Dear Annie: My 21-year-old granddaughter recently confided that she doesn’t attract men and doesn’t know why. She is good looking. She has had some self-esteem issues due to dyslexia and received counseling.

You ask if an atheist can be spiritual? Socrates would, of course, respond with a request to define “atheist” and “spiritual” as you intend them. Atheist is easy — see any dictionary. Spiritual is much more difficult to define. I have never seen a dictionary definition that correlates with common usage. The only (implied) useful definition I have heard was quoted by an atheist member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Paraphrasing our basic text (the “Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book”): “The spiritual life: The way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love.” The remainder of the book conflates spirituality with a rather vague deism. I suppose religious people wonder what motivates an atheist to behave in a spiritual way. I can only answer that I have no idea what motivates people to believe in an undetectable deity.