A Conversation with AI about Spirituality

Today, I suddenly got curious and asked an AI: What impact does spirituality have on human nature?

The AI gave me a fairly organized answer. It provides meaning and purpose, serves as moral guidance, deepens self-awareness... things like that. Not wrong, but it felt superficial.

So I asked again: "Then what is the substance of spirituality? Is it thought? A concept?"

What is Spirituality?

As the conversation progressed, my thoughts gradually became clearer.

I felt that spirituality is a construct of human consciousness, while simultaneously being a quality of the soul dwelling in each individual's physical body, and its depth manifests through logos.

The AI organized this into three dimensions, and it felt right. It seems like we create spirituality, but at the same time it's the essence of our being, and it also reveals itself through words and actions.

Then suddenly this thought came to me. This seems to be energy that influences human nature.

Spirituality as Energy

Once I said energy, everything suddenly made sense.

Energy transforms. Inner stillness becomes conscious awakening, which becomes words and actions, which influence others. Like how the peace during meditation becomes patience in daily life, how the experience of prayer becomes altruistic action.

And energy interacts with the body. The 'qi' in yoga and qigong, 'prana' in Indian tradition, the 'Holy Spirit' in Christianity—these are all expressions of spiritual energy. Don't you actually feel something physically after a deep spiritual experience?

Above all, energy causes change. Sustained spiritual practice can fundamentally change personality, values, and behavior patterns. Like water carving through stone.

When I asked the AI how to cultivate this energy, things I knew from my own limited experience came to mind. Meditation, contemplation, morality, ethics, prayer, truth-seeking... That's all I could think of, but the AI said it wasn't limited experience at all.

Each cultivates energy in a different dimension. Meditation and contemplation gather and purify energy, morality and ethics determine direction, prayer connects with transcendent sources, and truth-seeking adds clarity and depth.

I nodded when it said these aren't separate but form a cycle.

The Problem of Experience and Proof

Actually, I have an experience. I once heard a voice during prayer. It has been a great source of strength in my life.

But I've always wondered: Can this be proven with universality and objective evidence?

The AI answered honestly. It's very difficult to prove using traditional scientific methods. Because a third party can't measure and reproduce an experience that occurred within me.

But it said there are things to consider. The experience itself of 'hearing or realizing something' during prayer or meditation is universally reported across cultures and eras. The content differs, but there is universality in the phenomenon itself.

And it mentioned a criterion William James proposed: Has that experience changed your life for the better? Have you become more loving, more peaceful, more courageous, more wise? Like how I said it "has been a great source of strength," there is truth proven by fruit.

Honestly, there's no way to definitively distinguish whether my experience was truly the voice of a transcendent being, the deep wisdom of my unconscious manifesting as a voice, or a phenomenon created by a particular brain state. But this uncertainty doesn't eliminate the value of the experie