The hottest Spirituality Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Philosophy Topics

How Not to End a Sermon

Gordian Knot News • 190 implied HN points • 23 Jul 25
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. The cost of Linear No-Threshold (LNT) theory shouldn't be the main focus when deciding to keep or discard it. We need to question its validity rather than just its implications.
  2. LNT is based on the assumption that radiation damage to DNA cannot be repaired, which is now known to be incorrect. Our bodies have repair mechanisms that can handle much greater radiation levels than previously thought.
  3. Instead of debating whether LNT is good or bad for humanity, the focus should be on the fact that it's fundamentally wrong and needs to be replaced with a more accurate understanding of radiation effects.

The Triangle of Happiness

Seven Senses • 319 implied HN points • 18 Nov 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Spirituality
  1. The 'triangle of happiness' is a term used to describe a meditation focus area between the nostrils and upper lip. It helps calm the mind and brings awareness to the breath.
  2. Vipassana meditation retreats are dedicated to learning this practice over ten days of silence, allowing participants to truly experience mindfulness.
  3. Meditation can be tough, but with practice, it helps tame racing thoughts and brings a sense of peace and balance to life.

Happy New Year!

Tessa Fights Robots • 23 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. A heartfelt New Year wish for personal well‑being: to be filled with joy, honor, love, respect for who you are, clarity, real friends, comfort, and peace.
  2. A hope that burdens will resolve gently and that negative people will fall away, with a reminder that you are important and one of a kind.
  3. A request to support the publication with a subscription or donation if you can, and a clear note that the content reflects personal views and is not professional advice.
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Only the Thumotic Will Survive

Less Foolish • 373 implied HN points • 29 Jun 23
đź“– Philosophy Spirituality
  1. Thumos is essential for achieving harmony within ourselves and in the world.
  2. Anger is necessary for honor and shame to exist in society without demonizing it.
  3. To thrive and survive challenges, we must embrace thumotic passion and not fear appearing unreasonable.

Beyond the Sun,

Seven Senses • 419 implied HN points • 16 Aug 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Astrology is more than just your Sun sign. It includes your Moon and Ascendant signs, each showing different parts of your personality.
  2. Everyone has a unique 'natal chart' that captures the positions of planets at the time of their birth. This chart can reveal insights about one's character and life path.
  3. Custom astrology cards are available for paid subscribers, offering a personalized look at your Sun, Moon, and Ascendant signs based on your birth info.

What else is there to say?

Wild Holy & Free • 739 implied HN points • 20 Apr 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. The author expresses exhaustion and frustration over the ongoing need to advocate for her humanity and her community's wellbeing.
  2. Despite the weariness, the author commits to continuing the fight for dignity, joy, and a better life for her community.
  3. The post concludes with information about the author's upcoming events and book, emphasizing the importance of persistence and habit in writing.

Essay Club: Myth, History, and Pagan Origins by John Michael Greer

Mind & Mythos • 199 implied HN points • 13 Jan 24
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. Myths help people understand who they are and how the world works. They are not just stories, but reflect deeper truths and beliefs.
  2. Modern views often separate myth and history into 'true' and 'untrue' but this limits how we see the importance of myths. Myths can shape our behaviors and beliefs even if they can't be proven.
  3. Many cultural conflicts stem from enduring myths like the struggle between good and evil. Rethinking these myths might help us find new ways to relate and resolve conflicts.

Saharan Surprise

Weekly Wisdom • 179 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. The author describes a mystical experience in the Saharan desert under the night sky, feeling awe and vitality while performing a ritual with friends.
  2. During the experience, the author felt a surge of energy through their body, pondered on physical tension, and experienced a profound sense of stillness and peace.
  3. The author ended the experience feeling a deep presence, an absence of worries, and a state of non-ordinary consciousness, ultimately reflecting on the sacredness and simplicity of existence.

The Most Dangerous Idea

Secretum Secretorum • 1161 implied HN points • 02 Mar 24
đź“– Philosophy Spirituality
  1. Traumatic transcendence challenges the concept that extreme states of consciousness can manipulate physics, prompting a need for deeper understanding through experiments induced by profound suffering.
  2. Evidence and reasoning suggest that consciousness may transcend normal physics, as seen in tales from folklore and religious history, trauma-related phenomenon, and philosophical arguments against materialism.
  3. Love plays an integral role in traumatic transcendence and mystical experiences, emphasizing a connection between profound experiences and emotion, challenging traditional metaphysical paradigms.

An Apostate Against the Machine-God

Daniel Pinchbeck’s Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. Modern technological civilization acts like an autonomous 'Machine' that prizes calculative reason, uproots people from place and tradition, and treats nature and humans as interchangeable resources, causing ecological collapse and spiritual alienation.
  2. The answer proposed is to re-root life in local communities, traditions, and meaningful practices—rebuilding moral economies, family, farming, and craft—and to practice technological askesis, a disciplined refusal of dehumanizing technologies.
  3. The political reality is messy: both market-liberal progressive forces and a rising reactionary tech elite can enable the Machine, while accelerationist strains even celebrate humanity's replacement, so simple left‑right fixes are inadequate.

Do You See What I See?

The Better Letter • 235 implied HN points • 01 Dec 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Our brains actively construct reality, leading to different perceptions of the same thing.
  2. People tend to hold steadfast beliefs about the world, even when faced with uncertainty.
  3. Christmas represents the idea of God coming to Earth in vulnerability to redeem a broken world.

The long, slow slide

The Art of Enchantment, with Dr Sharon Blackie • 818 implied HN points • 01 Jul 22
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. The author shares insights on her recent trip to London, the cities vs countryside dynamic, and the concept of urban environments having their own 'dreaming'.
  2. The 'Hagitude' program focuses on exploring vitality, creativity, and vision in the second half of life for women, with a unique mythopoetic approach.
  3. A reading recommendation for the novel 'Sea of Tranquility' by Emily St. John Mandel, offering a story of time travel and parallel worlds.

When I say I believe in God

Sasha's 'Newsletter' • 347 implied HN points • 12 Feb 25
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Believing in God can start suddenly and unexpectedly, sometimes triggered by self-discovery moments. It’s a personal journey that can evolve over time.
  2. Understanding oneself better, like through personality tests, can lead to deeper realizations about life and beliefs. Self-awareness is key to personal growth.
  3. Explaining spiritual beliefs can be challenging, as they are often complex and deeply personal. Everyone's experience with faith is unique.

Can a novelist be an intuitive neuroscientist?

The Recovering Academic • 296 implied HN points • 27 Jun 23
đź“š Literature Spirituality
  1. Willa Cather's novels contain testable hypotheses about creativity, imagination, and memory that neuroscientists could explore.
  2. Neurotheology explains how spiritual experiences can be influenced by factors like personality types, genetics, religious rituals, and near-death experiences.
  3. Neurotheology helps understand how the body influences spiritual experiences, as demonstrated in Willa Cather's novel 'Death Comes for the Archbishop.'

A couple videos I made about Iran war and earth shrines

Charles Eisenstein • 1 implied HN point • 10 Mar 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Two recent videos focus on the Iran war and earth shrines, using mythic and cinematic references like Kurosawa's Ran to illuminate contemporary crises.
  2. A live community call blends traditional, indigenous, and animistic perspectives with the horror of modern warfare and frames that synthesis with deep optimism about the present moment's potential.
  3. This work is part of an ongoing Sanity Project and New and Ancient Story community offering regular videos and live engagement, and a modest paid subscription is suggested to support it.

Kindling | 10.17.23

Signal Fire • 275 implied HN points • 17 Oct 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. The author renews vows with their partner yearly and reflects on the promises made.
  2. The post invites readers to consider the promises they would make to their partner.
  3. The content is behind a paywall and offers a 7-day free trial for access.

Beware The Plastic Shaman

Tripsitter • 119 implied HN points • 17 Feb 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Plastic shamans exploit spiritual practices for personal gain and may lack genuine connections to the traditions they claim to represent.
  2. Consumers of psychedelic retreats should be cautious and research potential facilitators or centers to ensure legitimacy and safety.
  3. Indigenous traditions are at risk of exploitation by individuals who prioritize profit and self-interest over upholding ethical and cultural values.

Negative Space, Positive Possibilities

Gideon's Substack • 28 implied HN points • 05 Dec 25
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. The State of Israel should be seen as opening possibilities rather than as a guaranteed sign of messianic redemption; it might be the start of something holy, but that is a hope not a certainty.
  2. Collective religious life and shared liturgy matter even when individual belief is partial, because prayer can bind a community and express hopeful uncertainty instead of dogmatic surety.
  3. Many political futures for the land are possible and none automatically has God’s blessing; practical, ethical human decisions and institutions must make the case for legitimacy and justice.

Trust the Experts, If You Dare

Restoring Truth • 137 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Many experts may offer solutions, but expertise is not always a guarantee of success.
  2. Expertise in specific fields like science and medicine is valuable, but spiritual matters may not require expertise.
  3. Human knowledge, even from top experts, may not always lead to true healing and restoration.

⬜ The artists' philosopher, Byung-Chul Han

One Thing • 178 implied HN points • 07 Dec 23
đź“– Philosophy Spirituality
  1. Byung-Chul Han is a Korean-German philosopher known for his critical engagement with contemporary culture, including the concept of burnout culture.
  2. Han's work focuses on critiquing inauthentic forms of selfhood and the loss of negation and conflict dynamics in culture.
  3. Han advocates for seeking authenticity through a genuine re-engagement with the multitudinous shape of existence, emphasizing the power of saying no and achieving pure negativity.

Born to Be Wild: Introducing John Muir

Meaning || Matter • 19 implied HN points • 11 Jul 24
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. John Muir is a key figure in American environmentalism known for his love of nature and work in preserving national parks, especially Yosemite. He believed that people should connect with nature to truly appreciate and protect it.
  2. Muir saw wilderness as a source of spirituality, teaching that we can learn and find God through nature. He practiced a form of transcendentalism that emphasized loving and understanding the wild rather than conquering it.
  3. Muir's writing served as a way to bring people closer to nature, acting like an evangelist for the wilderness. His vivid descriptions aimed to inspire others to experience and care for the natural world.

Artificial Means Human-made

Reboot • 25 implied HN points • 30 Nov 25
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. AI is a human-made continuation of past technologies, not an alien force, and debates about what’s "human" versus "machine" repeat whenever new tools reshape culture.
  2. AI can evoke spiritual and communal responses by producing emergent, collective effects, and designing shared, voice-centered experiences counters the narrative of isolated, personalized automation.
  3. We need new social and legal protocols—like public-domain datasets, consent mechanisms, data trusts, and decentralized sharing—to ensure fair use, shared ownership, and cooperative discovery in the age of AI.

New name, musings, and my favorite recent reads.

Neckar’s Notes • 96 implied HN points • 25 Jul 25
đź“š Literature Spirituality
  1. It's okay to feel anxious or lost sometimes, especially during tough times. Sitting with those feelings can help us understand ourselves better.
  2. Writing can be a powerful way to connect with our authentic selves and find truth. It's important to seek out unique voices in a world filled with similar content.
  3. Engaging with nature and thoughtful reading can help us reflect and recharge. Taking time to disconnect from distractions can lead to personal growth.

The Paradox Of Spirituality

Weekly Wisdom • 238 implied HN points • 09 Feb 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Spirituality is a complex, elusive concept that defies easy definition, with a focus on ethics and virtue.
  2. Spirituality often involves a path of introspection and transcendence, which can include practices like meditation and prayer.
  3. Spirituality provides a framework for exploring meaning, prosocial behavior, and interconnectedness in both personal and societal contexts.

Woe Should We Do?

Contemplations on the Tree of Woe • 1063 implied HN points • 06 Sep 23
đź“– Philosophy Spirituality
  1. The author wants feedback on what motivates readers to engage with the blog.
  2. Various deep topics have been explored in the blog, including book reviews, epistemology, economics, and more.
  3. The blog has provided valuable content, but the author seeks input on potential new topics to cover.

This Year's Best Bits: The Tipping Point?

What's Important? • 19 implied HN points • 19 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Spirituality
  1. 2025 felt like a tipping point where mystical or “woo” ideas and new models of consciousness moved from fringe curiosity into mainstream acceptance.
  2. Popular podcasts, books, and articles this year mixed scientific research with personal accounts of nonordinary experiences, highlighting renewed interest in healing and expanded models of mind.
  3. Mainstream entertainment—TV, film, and music—increasingly explored themes like collective consciousness and disclosure, signaling these ideas are spreading into broader culture and institutions.

Let There Be Light

Clinsights • 196 implied HN points • 11 Apr 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Spirituality
  1. Creation is a form of worship and art that brings harmony with the universe.
  2. Humans are created to be creators in the likeness of God.
  3. Being inspired and creating is a way of connecting with the divine and fulfilling our purpose.