The spirituality of atheism: Introduction

This post is the first step in what I suspect will be a long and enlightening journey in search of spirit.  While I've approached the idea of spirituality before in my life, I have never done so with the rigor and intensity that I intend to apply to this investigation.  I have certainly never sat down with modern pen and paper in pursuit of an answer.  The answer to what, you ask?  Glad you asked, let's begin with these questions:

• Why bother searching?
• Can an atheist be spiritual?  Does he/she have a spirit?
• What is spirituality for an atheist?
• What are the implications of atheistic spirituality and how do these compare to theistic spirituality?

And before I set out on this journey, let me make one important promise so as to bind myself to it in later posts.  It seems that much of the writing I read about atheism is unnecessarily harsh in their discussions of theism and religion.  This will not be an attack of theists as so many atheistic ponderings tend to be.  I have chosen my path and others may freely choose theirs.  That said, I believe I am ready to begin.  Until next time.