, almost with an expectation that if not careful I could find myself on somethings dinner menu. Imagining a velociraptor emerging from the undergrowth looking for a meal.

There isn't a shadow of doubt in my mind that what I sensed then went back hundreds of thousands of years. Through this event, even today, I feel a sense of elation at being a part of the collective consciousness of humanity. Is "God" this collective consciousness of humanity, in which case we do live on after we die as part of that collective consciousness.

It is worth noting that, other than a dirt track/road through, the Daintree is totally untouched by humankind. There are vast areas that have never been trodden by Homo Sapiens, even the indigenous ones. It is true primeval forest, and briefly I was a part of it.

The Daintree Rainforest conservation has been described as helping preserve major stages of the earth's evolutionary history -

That was a nice story. I'm an agnostic atheist....but who knows? I've never had a specific epiphany, though.

Have you ever spoken with a "pure" Aborginie?

My only major religious "epiphany" was to realize that religion is truly an opiate for the masses. For example, prayer is considered by many religious people to be the most powerful force in the universe, when in actuality it is the very least that a person can do and still feel that they have made a contribution. While an active prayer life may be rewarding (in a warm, fuzzy, feel-good way) to the praying person, it so occupies the person that he or she has no time left to become actively involved in providing practical assistance to those who are truly in need.

Another realization has been that religious institutions are little more than faith-themed social clubs for people who need doctrinal justification to distinguish "Us" as morally superior to "Them" in every way, thus keeping "Them" at a distance by discouraging "Them" from ever wanting to join "Us".

Finally, I discovered that religion is largely a con game, in that people are guilt-tripped into donating their hard-earned wages to religious leaders in return for worldly absolution of their sins.

I hate religion, but I am not an Atheist.

Spirituality was a special interest of mine for some years, and yes I learnt a lot. I also found that it settled me and helped me a lot with anxiety, meltdowns, esteem etc. I am highly sensitive to that sort of thing anyway. It would take too long to type out my experiences, to be honest, as they were many.

I'm suspicious of the concept of spirituality. It seems to me that it is used by people who want to be religious without associating with religious organisations. I just don't like it, because the word usually precedes people making arbitrary statements based on no evidence and expecting me to take those statements seriously.

I'd echo the sentiment that religion is the opiate of the masses and add that prayer is masturbation for the conscience. With both you're imagining an interaction with an idealised fantasy figure in order to relieve your frustration, whether that frustration is sexual, material, or at a casually cruel world that you are helpless to save. I'm happy if prayer makes you feel good, but I'd be annoyed if you mistook it for meaningful action.

I'm unsure if autism would be an advantage in pursuing Buddhism. My impression is that the point of that religion is to meditate yourself out of desire, and meditating involves thinking about nothing for long periods of time. I couldn't do that. I'd be sitting there doing an empty jar impersonation, and then I'd start thinking about Planet of the Apes or fuming about Australian politics. I'm sure some autists are ace at Buddhism, though, if they find that religion compelling.

Autism could definitely be an advantage in a scholarly vein of Christianity, if you had access to higher learning. I'd arbitrarily guess that at least twenty percent of all medieval monks were autistic. My proof would be that medieval monks lived a very ritualized life, with set meal times, cloister bell ringing, and other things that I can't remember. A vow of silence would present an easy escape from socialization, as might celibacy. Copying those old books would be a fairly mechanical task that an autistic monk could do on autopilot. There's also all of those academic saints like the venerable Bede and Saint Isidore, I bet one of those academic saints was a bit autistic. I'd probably wind up a monk if I lived in medieval times; albeit a dodgy and corrupt one that broke every vow he made, drunk all the wine produced in the monastery vineyard and abused every iota of power he had. For medieval Europe, I understand that is a good life. There were probably a bunch of autistic nuns.

There's also all those Christian hermits. You know the ones, from the early days of Christianity, who hung out in the desert. Real John the Baptist types. Before autism was understood medically, religion was probably one of the easiest ways to escape social demands.

I don't think autistic people have any supernatural advantages over neurotypicals, because the supernatural doesn't exist. However, autistic thinking might turn up new angles on religious narratives.

For example, I've decided that Jesus accepted his crucifixion due to an unresolved Oedipus conflict. Trinitarian Christianity teaches that Jesus is his Father and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit impregnated Jesus' mother Mary, the Jesus did as well. Jesus' association with Mary Magdalene may have been an attempt to subliminate his attraction to his mother, and his brusque manner towards her at the Wedding at Cana was an attempt to deny it. Jesus' discomfort with his corporal origins accounts for his apparent asexuality and his only mention of marriage in the Gospels, where he says that it doesn't occur in heaven. as well as Christianity's hostile stance towards non-reproductive sexuality. The crucifixion was what Jesus did instead of gouging his eyes out, like Oedipus did.

So obsessive thinking can turn up new interpretations of a religion. If an autistic person came up with one at the right place and the right time, their views might form the basis of a new cult. It's hard to imagine a more spiritual achievement. Maybe it's happened before, maybe that's how the Reformation began. Wanting to read the Bible in their own language and disregard social religious hierarchies sounds like something an Aspie would do.

If anyone does experience something supernatural, they should first ask themselves whether or not they are experiencing a delusion or hallucination. I've experienced euphoria and terrifying mania as part of Bipolar Depression, and that sort of experience gives you a whole new perspective of spirituality. I fear that normalized religion can disguise real mental problems.

Asperger's doesn't provide me with spiritual advantages. I was obsessed with the metaphysical for the majority of the time I've been alive. I'm not the "Aspie Shaman" people mention on this forum every now and then. I wanted to be so badly but I never had the experiences with the other side that I craved so much. I was actually quite devastated. If anything I'm at a disadvantage. If I was schizotypal I might have had the experiences I felt like I needed but I'm just not spiritual. I don't have any surreal experiences and I'm not psychic.

Being on the ASD spectrum provides me with no spiritual insight, but only an intellectual insight into the hokum of spirituality.

I've had some unpleasant encounters with people who consider themselves "spiritual."

Be that as it may, some stories, like the one posted above, are interesting.

Any Spiritual Advantages

The analytical aspect that contributes to social distancing also helps see through BS. Much in this world is filled with BS including religions of various kinds.

I have come to a better understanding of what I would call "real" Christianity in part because of Aspergers. This understanding and clarity is not only unwelcome by most others, it can cause others to become hostile.

If one considers "spirituality" to be a quest for truth as opposed to a quest for emotional fulfillment, one would expect that an analytical aspect would be an advantage. However, one should consider that in a world of self-esteem, positive thinking, positive affirmations, and political spin that truth would not be well received.

The best religion I have found is when you practice it, and you dont even know your doing it. Naturally,

Aspergers gives +5 intellect, but -3 intuition, so things sorta cancel out.

The word "spiritual" has been so inflated over the last 30 years, that it has become debased. The New Age believers helped that along by inventing a new religious belief system and annointing themselves as spiritually aware, compared to we poor ignorant slobs!

I think the search for meaning is important, OP, and that you are in charge of your own search for this. I just detest new age fundamentalism, as I detest Christian fundamentalism or any fundamentalism. Not excluding scientific fundamentalism aka scientism, reductionism et al.