Dispirited – How Contemporary Spirituality Makes Us Stupid, Selfish and Unhappy - Softcover

Refusing all inwardness and consolation, David Webster faces down spirituality's guile in favour of a bleak atheism's hints of a worthwhile life. Bracing, timely stuff! (Peter Manley Scott, University of Manchester, UK) Annoyed by the phrase 'I am not religious, but I'm very spiritual', Dr. David Webster successfully maps out the problems and contradictions it leads to. This is as close to a 'must read' as it gets, for the religious as well as the spiritual reader, as well as for atheists. (Dr. Mikael Askander, Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Lund University, Sweden) Should be placed gently but firmly in the hands of any budding convert who thinks that the vacuous claims of a new spirituality are any better than the lies, evasions and hypocrisies of orthodox religion. (Professor Christopher Norris, Distinguished Research Professor in Philosophy, Cardiff University)

Dave Websters book is a counter-blast against the culturally accepted norm that spirituality is a vital and important factor in human life. Rejecting the idea of human wellbeing as predicated on the spiritual, the book seeks to identify the toxic impact of spiritual discourses on our lives. Spirituality makes us confused, apolitical and miserable - whether that spirituality is from conventional religious roots, from a new-age buffet of beliefs, or from some re-imagined ancient system of belief. Looking beyond this dismissal, the book looks towards atheistic existentialism, Theravada Buddhism and political engagement as a means to imagine what a post-spiritual world view could look like.