Thursday, February 15, 2018

The Two Reasons I'm Not An Atheist

WHY I'M NOT AN ATHEIST

Because I write (share) about spiritual things, values and reasons for living, I'm often accused of being a 'know-it-all'. Nothing could be more wrong. Along with everyone, I only really 'know' what I have experienced. If it hasn't actually happened to me and is passed along as second-hand, at best, I can suspect that it might become a truth for me. My whole reason for writing and sharing about this stuff is that I know that others don't agree with me, that most others, maybe even all others have not experienced just what I have. That means that I haven't experienced what they have. And only in the sharing will I and them be able to grow in understanding and in life.
Fact: I don't believe in God. I KNOW there is a More that affects me and my world, a More that is both within me and in all I know and can imagine. This More is part of me every second, even though I have the complete power to turn away, which I often do. But again and again, the More awakens my most inner self and urges me onward toward new life and purpose.
For me, the best and most faithful path to follow this More, is the Way shown by Jesus of Nazareth. I'm not a Christian, however, for thinking that Jesus was divine and different from the rest of humanity makes no sense and would make any attempt to follow his path a farcical and doomed waste of effort. I assume that there are many other paths (spokes) to the Hub of Life. Only in sharing do we start to know more of the totality of this awareness.
Maybe this More is simply an illusion, or a social awareness. Or maybe the accumulated energy of the Universe. I couldn't care less. To not live within it as much as possible, is untenable over time, for this purpose alone brings me Joy.
There is a second reason that I'm not an Atheist, one who believes that there is nothing more than what can be measured and recorded. Something happened to me when in my early twenties: I interacted with a ghost, a specter that scared me to my core. I won't go into any more details here. Suffice it to say that I know there is more to life that what we can even imagine. To ignore this fact would be to simply waste my life, be it end at my death or continue in other realms.
So, back to my basics: to share with others in the hope that they might return in kind; to be critical of anything 'religious' that is narrow and does not enable people to question and share. (This, of course, includes most of Christianity.) The purpose of our lives is to grow. It is most hard to live in a culture that is based on the opposite.
So, back to life. Good luck to you and why not share enough to give life/love a chance, no matter who you label yourself? What you call yourself makes no difference. It's what you do that brings new life.
Again, thanks for your time.

Anthony

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