Im grappling with this because Im a materialist athiest but I find alot of the axioms on how to live a life in buddhism to be extremely beneficial for me. mindfulness and the 8 fold path have always intrigued me and recently as I have gotten into guided mindfulness more (which often have many buddhist inspirations for obvious reasoms) I find myself trying to anchor myself and detach so to speak from things that bring me suffering etc.
my issues is the spiritual aspect which isn’t for me but i dont want to be rude or disrespectful. ive read alot online i cant just take a buffet style buddhism or whatever and i am stuck in this middle where i can’t help what I believe but i also want to share the peace the parts of buddhism have helped me.
idk if this is nonsense but i thought itd be nice to have a sounding board while I ponder this
I'm also an atheist so I may just be providing an echo chamber but I feel like as long as you don't try to uh.. "atheistsplain(?)" to a proper buddhist why the spiritual stuff is "wrong" it shouldn't be a problem.
Are you studying it with actual buddhists or just online and in private. I think it's understandable that spiritual buddhists might say to other buddhists that it's not a la carte but I don't think that necessitates that it be the same for you.
My partner went through AA for a bit and they're agnostic. The program has a heavy emphasis on religion but likewise they just kinda cherry picked out the stuff that was beneficial to their mental health and well being. (though the program kind of promotes that for secular people since they're whole thing is helping people get over addiction. they do really push the idea of having a 'higher power' they just say it doesn't have to be the christian god tho)
Ultimately we're all just picking out things that resonates with us and adopting them into ourselves.
oh yeah studying in private absolutely and would never talk down to someone actually practicing! i mean it helps me feel better that other people chery pick as well thanks for the input!