Can you do Nofap without being spiritual?

Hm, that depends on how widely you define spiritual.
If that means religious or esoteric to you, then I'd disagree.
I could agree if you think of spiritual as being sensitive to what happens in your soul, your psyche. Then I'd also agree that without spirituality you won't do nofap.
I'm an atheist and I'm a science based thinker, but nonetheless I'm here.

 

Yes, you can absolutely do nofap without being spiritual. I myself am a christian and strongly agree with you that spirituality is a fundamental tool for overcoming any addiction. That being said though i think nofap can really be applied to anybody, spiritual or not. Many members of nofap are from different backgrounds religious and non-religious. all nofap requires is somebody who wants to overcome there addiction to PMO.

 

Yes, you can. However, spirituality has to be re-defined to at least some will to care about your own Self, your psyche if you will, or your soul, or whatever you wish to call your existence. If you do not have this minimum of self-awareness, you are not spiritual, and just a zombie, I think. Everyone is more or less a zombie in today's world, without caring about their Selves, just drifting in hedonism and easy forgiveness of the Lack (the Void) inside them.

 

Yes. I don't adhere to any religious traditions, I don't believe in God, I don't believe in souls, I don't believe in any divine laws or forces, and I don't believe in the afterlife. I've been clean of porn for almost six months and I haven't masturbated in almost three months.

That's not true.

How?

You also claim that spiritual people have

What makes you believe that? Why do you think that a spiritual person would have more clarity in their mind than a secular person?

If that's what works for you, then I'm glad you've found a lifestyle that coheres well with nofap. However, I don't think it's necessary for everyone who wants to try nofap. Personally, I've found that I don't need to adopt any spiritual or religious beliefs in order to successfully cut porn out of my life, and I know I'm not the only one. Even the creators of the site don't think you need to be spiritual or religious to participate in nofap, if you look into any of the posts moderators have made about religion. I think they take the same stance that I do: nofap doesn't exclude religious or spiritual users from the forum, but the forum (and the idea of nofap itself) is not religiously or spiritually motivated.

 

Yes you can, if you think that spirituality helps you deal with this addiction then help yourself but every person is different. Personally I went to church all my adolescence and I could never stay away from PMOing more than one week, besides making feel like shit because of the guilt it made me feel it help in nothing.

Anyway I think that's a really personal thing but if it helps then go for it.

 

It's absolutely a personal thing in my opinion. Some people have succeeded without it others with it. I think It's a thing of what you honestly draw positive energy from. Embrace it and capitalize on those sensations.

 

Spirituality doesn't require any specific beliefs, or any beliefs at all really.

 

The definition of spirituality is:

The quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.

So I'm not sure. All I can say is being religious didn't help me. Going to church every Sunday, reading the Bible, praying, reading Christian books or listening to Christian music was no help, and if anything it helped me remain addicted since it made me feel so much shame and according to research feel shame keeps us addicted.

 

What is spirituality, then, if it doesn't require any specific or general beliefs?

 

@Wave Surfer explained that very well.
There's no strict connection between religiosity and spirituality. Even I see many non religious but spiritual, and many pretend-to-be religious but not spiritual people.

 

That doesn't answer my question, really. I understand that 'religious' and 'spiritual' are not exactly the same thing, but telling me that they're two separate ideas doesn't really tell me what spirituality actually is.

Besides, the definition that Wave Surfer gave was:

By that definition, doesn't being spiritual require you to at least believe in a human spirit or soul? I'm asking for a definition of spirituality that doesn't require you to adopt any specific or generalized beliefs, since @hermit_ninja is claiming that being spiritual doesn't require you to believe anything.

 

Hm. I think I see your point.
Is it, that you say, soul is something different from body, and this soul is part of anything higher?
I don't claim to know the truth, but my world view is this:
I say, soul is a part of the body, a function of the brain. Then I do not need to believe in anything higher, although I recognize a human soul.

 

I think most believe in something and if you don't you don't think about things. Anyway, I think you are spiritual if value people over possessions or you think it's important to support ethical businesses rather a company who offer products without any being ethical. Remember the latter part of the definition 'as opposed to material or physical things'. If you're not spiritual you're materialistic and unethical.

 

It's hard to give a definitive answer to this as spirituality means different things to different people. But let me see..

You could read this short article by the atheist Sam Harris:
https://samharris.org/a-plea-for-spirituality/

"Of course, “spiritual” and its cognates have some unfortunate associations unrelated to their etymology—and I will do my best to cut those ties as well. But there seems to be no other term (apart from the even more problematic “mystical” or the more restrictive “contemplative”) with which to discuss the deliberate efforts some people make to overcome their feeling of separateness—through meditation, psychedelics, or other means of inducing non-ordinary states of consciousness. And I find neologisms pretentious and annoying. Hence, I appear to have no choice: “Spiritual” it is."

In fact he wrote a whole book about this kind of stuff called Waking Up.

Another random article:

http://thetattooedbuddha.com/2015/07/27/ask-a-zen-teacher-are-you-an-atheist/

 

But wouldn't that just mean "ethical"?
I actually believe that spirituality always includes some sort of belief in some sort of transcendence. To the Atheist, there is no transcendence, and it's fine.

This is phrased quite well, although I wouldn't say "your physical body" but rather "yourself", or may be "your personality", since in modern spirituality, the "self" often is already considered a transcendent entity.

 

I don't know. I don't really have any concept of what a soul is, which is why I don't really consider myself religious or spiritual.

What you would describe as a soul, I would describe as consciousness. I believe human consciousness is a function of the human brain just as cutting is a function of a knife.

 

I believe that who I am extends beyond that of my physical body. There are both material and immaterial things that make me who I am. For a material example, I have ten fingers. That's a physical aspect of who I am. For an immaterial example, I believe that 2 and 2 make 4. That's an immaterial aspect of who I am. If recognizing that material / immaterial duality of my identity makes me spiritual, then I guess that's what I am.

Strange.. I've meditated regularly for most of my life, but I've never really considered it a spiritual activity. Meditation has never put me in touch with something higher than my physical body. I think meditation does the exact opposite for me. Meditation grounds me. It makes me more aware and mindful of my body, my thoughts, and my experiences.

 

I might have to check out the book. I love Sam Harris' work