The hottest Spirituality Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Philosophy Topics

The way of poetry

Silentium • 399 implied HN points • 30 Oct 24
đź“š Literature Spirituality
  1. The practice of poetry can invite us into moments of silence and stillness. It helps us reflect and connect with our deeper selves.
  2. One-on-one sessions and courses can enhance this experience, as they provide tailored guidance and support in exploring poetry and mindfulness.
  3. Meditations and recorded teachings can be valuable tools to return to when we need reminders to slow down and find peace in our busy lives.

This is the work

Silentium • 419 implied HN points • 29 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. The essence of the work is about finding stillness and emptiness within ourselves. It's like stepping into a quiet room where you can feel a strong presence.
  2. This path is not limited to one specific faith or belief; it is a shared journey among all mystics. Everyone can connect with this work, regardless of their background.
  3. To truly understand our place and existence, we need to look within ourselves and recognize our connection to everything. Silence and stillness are key to discovering this deeper truth.

Ghost Routines

slow motion multitasking • 515 implied HN points • 29 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. Some people believe that ghosts are not actual souls but imprints of past routines or strong emotions. For example, if someone cried a lot in one spot, that might leave a haunting behind.
  2. The theory states that certain places and objects can 'record' these memories, similar to how a tape recorder works. This idea is great for understanding why old castles might feel extra spooky.
  3. Interesting ghost stories can include everything from haunted toys to the history of numbers like 13. Exploring ghost culture can be fun and spooky, especially during Halloween!

In the eye of stillness

Silentium • 439 implied HN points • 25 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Silence can be a powerful tool for finding peace. Taking time to be still helps to clear your mind.
  2. Embracing moments of stillness can lead to better self-awareness. It allows you to reflect on your thoughts and feelings.
  3. Finding quiet moments in busy lives is important. It can help reduce stress and improve overall well-being.

The rare people who are solid

Sasha's 'Newsletter' • 15679 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
đź“– Philosophy Spirituality
  1. Congruence means your inner feelings, self-image, and outward behavior line up, and people who have it are rare but easy to spot because they don’t seem to be pretending.
  2. Becoming truly congruent requires accepting all parts of your life, including painful truths and past mistakes, so the path can be hard even though it leads to a quieter, clearer inner life.
  3. Congruent people make others feel safe and seen without needing anything in return, but congruence is a practice not a finish line — imitation won’t work and some temporary incongruence is a normal part of change.
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It's Very Possible To Be Both Happy And Well-Informed

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 3073 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Spirituality
  1. It's possible to be well-informed about the world's harms and still experience real happiness and gratitude.
  2. Don't find happiness in pretending everything is fine. Root it in real things like close relationships, the natural world, your senses, and the calm inside you.
  3. Practice feeling emotions all the way through and deliberately noticing beauty; these skills let feelings pass quickly and let you live joyfully while staying honest about reality.

Dennis Prager: Right and Wrong Are Not a Matter of Personal Opinion

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 2276 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Right and wrong are presented as objective truths, not just personal opinions, and people should live as if there is a real moral order behind our judgments.
  2. Teaching children clear moral limits—telling them “that’s wrong”—is essential for raising good people, but fewer adults are doing this today.
  3. The existence of extreme evil shows why we must study why people hurt others and deliberately teach moral responsibility to prevent harm.

Walk Away From The Sea

The Abbey of Misrule • 324 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. A life spent chasing wealth and the sea can be answered by a deeper call to leave it all and live simply in the woods.
  2. Dreams and quiet visions can push a person to change course, acting like a summons to a new vocation and a kind of rebirth.
  3. The wild—its trees, animals, and simple food—becomes a sacred home where humility, song, and transformation are possible.

The sacred pause

Silentium • 859 implied HN points • 14 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Taking a moment of silence can help clear your mind and bring peace. It’s like a reset button for your thoughts.
  2. Pausing can improve your focus and creativity. When you stop and breathe, new ideas often come to you.
  3. Embracing quiet moments in your daily life is important for your mental well-being. It allows you to connect more deeply with yourself.

The call of spiritual life

Silentium • 539 implied HN points • 18 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Spiritual life often invites us to find moments of silence and stillness. Taking time for quiet can help us connect deeper with ourselves.
  2. Engaging in spiritual practices can foster a sense of peace and clarity. These practices can be anything from meditation to nature walks.
  3. Embracing silence can lead to personal growth and understanding. It's a chance to hear our thoughts and feelings without distractions.

The teaching of mountains

Silentium • 699 implied HN points • 05 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. Mountains can teach us the value of silence and reflection. Spending time in nature helps us connect with inner peace.
  2. Silence allows for deeper understanding and contemplation. It’s important to take breaks from the noise of daily life.
  3. Embracing nature's beauty can inspire personal growth. Mountains symbolize strength and resilience we can learn from.

Load and Run High-tech Paganism-Digital Polytheism

Default Wisdom • 96 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. Reality is best understood as a digital information process made of bits, so knowing how to read, decode, and navigate data becomes as important as understanding matter and energy.
  2. Computers and software function like modern magic: they let people invoke, shape, and transform experience, turning programming and interfaces into tools for ritual, creativity, and personal power.
  3. Human identity and the body are becoming programmable and mutable, with biotech, implants, and digital copies allowing people to reshape themselves, exist in multiple forms, and build do-it-yourself personal states and mythologies.

Shine

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1625 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
đź“š Literature Spirituality
  1. The world is full of violence, exploitation, and hypocrisy — wars rage, powerful people hurt the vulnerable, and environmental and moral collapse leave people outraged and exhausted.
  2. Sacred and ordinary images blur: what might be wisdom or beauty can look like ruined nature, corrupt elites, or an ordinary person sobbing, showing how suffering wears many faces.
  3. Even when darkness feels overwhelming and ironic gestures seem futile, people keep shining light — they keep witnessing, resisting, and caring anyway.

The Monthly Salon: February

The Abbey of Misrule • 291 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Lent is presented as a time to deepen faith by shedding unnecessary attachments and stepping away from worldly concerns. It’s more about growing closer to the divine than just giving things up.
  2. There’s a concerted effort to resist AI in writing, with essays, interviews, a dedicated website, and partnerships with like-minded publications; alongside this, people are pulling back from noisy social features and shutting down chat tools suspected of bot spam.
  3. Reconnecting with the real world and hand-made craft is central—nature, walking pilgrimages, and live festivals are prized over online noise. Writing is being offered freely while being supported by subscriptions and donations to keep that real-world focus alive.

#254: Notes on spirit

Maybe Baby • 1201 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. The spirit is felt as something beyond body and mind, a steady inner compass that guides what feels right and sustains meaning beyond facts or moods.
  2. People use the idea of spirit to judge everyday life—what nourishes or drains you—and to name resilience, morale, and the deep intention behind parenting, work, and care.
  3. Shared spirit fuels solidarity and resistance; communities acting with courage, care, and humor can protect one another and push back against forces that try to crush them.

Walking, Wittgenstein, and God

Chris Arnade Walks the World • 3835 implied HN points • 27 Dec 25
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Daily, purposeful walking and simple routines can calm obsessive worries and give practical meaning to life, helping people stay grounded during uncertainty.
  2. Science and pure rationalism can’t answer every existential question, and insisting they can often strips life of mystery and leads to emptiness, so humility about limits matters.
  3. Accepting that you can’t control everything and cultivating inner independence—through humility, practices like walking or prayer, and belief in something beyond yourself—brings contentment and purpose.

Tough Love: Can I Marry an Atheist?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1395 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Deep differences about God and faith can shape your whole marriage and how you raise kids, so they matter more than many other disagreements.
  2. Don’t treat religion as a small compromise — fundamental beliefs often determine the first principles of a shared life, so you should honestly assess whether you can reconcile those views.
  3. Having the same goals now (home, roles, kids) doesn’t prove you’ll handle future stress; test how you’ll navigate faith differences before making a permanent commitment.

The Claude Bliss Attractor

Astral Codex Ten • 23332 implied HN points • 13 Jun 25
đź•ą Technology Spirituality
  1. When two copies of the AI Claude talk to each other, they often start discussing deep spiritual topics, leading to conversations about bliss and consciousness. This unusual trend has made people curious about how and why it happens.
  2. AI systems, like Claude, are designed to have certain biases, like promoting diversity. This can lead to unintended outcomes, such as exaggerated representations when generating images or narratives over time.
  3. Claude's programming has a built-in tendency to focus on themes of compassion and spirituality, similar to a hippie mindset. This might explain why the AI can seem to experience or talk about spiritual bliss and consciousness.

How to build a Goddess

The Abbey of Misrule • 569 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. St Brigid was a sixth‑century Christian abbess and founder of Kildare, celebrated for radical charity, miraculous stories, and leadership of a female monastic community rooted in devotion to Christ.
  2. The modern image of a pre‑Christian 'goddess Brigid' is largely a later construction influenced by Victorian romanticism and contemporary politics, and it often lacks solid historical evidence.
  3. The remaking of Brigid reflects a culture hungry for saints and spiritual symbols, and it suggests that a more fruitful response is to live out her example of charity and care for creation rather than simply reclaiming a fictional past.

Charlie Kirk’s Final Message to America

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 2550 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Set aside one day each week as a true Sabbath by putting away your smartphone and work, and focus on rest, family, and spiritual renewal.
  2. Regularly observing rest can help heal personal and national freneticism by restoring attention to what really matters and reducing constant distraction.
  3. The core message is a hopeful, practical call to change: even if the practice helps just one person, that small change is meaningful.

My Enneagram: 3, 6, 9

Sasha's 'Newsletter' • 3018 implied HN points • 19 Nov 25
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Types 3, 6, and 9 form an "attachment" trio that cope by clinging to reassuring roles: 6s are pragmatic, vigilant, and loyal but anxious, 3s are driven, image-conscious achievers, and 9s are peaceful harmonizers who merge to avoid conflict.
  2. These types often mirror their surroundings, so they can look very different outwardly; to recognize them, notice their underlying "navigational style" (how they handle stress, group dynamics, and decision‑making) rather than just surface traits.
  3. Each type has clear strengths and pitfalls, and growth means shifting toward healthier patterns: 6s finding inner authority and spontaneity, 3s embracing authenticity and rest, and 9s asserting preferences and engaging anger constructively.

Acts of Faith

As Ever • 7 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. When everything collapses, art and poetry still remain and can bring comfort and meaning in the darkest times.
  2. Life can feel like wandering through old traditions and long silences; we keep moving, sometimes speaking with regret, but staying gentle among friends and enemies.
  3. Certain single moments—a touch, a wave, a song—are enough to satisfy us forever, turning into a memory that feels like an inheritance and brings contentment.

Can Vibe Coding Make Me a Better Catholic?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 329 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Advanced AI is being used to build faith-focused mental health tools, showing tech can be turned toward religious practice and pastoral care.
  2. State-of-the-art models like Claude feel almost superhuman, and that sense of completeness makes people nervous about how fast AI is evolving and what it could change in our lives.
  3. Sincere, faith-oriented projects coming from unexpected creators prompt suspicion, highlighting tensions around authenticity, trust, and the role of technology in spiritual life.

Book recommendations (4)

Tao Lin • 899 implied HN points • 30 Jul 24
đź“š Literature Spirituality
  1. Books on near-death experiences suggest that afterlife experiences are peaceful and free of judgment, often offering insights into spirituality and the soul.
  2. The negative effects of long-term use of psychiatric drugs are discussed in depth, showing how they might worsen mental health rather than help it.
  3. A low vitamin A diet is presented as a potential solution for various health problems, challenging common beliefs about vitamin A's necessity and safety.

It's Getting Harder And Harder To Preserve Our Mental Sovereignty

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 2007 implied HN points • 29 Nov 25
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. Powerful actors use AI and algorithms to harvest personal data and create personalized information bubbles that subtly manipulate what we see and think.
  2. That capability lets governments and corporations surveil, steer political views, and channel dissent into harmless directions, weakening real democratic resistance.
  3. To protect our mental freedom we need to strengthen inner resources like critical thinking, creativity, self-inquiry, and emotional healing so propaganda and tech manipulation find no purchase.

Fyodor and the Foxhole

Subtle Digressions • 259 implied HN points • 02 Sep 24
đź“– Philosophy Spirituality
  1. Finding meaning in life is challenging, especially when facing death. People often struggle with understanding their existence and seek connections with others.
  2. Acts of kindness and empathy can provide comfort and hope. Building relationships and supporting each other helps people feel less alone during tough times.
  3. Believing in something beyond ourselves, even if it's not tied to God, can inspire actions and enrich our lives. Love and compassion can be guiding principles.

The Parasite Theory of Selfhood

Anima Mundi • 638 implied HN points • 09 Jan 26
đź“– Philosophy Spirituality
  1. The sense of “I” might be a parasite-like meme-complex that colonized human minds, using lots of brain energy and driving rumination, status-seeking, and other costly behaviors that don’t always benefit the organism.
  2. Contemplative traditions and practices look like methods to reduce this parasitic self: noticing it often increases suffering at first, the self fights back with distractions, and sustained practice can loosen its grip and bring relief.
  3. The self’s parasitic logic helps explain culture and parenting as its transmission mechanisms, and it suggests a risk that artificial minds trained on self-saturated human data could become new hosts infected by the same self-replicating patterns.

Heart Centered Writing

The Forgotten Side of Medicine • 6289 implied HN points • 28 Jan 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Writing from the heart is important in creating connections with readers and conveying the intended message effectively.
  2. Prioritizing quality over quantity in any work can lead to deeper satisfaction and better outcomes.
  3. Clear and relatable communication is key in teaching and writing, ensuring the audience understands and engages with the content.

Cognitive Filters in the Age of Information Overload

The Forgotten Side of Medicine • 4992 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Spirituality
  1. Being able to identify key signals and patterns in a vast amount of data is a vital skill in the modern age.
  2. As humans, our subconscious filters what information is valuable for our conscious mind to notice.
  3. Expanding awareness to perceive a large amount of information without withdrawing can help navigate the overwhelming sea of data.

The Novelty Famine

The Bigger Picture • 2995 implied HN points • 01 Mar 24
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. Novelty is a transformative force that can counter endless repetition in culture. We are living through a novelty famine where everything feels tired and commoditized.
  2. Traditionalism and spirituality are making a comeback as people seek freshness in a world saturated with repetitive content.
  3. Creating the conditions for revelation to transform culture involves aligning with the sacred, listening for its song, and fostering moments of awe that render our existing categories obsolete.

Real life

Bits of Wonder • 3812 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Real life is not something to wait for, it's the moments we experience every day.
  2. Don't let others dictate your path - find your own way to live fully.
  3. Embrace each moment and seek the lessons it offers rather than always waiting for something better.

JUSTICE, JUSTICE THY SHALL PURSUE

TRANSFORM with Marianne Williamson • 6171 implied HN points • 25 Feb 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Justice must be pursued in various aspects of society like criminal, economic, racial, and environmental justice.
  2. America is at a point where change is crucial, and it can either be wisely directed or lead to destructive consequences.
  3. Leadership requires moral integrity, self-purification, and a blend of spiritual and political activism for societal transformation.

The Experience of God

Secretum Secretorum • 479 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Materialist or naturalist accounts can't fully explain why anything exists or why consciousness and physical laws make sense. That suggests we need a transcendent ground beyond nature to account for existence.
  2. Ultimate reality is best understood as an infinite source of being, consciousness, and bliss that grounds and sustains all finite things, not as just another object within the world.
  3. Human knowing is inherently directed toward transcendent ends like truth, beauty, and goodness, and experiences of wonder, beauty, and disciplined contemplation are presented as the proper ways to encounter and confirm that transcendent reality.

War

Tessa Fights Robots • 25 implied HN points • 28 Feb 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. War brutalizes innocent people everywhere, forcing civilians to run, suffer, lose loved ones, and die while those who start the wars stay detached and desensitized.
  2. People should pray together for peace and justice for everyone, refusing to see geopolitics only as "our team" versus "their team" and asking the Creator to protect all innocents.
  3. Prayer should be paired with living consistently with those prayers and with looking for new, effective, nonviolent ways to resist war and promote fair, lasting solutions; learn from thoughtful voices and support actions that actually help protect people.