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Ateistinen Henkisyys Vaihtoehtona Monoteistiselle Uskonnolle 2000-Luvun Länsimaissa

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Ateistinen Henkisyys Vaihtoehtona Monoteistiselle Uskonnolle 2000-Luvun Länsimaissa Uskontotiede Maailman kulttuurien laitos Helsingin yliopisto JUMALATTOMUUS JA HYVÄ ELÄMÄ Ateistinen henkisyys vaihtoehtona monoteistiselle uskonnolle 2000-luvun länsimaissa Mikko Sillfors AKATEEMINEN VÄITÖSKIRJA Esitetään Helsingin yliopiston humanistisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi auditoriumissa XIV perjantaina 21. huhtikuuta 2017 klo 12 Copyright © 2017 Mikko Sillfors ISBN 978-951-51-3090-7 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-51-3091-4 (PDF) Unigrafia Helsinki 2017 i ii Tiivistelmä Ateismin näkyvyys on 2000-luvun länsimaissa kasvanut osaltaan johtuen uskontokriittisen uusateismin noususta. Viime vuosina markkinoille on ilmestynyt myös ateistista henkistä vaihtoehtoa puolustavia kirjoja, kuten André Comte-Sponvillen The Book of Atheist Spiritu- ality (2006), Greg M. Epsteinin Good Without God (2009), J. K. Fausnightin Going Godless (2010) sekä Alain de Bottonin Religion for Atheists (2012). Uusateistitkin ovat esittäneet vaihtoehtoja perinteiselle uskonnolle, esimerkiksi Richard Dawkins TV-dokumenttisarjassa Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012) ja Sam Harris kirjassa Waking Up (2014). Edellä mainitut kuusi teosta muodostavat tutkimukseni aineiston. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastelen kolmea aihetta: ateismia, henkisyyttä ja erityisesti näi- den kahden yhdistelmää, ateistista henkisyyttä. Tutkimukseni pääkysymys on: millaisia teki- jöitä, uskontoasenteita ja arvoja 2000-luvun ateistinen henkisyys sisältää? Metodeinani ovat argumentaatioanalyysi, retorinen analyysi, asenneanalyysi sekä Schwartzin arvomalli. Ateis- milla tarkoitan jumalattomuutta. Ihmiskunnan historiassa ateismi on todennäköisesti ollut harvinaista, mutta se on länsimaissa viime vuosisatojen aikana vähitellen yleistynyt. Nyky- tutkimuksen mukaan yksi keskeisistä ateismin suuntaan vievistä psykologisista tekijöistä on taipumus reflektiiviseen ajatteluun. Ateismin yleistymistä selittäviä sosiokulttuurisia tekijöitä ovat muun muassa vauraus, turvallisuus sekä arvojen muuttuminen individualistisemmiksi. Tarkastelen henkisyyttä yleisinhimillisenä ilmiönä, joka sisältää viisi keskeistä ulottuvuutta: 1) kokemukset ja tunteet, 2) moraalin, 3) elämänkatsomuksen, 4) merkityksellisyyden sekä 5) harjoitukset ja sitoumukset. Ateistisella henkisyydellä tarkoitan henkisyyttä, joka on ekspli- siittisesti ateistista. Ateistista henkisyyttä voidaan pitää länsimaissa viime aikoina yleistyneen sekulaarin henkisyyden yhtenä alakategoriana. Ateistisen henkisyyden edustajien käytänteet sekä asenteet uskontoja kohtaan ovat kuitenkin moninaisia. Teoksissaan Dawkins ja Harris asennoituvat monoteistiseen uskontoon kriittisesti. Daw- kins tarjoaa perinteisen uskonnon korvaajaksi järkeä ja tiedettä sekä Harris näiden ohella buddhalaisuutta ja meditaatiota. Sen sijaan de Bottonin teoksen asenne on uskontomyöntei- nen – siinä korostetaan kristillisten yhteisöllisten arvojen ja käytänteiden hyödyllisyyttä ja niiden siirtämistä sekulaariin nykykontekstiin. Comte-Sponvillen, Epsteinin ja Fausnightin teosten asenteet suhteessa uskontoon puolestaan ovat kaksijakoisia, sisältäen sekä uskonto- kriittisyyttä että uskontomyönteisyyttä. Comte-Sponvillen vaihtoehdossa perinteiselle us- konnolle korostuvat transsendenssikokemukset ja rakkaus, Epsteinilla humanistinen yhtei- söllisyys ja yksilön sisäisen arvokkuuden lisääminen sekä Fausnightilla sisäisen rauhan ja merkityksellisyyden löytäminen meditaation avulla. Karkeasti jaoteltuna Harris, Comte- Sponville ja Fausnight edustavat sisäänpäin suuntautuvaa ateistista henkisyyttä, jossa trans- sendenssikokemuksilla on keskeinen rooli. Sen sijaan Dawkins, de Botton ja Epstein edusta- vat ulospäin suuntautuvaa ateistista henkisyyttä, jossa painopiste on objektiivisessa maail- massa, yhteisöllisyydessä ja/tai yhteiskunnan ongelmien ratkaisemisessa. Kaikissa aineistois- sa Schwartzin arvomallin arvoista korostuu itsensä ylittäminen, kuten universalismi ja hy- väntahtoisuus. Kaikki myös painottavat arvona itseohjautuvuutta, joka on tyypillistä nykyi- selle sekulaarille henkisyydelle – lukuun ottamatta de Bottonia, joka korostaa enemmän pe- rinnettä ja yhdenmukaisuutta, jotka ovat tyypillisiä perinteisen uskonnon arvoja. Tutkimus antaa ateistisesta henkisyydestä uutta tietoa sekä tarjoaa teoreettisia näkökul- mia käsitellä tätä vähän tutkittua ilmiötä yksityiskohtaisemmin. Se myös mahdollistaa länsi- maiselle nykykeskustelulle tyypillisen ateismin ja uskonnon välisen jännitteen purkamista. iii Summary – Godlessness and the Good Life: Atheist Spirituality as an Alternative to Mono- theistic Religion in the 21st Century West. The visibility of atheism has increased in the 21st century West, partly due to the rise of New Atheism, a movement critical towards religion. Over the last few years, books which defend an atheistic spiritual option have appeared in the market as well, such as The Book of Atheist Spirituality (2006) by André Comte-Sponville, Good Without God (2009) by Greg M. Ep- stein, Going Godless (2010) by J. K. Fausnight, and Religion for Atheists (2012) by Alain de Botton. In addition, New Atheists have brought forth alternatives to traditional religion, for example, Richard Dawkins in his TV-series Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012) and Sam Harris in his book Waking Up (2014). These six works are my research material. In this study I examine three subjects: atheism, spirituality, and in particular the combi- nation of these two, atheist spirituality. The main question of my research is what kind of factors, attitudes towards religion, and values are included in atheist spirituality in the 21st century. My methods are argument analysis, rhetoric analysis, attitude analysis, and Schwartz's value model. By atheism I mean godlessness. In the history of mankind, atheism has probably been rare, but in recent centuries in the West it has gradually become more common. According to current research, a reflective processing style is one of the key psycho- logical factors that leads towards atheism. Socio-cultural factors which have an impact on the steady increase in atheism are, for example, wealth, security, and a change in values towards individualism. I regard spirituality as a universal human phenomenon which includes five key dimensions: 1) experiences and emotions, 2) morality, 3) view on life, 4) meaningfulness, and 5) practices and commitments. By atheist spirituality, I mean spirituality that is explicitly atheistic. Atheist spirituality can be seen as a subcategory of secular spirituality, which re- cently has become more common in the West. However, among the representatives of atheist spirituality, the practices as well as the attitudes towards religions are diverse. In their works, both Dawkins’ and Harris’ attitudes towards monotheistic religion are crit- ical. Dawkins offers reason and science as substitutes for traditional religion, and in addition to these, Harris introduces Buddhism and meditation. In contrast, in de Botton’s work, the attitude towards religion is favourable – it emphasizes the usefulness of Christian communal values and practices and converts them to the current secular context. In turn, in the works of Comte-Sponville, Epstein, and Fausnight, the attitude toward religion is ambivalent, includ- ing both critical and favourable parts. As an alternative to traditional religion, Comte- Sponville highlights experiences of transcendence and love, Epstein emphasizes humanistic communality and self-dignity, and Fausnight underlines inner peace and meaningfulness through meditation. Roughly divided, Harris, Comte-Sponville, and Fausnight represent an inwardly oriented atheistic spirituality, where transcendent experiences have a key role. In turn, Dawkins, De Botton, and Epstein represent an outwardly oriented atheistic spirituality, where the focus is more on the objective world, communality, and/or solving the problems of society. In all the research materials, the self-transcendence values in Schwartz’s model such as universalism and benevolence are highlighted. Everyone also emphasizes the value of self- direction, which is typical of current secular spirituality – except de Botton, who accentuates tradition and conformity more, which are typical values in traditional religion. The study provides new information about atheistic spirituality and offers theoretical per- spectives to examine this rarely studied phenomenon in more detail. It also enables disen- tangling the tension between atheism and religion typical of the current Western debate. iv Kiitokset Olen usein tuntenut syvää kiitollisuutta noustessani portaita työhuoneeseeni Helsingin yli- opiston uskontotieteen osastolle. Miten onnekas olenkaan saadessani tehdä väitöskirjaa ha- luamastani aiheesta, ateismista ja siihen liittyvästä henkisyydestä! Muut työhuoneet vähitel- len tyhjenevät, Helsingin ilta hiljenee, antaen tilaa edessäni nököttävän tietokoneen hurinal- le. Mieli etsii, kokeilee, rakentaa, hylkää ja hyväksyy, käskee sormia kirjoittamaan, luo lausei- ta ja tuhoaa niitä. Joskus tutkimus tuntuu valmistuvan kuin itsestään, eräänlaisen hurmioi- tuneen flow-tilan siivittämänä, jolloin koen tekeväni uskontotieteen merkkiteosta. Välillä taas kaikki tekemiseni tuntuu arvottomalta ja teennäiseltä ja työn valmiiksi saaminen näyttää mahdottomalta tehtävältä. Mutta nyt se on valmis. Ja päällimmäisin tunne, joka työstä itsel- leni nousee, on kiitollisuus. Siksi aivan ensimmäiseksi haluan ilmaista kiitokseni itse väitös- kirjaprosessille, joka kaikkine oivalluksineen ja kipuiluineen antoi minulle arvokkaan ja ai- nutkertaisen mahdollisuuden kasvaa.
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