--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thanks for that post Gary. So often Atheism is presented > arrogantly as "the only rational POV"...
Amen. :-) Although it probably doesn't need to be said, when I used the term "Professional Atheist" in a previous post, I was referring to that handful of authors who have turned atheism into a cottage industry and source of talk show bookings lately, not to you or others who -- like myself -- quietly just have no need in their lives for the concept of a God. > ...but people drop out of believing in God for as many > reasons as people change their religions. It is a > decision of heart and mind and can embrace a total > person's capacities. Atheism was not something I sought, > quite the opposite. Since we're "sharing stories" here, you've made me think about mine, and made me realize that I don't really have one. I *never*, in my entire life, had any kind of intuitive feeling for or allegiance to the notion of a God. Even during my many years in the TM movement, with its dependence on the Hindu notions of gods and goddesses and personal Gods. Whenever that language would come up, I just looked at it as some kind of metaphor and didn't give it any thought. It wasn't until I encountered formal Buddhist thought that I realized I'd found a spiritual group that -- as you say -- embraced a notion of Unity without having to "dress up" that notion in the clothing of some kind of God. So there really was no "breakthrough" or "realization moment" for me, just a develop- ing level of comfort with something I'd assumed intuitively all my life. > When I was first exposed to the option, I just laughed it > off as an extreme position that intuitively felt wrong. My feelings exactly, with a *lot* of extreme positions. Although it's a bit of a stretch, for a variety of reasons I've been exposed here in Spain to a bunch of people who consider them- selves "polyamorous." Their allegiance to sexual non-allegiance and non-fidelity :-) seems to permeate everything they do. They literally can't go more than a couple of minutes upon meeting someone new without announcing themselves as "polyamorous." My reaction to the concept of polyamory, as an old hippie, is "Ho hum...so fucking what." My reaction to those who have to wear their identi- fication with their sexuality on their sleeve and announce it to the world as "Who we are" *also* inspires a sense of "Ho hum" in me, one that I relate to those who similarly have to announce their atheism as "Who we are." Belief in a God is such a *tiny* part of who and what anyone is that I really can't see why anyone makes a big deal out of it. But different strokes for different folks, I guess. I suspect that the issue is about a lack of understanding among the God-oriented spiritual folks that there can be such a thing as NON- God-oriented spiritual folks. So much of their own spiritual lives is spent focusing on devo- tion towards or alignment with (or, sadly, fear of) God that they just can't imagine someone living a "spiritual" life without those things being an integral part of it. Since those things were *never* a part of my spiritual life, I never had any problems when I ran into people of the atheist persuasion who regarded their path as a spiritual one. To me, "spiritual" has *never* connoted or implied a belief in some kind of God, merely a commitment to trying to live a better life, whatever "better" means to the person trying to achieve it. <snip to> > I remember the first night it all sunk in totally that > no one was aware of my internal thoughts, I was completely > alone. For my whole life, I had always felt that there was > a benevolent power in the universe, had many experiences of > it, but that night I was set adrift, on my own. At first it > was scary, but then it became very peaceful and centered. > What replaced my lifelong attention on a higher power to > help me in tough times became a faith in myself and in the > power of life to fight obstacles. Beautifully and powerfully said, Curtis. That's it exactly. Even though I never had the transi- tion from belief in God to non-belief in God that you did, I identify with the sense of peace and centered-ness you describe. It can also be described as a sense of self sufficiency, in a way that no believer in something *outside* (or "greater than," in the sense that the self is a subset of something greater) can really express. > I see the universe as a mystery and don't find scriptural > explanations satisfactory anymore. That doesn't mean > they have no value to me, just that I don't view their > POV to be authoritative. Exactly. I can even find such points of view beautiful and inspiring. I remember the day that Edg found my admiration of a French film called Que la lumiere soit (Let there be light) puzzling. It didn't seem appropriate to him that I -- a non-believer in God, after all -- would enjoy a film all *about* God, or a peculiar notion of God. But I just *dug* the movie, and even its presentation of God. It was all about topics that I live with and think about every day, just not in the exact way that I live with them and think about them. I find the same thing with ecstatic visions of the Catholic saints or Eastern bhakti poets. *Their* focus may be that they are singing a love song to God, but what *I* hear in their songs is a love song to the universe, whether or not that universe has a God in it or not. Same with my favorite singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn. Bruce is a Christian. About the time of his marriage (in fact, during the ceremony itself), he had a strong and powerful direct experience of Christ, so that's always been a factor in his work. Never a *blatant* or in-your- face factor, like "I'm a Christian and you're not," just more of a "This is the stuff that inspires me and gets me off" kinda way. And it gets *me* off, too. I hear or feel the same level of inspiration in his songs that he feels writing them, just not aimed in exactly the same direction or with the same focus. > Life is still a mystery and I am comfortable if this > is all there is. Life is amazing enough on its own for me. I submit as an example of a "scripture" that can transcend the belief system of its author the following Bruce Cockburn song, from his most recent album. It's full of metaphors from *life*, not Christianity. The reference to "built on a Friday" is from Detroit, where no one would dare buy a car that rolled off the assembly line on that day of the week, because it will break all the time and it can never be fixed. The reference to the shaman is an actual experience he had with a Native American medi- cine man. The reference to the bottle of gaso- ine reflects his travels in South America, where people are fighting not for ideals per se, but for their lives. But it all comes down in the last verse to love, and love has no religion. You can't tell me there is no mystery Mystery Mystery You can't tell me there is no mystery It's everywhere I turn Moon over junk yard where the snow lies bright Snow lies bright Snow lies bright Moon over junk yard where the snow lies bright Can set my heart to burn Stood before the shaman, I saw star-strewn space Star-strewn space Star-strewn space Stood before the shaman, I saw star strewn space Behind the eye holes in his face Infinity always gives me vertigo Vertigo Vertigo Infinity always gives me vertigo And fills me up with grace I was built on a Friday and you can't fix me You can't fix me You can't fix me I was built on a Friday and you can't fix me Even so I've done okay So grab that last bottle full of gasoline Gasoline Gasoline Grab that last bottle full of gasoline Light a toast to yesterday And don't tell me there is no mystery Mystery Mystery And don't tell me there is no mystery It overflows my cup This feast of beauty can intoxicate Intoxicate Intoxicate This feast of beauty can intoxicate Just like the finest wine So all you stumblers who believe love rules Believe love rules Believe love rules Come all you stumblers who believe love rules Stand up and let it shine Stand up and let it shine
