Getting something off my chest...

[CoachPedro]

For about a week now I've been thinking a few things over and feel that it's about time I post it up here to get it off my chest.

Since my...shall I say commitment ? Probably not...introduction to being an atheist I have found myself more and more in love with life and the amazing world around us.

I have become quite a passionate about science. More so than ever before. I'm fortunate enough to be friends with a physist who can answer my random questions such as are galaxies just round like a ball or disc shapped. Is dark matter that stuff between galaxies ? is dark matter and energy almost the same thing? And so forth.

I also find myself gazing at the landscape (and cityscape) thinking about how wonderful it looks, how it's evolved after billions of years and how lucky I am to be here now understanding it.

I also feel lucky to be able to express and understand feelings such as love and hope...as well as express friendship.

I've found myself thinking about a line in the Queen song 'bohemian rhapsody'...

"I don't want to die, I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all"

Knowing that I'm only here for a very, very short time..I sort of feel that to experience it for such a breif time is a bit unfair. But as the saying goes 'better to have loved and lost than to never lost at all'.


I thought I'd share some of those thoughts with y'all..

[bruce1937]

Yes I agree, once you become an atheist this life here and now becomes that more focused and precious in my opinion.

[Xeno]

Admitting it is a long time since I recognised my atheism, I recall a sense of burden over everything, created by how I was supposed to behave and think arising only from the old belief. You could not enjoy yourself for long for fear of guilt or over indulgence in personal pleasure.

[Praxis]

This.

Thanks Coach, for this marvellous post.

And not ONCE was that grubby little word spiritual mentioned.

Good stuff. And you'll find many, many here who agree with you wholeheartedly.

Love ya work :)

[Dane]

I can empathise. I've been an atheist since I was born, but it was only after really engaging my critical thinking many years ago did I start to feel excellent. My depression lifted, my anxiety disorder became extremely manageable, and life is brilliant. I haven't been depressed in years, though occasionally I feel down, but then I clear my thoughts and look at the world around me, and it's awesome.

I can't imagine how it must feel to think that I'm a worthless peon in a terrible world that's just going to shrivel up when I die. Now that is depressing...

[Voltairine]

Wow! You just took me back to 1986 - the last time I saw Queen play live.

... anyway...

During a discussion about eclipses (really want to witness a full solar one), a god-botherer mentioned how amazing it was that his god had made the universe so precisely that eclipses occurred and that "we" could be reminded that god is great (blah, blah, brain already switched off). I replied that I found joy in the fact that we see eclipses because of the current distance of the moon to earth and that, as the moon is moving away from the earth, our distant ancestors will be in awe, and envy, that we were able to view such an amazing astronomical sight. My response didn't go down well.

We are here because of time and space. We see things because of time and space. We didn't see the big bang; we won't see the universe's end. We do, however, have a brief moment in time and space; we should want to live that moment without fear of what comes next - or rather what doesn't come next. I'm okay with nothingness; nothingness is nothing to fear. I don't need to live a lie because of fear nor do I want to.

So I shall continue to look at wonder at our universe, although I am however pissed off that the whole promise of holidaying in space isn't going to happen in my lifetime. A few grammes of ashes shot out of a rocket will have to do.

Peace.

[davo]

For me, the worst is sitting in an empty house, late and night, listening to the clock ticking away outside my room.

tick .. tock .. tick .. tock

I am seriously going to smash that clock very, very soon.

[wolty]

Thanks CP. It really can be a light bulb moment. And it never goes away either. I still get all gooey whenever I go bushwalking or really doing anything at all.

[c2105026]

It is quite normal for an atheist to feel like that CP. But there is one main benefit of Atheism - existential freedom! We can do whatever we like with our lives! No fatality here! It should be observed that the more secular the country, the better its health is, with lower obesity, lower proportion of smokers, safer driving etc. Religion is also a great supressor of the Worker via making people settle for what they have rather than push for something better via enterprise or trade union activity. As for the shortness of life - well, if you notice that it has gone by quickly it must have been that you have had an interesting time, albeit not a good or bad one. The slowest days are the boring ones......

[robertkd]

Yep cp and yeah I gona say it, "it's better to have lived and loved then not to have lived at all".

[CoachPedro]

I am glad to see that I got so many positive responses.

Two other things that have popped up recently. I have found that when I"m in the gym training...that I approach each exercise more passionately with the understanding that I am here, out of the trillions and trillions of people that could be alive but aren't and the billions of people that are alive, but aren't where I am. We only get 1 suck of the sav' in life and I intend on making it count.

Also I have found myself to become more empathetic and more benevolent towards people who have a tough life due to circumstances outside of their control. Once again, we get 1 suck of the sav' in this life and I don't want their only experience to be...'ok'

[Darwinsbulldog]

All theists, to a greater or lesser extent, must be trapped into the logic of discounting mortal life because of their believed immortal afterlife. Atheists do not have that "luxury", and thus are forced to enjoy the only life that there is to live. Thus, if we think about it, every second of our usually less than a century tenure is valuable. This makes us appreciate our own lives, and those of others. A theist can so easily fall into the trap of:-

"WTF? I have eternity in front of me, so why give a toss about my mortal life now, or anyone else's for that matter?" Life is cheapened.

[Lilith]

I've never been able to understand why, if the afterlife is going to be so heavenly and great, xtians aren't in a hurry to get there. Why use seatbelts and feel grieved when people die? Why mourn the loss of them instead of celebrating and being ecstatic that someone they love is in heaven for eternity now?

Great post, Coach. :) Thanks for the beautiful imagery.

[c2105026]

I've never been able to understand why, if the afterlife is going to be so heavenly and great, xtians aren't in a hurry to get there. Why use seatbelts and feel grieved when people die? Why mourn the loss of them instead of celebrating and being ecstatic that someone they love is in heaven for eternity now?

Great post, Coach. :) Thanks for the beautiful imagery.

Yes indeedy - how many religous folk buy health insurance? Why most terrified in the face of death?

[BlueDevil]

During a discussion about eclipses (really want to witness a full solar one), a god-botherer mentioned how amazing it was that his god had made the universe so precisely that eclipses occurred and that "we" could be reminded that god is great (blah, blah, brain already switched off). I replied that I found joy in the fact that we see eclipses because of the current distance of the moon to earth and that, as the moon is moving away from the earth, our distant ancestors will be in awe, and envy, that we were able to view such an amazing astronomical sight. My response didn't go down well.



I witnessed the 1976 total eclipse in Melbourne and it remains one of my top five life highlights. It was such an incredible experience to watch it developing (we used a nail hole in a shed wall to function as a pin hole camera) but the moment of totallity was truly awe inspiring. I remember looking up at the sun (its safe during totallity) and seeing the most amazing sight of the corona against the blackness of the sky. Its actually giving me shivers down my spine just remembering it!

Wish I had a decent camera setup back then... would love to have the chance to photgraph such an event these days.