Occasionally find myself envying people with faith and wonder how my life is different than theirs.
I’ve never envied those with faith. I feel freedom and have comfort in knowing that I am a good person with good morals without being threatened by some mysterious being that allows such disgusting hatred to exist in their creation.
Exactly my take as well. Very well said.
It probably doesn’t. You can still believe in things, just maybe not those kinds of things.
Pretty well, it lets me do things Jesus frowns upon and actually enjoy my life instead of being a spiritual slave to a human invention.
I can’t think of anything I do that Jesus would frown upon. Leviticus? Yeah, I eat shellfish and the like, so probably he’d frown, but I think the main complaint from Jesus would be that I haven’t given up all my worldly goods and helped the sick and poor enough – and I don’t think he’d be all that mad, regardless. It’s not like I’m trying to make profits off money-changing in front of the temple.
I agree, I don’t need some 2000 year old book to dictate how I live my life.
I will live my life on my own terms and if someone has a problem, they can respectfully leave my life.
Doesn’t doing all of the things you want to do still make you a slave, spiritual or otherwise, to a human invention? Your desires are created by yourself or others.
That’s not what being a slave means, at all, so no.
How does not having three butts effect your life?
What do you mean? Faith in a better future? My friends? The christian god?
I don’t handle loss well. To religious people it’s temporary because they believe they’ll reconnect in the afterlife. To me it’s permanent and I haven’t found a good way to cope yet.
For me, that’s fine. Never cared much about death. They’re done suffering, at least. It’s the suffering I can’t stand. But I wouldn’t want to believe in anything that would make me be okay with/cope more with/be less mad about people suffering. I want to stay mad about suffering and do something about it.
When I’m feeling sad about the people I’ve lost over the years, I like to ponder the vast gulf of time and possibility that lies ahead. The human mind is probably not as complicated and unique as we like to think, so perhaps someday there’ll be an ancestor simulation of some sort in which we get to meet again.
Your username is quite suited to this mindset so hopefully it helps. :)
A similar thought down that line has helped a little. If space and time are infinite, then who’s to say that anyone is ever truly gone. Their number just needs to come up again.
To put it in mathematical terms, people are subject to Poincaré recurrence given enough time and space.
I put my faith in myself and those who have proven they are worthy of me putting it in them as well… Faith in anyone is a risk, faith in anything is a risk. I don’t believe in a higher power, though I did once.
I feel like, at their core, most religions boil down to two things, for most people:
- Giving you purpose/security/scapegoats (“I’m living a good life so I can go to heaven,” “the Lord has a plan/is watching over me,” “Satan/sinners/demons tempted me”)
- Dissuading you from inquisitive, critical thought (out of self-preservation, I’d imagine)
Personally, I prefer to define my own purpose, live a more “dynamic” lifestyle than is traditional, think critically, and question authority. Doesn’t make me “better” than religious folks, in fact they’re probably overall happier than I am. But I can’t imagine living that way, regardless of whether or not I believe in a magical sky Santa who can’t decide whether he loves us unconditionally or whether or not he’s actually omnipotent.
There’s that, but also along with it comes an enormous sense of community. It’s a lot easier to find friendship and companionship when you’re in a group dedicated to a purpose that meets regularly, and it’s a very attractive concept and feeling, even if people don’t realize it.
I can relate to this. I’m a full blown atheist, someone who just doesn’t have any doubt on their beliefs for religion.
Even then, when I visit my besties Eastern Orthodox Church once in a blue moon (probably for a significant personal occassion or learning a new Holiday I never celebrated), I still feel an overall sense of community at her Church, and it helps that everyone i’ve met there is so nice.
I don’t believe being a Christian (especially a conservative Christian) is the lifestyle for me, and I just can not bring myself to believe for a moment in it, but even with that, the vague sense of community is still there. Makes for a pleasant trip at least.
For sure, there’s no community as large and passionate as religion. BUT there are other communities that are centered around goodwill to others, living a better life…some of them even have chanting, if you feel like you’d be missing that part lol.
Those communities usually involve doing work though (volunteering, performing, teaching, etc.) while you can just show up to church and kinda pay attention, and you’re in.
The biggest thing I’ve noticed is not having a large community to feel a part of. Those I know who are active in church communities tend to have a more active social life. I have close friends for sure, but I do miss that sense of greater community and cause.
The only other thing I feel acutely is the sense of being all on my own and the decider of my own destiny. There’s no leaning on faith as a crutch during tough times.
This is literally the only thing I miss, having gone from very religious to very not. There just aren’t really comparable alternatives that make socializing so easy.
I miss the sense of belonging and place that comes from rituals. While I don’t want to raise my child in the church, I’m trying to find ways to include ritual and ceremony in our lives. For example, I don’t want to pray before meals, so when we have a family meal I light a ceramic oil lamp to represent our time together.
I have an atheist Jewish friend. Me and him were talking and he mentioned really missing Friday night dinners with his family. As we were talking he came to the conclusion that I wanted him to get to. There was zero reason why he couldn’t still have Friday night dinners with his family. Just like there is zero reason why I can’t have a Christmas tree. He and his wife and children can all dress nice, sing a song or two, and have a big meal once a week.
That’s the great thing. There is no one keeping score. If you miss something about your religious background you can still have it. You aren’t going to lose atheist points. Especially for harmless family community stuff.
This resonated with me. Community and ritual without the religion
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That’s the hope! The trick is inventing the ritual and getting it to stick.
I know what you mean. I saved this blessing off years ago. I don’t remember where I got it, otherwise I’d attribute it to its author. It’s a great way to share that moment of reflection that prayer can provide without the actual religious aspect.
A Secular Grace For what we are about to receive let us be truly thankful …to those who planted the crops …to those who cultivated the fields …to those who gathered the harvest. For what we are about to receive let us be truly thankful to those who prepared it and those who served it. In this festivity let us remember too those who have no festivity those who cannot share this plenty those whose lives are more affected than our own by war, oppression and exploitation those who are hungry, sick and cold In sharing in this meal let us be truly thankful for the good things we have for the warm hospitality
and for this good companyLove it! May have to embroider this for the dining room wall.
I can’t prove it but I bet there is some value of spending a moment before eating being grateful for food. Acknowledge the person who made it and paid for it and the people you are with enjoying it.
You can always pretend you have an imaginary friend to talk to and that they will make everything better. The only difference is that everyone claims they have the same imaginary friend. That club is always accepting new members.
I have an intern. Whenever I am confused or angry about something at work, which is often, I just talk to him. Something isn’t working that should be, explain it to him. Demonstrate how I am right and the tech is somehow wrong. In the process I usually find the solution.
He technically doesn’t report to me he reports to the general manager. I have told the general manager on multiple occasions that he is to please do whatever it takes to keep him here because production would grind to a halt.
Get an intern.
I’m a full-blown atheist. My dad died a couple of years ago and I “talk” to him frequently simply because I’m accustomed to doing it and it’s a nice thing to imagine. I know full well that there’s no magical way he’s still around and listening to me, but humans gonna human and there’s nothing wrong with having quirks like that.
I recall reading a study a long time back where researchers put people in fMRI machines to monitor their pattern of brain activity and then asked them to consider some kind of ethical question. Some of the subjects were told to talk to an attendant who was physically present, some were told to talk to themselves about it, and some were told to talk to whatever deity they believed in about it. The brain activity patterns for talking to someone physically present were different from the brain activity patterns for talking to oneself, but the activity patterns for talking to oneself and talking to God were identical. It was a neat result.
Edit: It’s not exactly as I remembered it, but given how human memory works I bet this is the article I was thinking of.
I just talk to my animals. Good enough.
And their imaginary friend demands money and hatred of others.
To be fair, most peoples’ imaginary friends happen to hate all the same people that they do.
the only consequence in my life to not following religion is my religious friends and family, including my biological parents, disowning and cutting me out of their lives as quickly as they could.
But as a result, after years of healing, I am able to love my most wonderful partner, work at an amazing lgbt nightclub, and I dont have to spend an hour pretending I can commune with some otherworldly being.
Not having religion freed me from gender expectations, so I can live my life being a person instead of having to uphold toxic masculine character traits.
The caliber of people I meet are higher, as they are also folks going against the grain that is so heavily inscribed into the culture of the States. They tend to be better educated, and thus more capable of making decisions based in critical thinking rather than conspiracies or unbased “faith”
Overall, all that matters in this cruel world are the connections we make and the experiences we have. I simply prefer the connections and experiences that religion pretends are immoral.
As someone who left religion, but has a pretty good memory of what it was like, didn’t really make any big difference in my life, other than getting my Sundays actually free.
Having faith in God is great. Everyone can. I suggest going to an iUPC church and see what it’s all about.
This is unrelated by who is your favorite candidate if Trump is unable to run?
Sorry for hijacking the thread.
It’s kind of hard for me to describe since it’s just normal for me. I guess think about all the times you’re not actively thinking about what God thinks about this or that, or you’re not actively talking to him, or whatever, and then just imagine that expanding to fill all your time.
