Constructivist modeling of spirituality

In my experience, atheists tend to view religion is something you do for some tangible benefit, such as providing a basis for social cohesion or identifying ethnicity, or listening to a choral society or classical quartet. They would like to see spirituality as likewise providing a benefit, though what benefit that may be they will never “grok.” Long story short, after a few early years of their atheism, I discovered Buddhism (Japanese style) and grasped it--especially the martial arts pacifism of Judo. As a multiculturally-infused New Yorker, I was very sensitive to Christian intolerance yet maintained a basic understanding of Christianity that finally manifested when I recently attended a small rural church. I was studying constructivism and sociology at the time and instantly saw “text book” examples of the emotional/informational phenomena described by constructivists as the “community of knowledge.”

I felt I could model an abstraction with religion as the organizational tool, and spirituality as the feeling within it. Since I see spirituality as the human guidance that opposes inhumanity through prayer (and by doing other things) for those in need, and religion as providing the “house” for it, then someone who is genuinely religious/spiritual will find a home in any “house.” Since tolerance is key to spirituality, then overlooking minor differences should be easy, such as the conflict between reincarnation, the after-life, or a natural death (or possibly an explosion of the Earth into fire as in the last Gospel of the Bible).

By extending constructivist ideas in a psychological context, it is my “belief” that there is specific neurological activity associated with prayer and meditation especially in groups. Every church or temple I have attended has a family-type empathic atmosphere of “love” that transcends sexual attraction (or should). Providing proof for this may be difficult because, for instance, it is impossible to simultaneously put an entire congregation in fMRI machines. From other brain research, however, I attempt to hypothesize how this should work.