Is it possible to be an atheist mystic? In this video, we explore how mysticism—often thought to belong only to religion—can actually be a powerful experience for secular thinkers, skeptics, and even hardcore atheists. Mysticism isn’t about dogma or believing in a divine entity; it’s about direct experience—the feeling of deep connection, awe, and transcendence that people throughout history have tried to describe. But what happens when you strip away religious rules and just focus on the experience itself?
Through Sufi wisdom, Zen Buddhism, and psychological insight, we’ll dive into how mysticism works beyond faith, why atheists can benefit from spiritual practices, and how embracing mystical experiences can enhance self-awareness, inner peace, and personal growth. Whether you’re a skeptic curious about spirituality or someone searching for depth without dogma, this video will show you how mysticism can transform your life—without requiring belief in the supernatural.
Resources:
No Nonsense Spirituality: All the Tools No Belief Required:
What Is The Void:
Religious Deconstruction:
All My Available Courses:
Video Chapters:
00:00 Intro & Context
01:05 What is Mysticism?
03:12 Mysticism Without Religion
06:18 Sufism & Atheism
09:04 The Power of Experience
12:55 Psychological Benefits
16:43 How Mystics Teach
19:28 The Science of Awe
23:50 Avoiding Spiritual Pitfalls
27:34 Final Thoughts
About Me:
Britt Hartley is a certified atheist spiritual director with a Master’s in Theology focusing on the future of American religion. She wrote the bestselling book *No Nonsense Spirituality: All the Tools, No Faith Required*. If you’re struggling with existential crises, nihilism, or feeling lost in meaninglessness. On this channel you’ll find weekly videos where Britt provides practical, science-based tools to help you navigate the void. Instead of relying on old gods or New Age trends, she offers clear, actionable advice for finding your way through the deep, challenging questions of life.
#nononsensespirituality #mysticism #mysticalexperience
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After watching this video I looked into Sufism but found the same environment as Christianity. People speaking of damnation, absolute truth, etc. There seems to be no difference. Maybe you go to some western hyper liberal group? Because what you said in this video and what im reading online arent even in the same ballpark…
You said one cannot make a religious claim based off what they feel…yet you joined a Muslim group because of feelings…yet you dont believe in their core dogma and pretend they dont have dogma? This video seems like a dishonest presentation of Sufism.
I feel so understood by this
Spirituality is worthless if you believe in a completely materialist conception of the world, just saying. I'd abandon this channel and go do something more productive with your time.
Funny how she mentioned everything religion under the sun except hinduism. Its not an accident…its on purpose.
Did you study the diamond approach by A H Almaas?
“Its a text just for you.”
Basically how I use fiction. Life is narrative. Lol.
What if flying has nothing to do with air? I suspect your answers are as stupid as your question!
How do we know that some experiences are worth having?
I've wondered if spirituality is something latent in humans that is awakened. But I spirituality without God is like fish without water 🙂
I can only identify as a syncretist, being that it’s as close to non-identification so far. I’m a gnostic, agnostic, theist, atheist, humanist, animist etc etc etc and the only difference between them all is circumstance (probably right down to the food or lack thereof in my system). When I focus in closer I can identity my traits, but those are held in a worldview that includes the unconscious.
Everything was here before I got here, 2 people made me, I combine things in my unique way which included making a version of me. So, yeah, dependent origination is a thing, and it is corroborated by QM.
Loving the content- Hare Krishna ❤🙏
No hard core materialist atheist can admit to being "spiritual". Nope! Nothing beyond dopamine, biochemical electrical signals. Nothing! You just experienced a brain state. Any talk of transcendence is just 24k BS. So if you're a real atheist run to the logical conclusion. It's all materialism. Stop talking about spirituality. Enjoy your brain state but don't have any pretensions.
I love learning about your path. So far everything I've heard makes sense to me.
Samkhya is a philosophy from india which is atheistic. They see gods as symbols of different energies and powers within ourselves. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are a well known set of practices from this tradition. Personally i like deities as spirits as they communicate to me as personalities but beneath it all i know they are beyond personhood. They are aspects of higher intelligence which is both the void of potentiality which the universe arises out of and the universe itself as an expression of all of those potentials. It is not mindless but it is not some boogeyman in the sky
The core idea of mysticism is that there is a form of God, called Paramatma, within each person. This is described amply in Yoga Sutra, where one term (isvara pranidhana—surrender to God) appears three times. Nothing else is repeated.
Mysticism separated from God is both shallow and impossible. Why impossible? Because you can’t keep looking inward unless you find God within. Why shallow? Because if you haven’t found God, you haven’t gone deep enough within.
In Yoga Tradition, there are 5 bodies, successively within each other, apart from the self or soul, and beyond those is Paramatma. You will never traverse these 5 bodies unless helped by Paramatma from within, Who actually guides and reveals the hidden. An atheist remains a dreamer—exploring the mind, which is 100% controlled by nature and time, and never transcends.
Of course, all this sounds pretty interesting to those leaving “religion” which have never actually been able to define the mind, psyche, or soul. They often get caught up in Western psychology and esotericism, which actually leads them nowhere.
Bottom line, there is no mysticism for an atheist. All these are shallow and impossible ideas that appeal to people frustrated with religion but lead nowhere. The real mysticism is Yoga Sutra and the culmination is surrender to Paramatma within.
Hindu Sufi leaning here, Daughter of Fire, great book, perhaps you have read Irina…
Sufi Mystic. I see we are on similar journeys. Your Sufi name is beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
I am just now discovering your content, and I really have no words to describe how refreshing and such a blessing it has been. It’s amazing to hear someone describe my lived experience and thought process regarding religion so precisely. Even as I type this I can’t help but feel how wholly inadequate my words feel in describing my gratitude for you and the work you’re doing and your willingness to share it with the world. Thank you thank you thank you so much for what you do.
Hi Britt… I find your content very interesting and I am curious to learn more. I have had three situations in my life where I actually felt the imminent passing of a few loved ones and started grieving to the point of crying for their loss approximately one week before they actually passed away. This happened with my grandmother, a best friend's mom who was like a second mom to me, and a childhood friend who died from alcohol poisoning. How would you describe or define these situations? In the case of my best friend's mom I actually asked to speak with her after I got that feeling and she passed away a short time after perhaps a few days. I can't recall exactly. Thank you
I believe in the transcendent absolute. I experienced it many times and can now. It took my entire life to conceptualize it. But I have a model now that I can die with. The transcendent absolute is emphatically not a person.
You are my mirror.
Part of spirituality is how we orient ourselves to engage with timescales beyond our lifespans. That's one valuable aspect of narratives. My personal favorite way of creating mystical narratives is to turn the future we are striving for into a story told in the past-tense. The story of Old Earth, how the people of the Anthropocene grappled with the darkness of the world and within themselves, and overcame it.
Thank you for sharing and helping me being okay with wanting to check out and enjoy all spiritual traditions…
I was becoming a negative atheist. I was under the impression that I had to let go of the mystical aspects of life. Thank you thank you thank you
Well done! Thank you
Wow 13 minutes into the video you made a connection for me I've never seen before and it makes perfect since. About a cathedral and piano giving a feeling and feeling it but not allowing someone to then say it is this. Amazing illustration of identity and able to stop the there for that comes after.
I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on modern Quakerism.
J Krishnamurti might appeal to those who like this video.
thank you britt for sharing your wisdom with us. this video i feel is an important introduction for me having been waffling about in psychedelics, zen buddhism, rumi and hildegaard von bingen for the past 10 years! this is the first I’m hearing of something that truly makes sense to me. interestingly I discovered your work through the Anglican Alpha course (attending at the request of my lovely jesus-devoted fiancé to at least take an intellectual interest in his belief system) because what I was hearing there was making me so uncomfortable i was left searching for answers on youtube. I will thank them and jesus for this 😉
also as an evolutionary biologist I hear your shout outs to evolutionary cognitive neuroscience and the question of the nature of reality, i must name drop Donald Hoffman for everyone
I’m very happy for finding your videos. After leaving Mormonism I was going through some conflicts in my life and I knew this pastor from an evangelical church and he was trying hard to get me into evangelical Christianity. During this time I had a psychedelic experience in which I saw Jesus but he was dressed as a Roman emperor dresses for battle. He didn’t say anything he just looked away. I spent several months trying to understand why Jesus was dressed in such attire. So I started researching the origins of Christianity more in detail and arrived at the conclusion that Jesus did not form a religion, it was the Roman Empire, therefore I interpreted that as my answer, the Jesus of the Bible is really a creation of Rome. It doesn’t mean that Jesus didn’t exist as an enlightened mystic who taught a lot of valuable things that can be read and applied just as the teachings of other mystics in other religious text. I’ve been all over the place in the last year and that’s why I’m glad I found your channel because it’s giving shape to what makes sense to me. I will surely read your book.
I am getting my masters in interreligious studies, I love your channel!! I didn’t grow up Mormon, but I grew up in a similar cult. Thank you for your work.
Thank you so much for an honest, enlightening discussion about what you call Spirituality. Although the term is almost too religion-laden for me to use, you point toward, or shine a light upon, a very real human phenomenon that is deeply transformative and really should be explored. As you suggest, it is a shame that there are those who will miss out on this mode of being because of poisoning by religious dogma. You do a great service by bringing attention to the dimension of being.
I was an atheist for 32 years, never believed in spirituality or any version of God, but now i have a different understanding of who or what God is outside of any religious doctrine
Death is not the end of non physical souls or spirits.
I understand now the push for governmental regulation and oversight you mentioned in a previous video…trauma. I hear it attached to your words. Thank you for sharing. It’s beautiful hearing how working thru trauma has opened you to explore outside its defenses. Exploring outside my own I see more and more how openness is closer to our nature than anything that seeks to contain or control it. I liked to honor your strength and courage with recognition. All the best to you…especially in the most darkest of enlightening discoveries.
One more thing…I hope the time comes in your healing when you see there’s no longer a need to protect yourself behind the traumatic defensive armor of atheist. That identity is but a mere shadow compared to what you truly are. Less is always more when it comes to our nature.
This was awesome to hear. You have put into words experiences I’ve had but hadn’t put all the pieces together. Once I began learning about different spiritual thought from many religions I began to notice that once all the man made stuff was removed what did remain was an open heart. I can’t explain it much better than that. I realized that the man made stuff was what always got in my way of being able to fully embrace any religion, but I still searched. Now that I understand what mysticism is it all started to make sense to me.
Thank you for this very enlightening and eye opening video.
🙏🏼
The Bible has so many negative things in it I find it very hard to use it in any way, for anything positive. Same with the christian mystics, their revelations are all religion centric. I'm finding it hard to comprehend the idea of being spiritual without religion, they are so intertwined. My gut feeling is, what's the point of creating spiritual practices if there's nothing behind it, it's like once you know how all the tricks are done, why watch a magic show. The only thing I find close to this is reading the Tao Te Ching or Jung's writings.
Back when I was a Christian, I would rate this video as watering down true spirituality…. But now I know better. Awesome video, thanks for the content.
13:44 it’s interesting to note that Trump only shows awe over things like violent nature videos… somehow I can’t imagine him looking up at the star filled sky with wonder and awe… I think he would be mad at the stars for not spelling out his name; or he would just tell people that the stars did spell out his name, and if you don’t see that, then you’re a radical left lunatic.
What if Christmas has nothing to do with Santa Claus?
As someone who considers themselves Gnostic Christian (yes i know its an umbrella term) i’m not too worried about semantics. I’m deconstructing and even realizing that the most antitheist person can still experience these “spiritual” experiences. Religion aside.
Certainty is fraught with peril.
I like that you take the best of everything and integrate it into your life. This is the correct path.❤AWOMAN ❤Tru dat ❤ Let it be received, please?❤
7:22 There is a great book from Henri Nouwen about the story of the prodigidal son. In it, Nouwen debates all the characters of the story by viewing them from Rembrandts painting of the story.