Do you sometimes feel you NEED to believe in something else out there in spite of being an atheist intellectually? (scientific, contradiction)
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This is something that happens to me from time to time. Even though I "know" that atheism is probably the most intellectually honest position, I find that it does not always relieve anxiety and bring peace and happiness to the mind.
Can anyone else relate to this? If so, how have you reconciled this contradiction? Let's hear about your journey.
Do you sometimes feel you NEED to believe in something else out there in spite of being an atheist intellectually?
Need to believe? No. Sometimes wish for something to believe in, yeah. It would be comforting to have a nanny to look after us and make things right. Look around and you will see this is obviously not the case.
I occasionally had such feelings years ago but eventually got over it. I realized that I was basically just whining that life isn't as I would wish it to be, which is both pointless / impotent and not actionable.
I have gotten better mileage from figuring out how life actually is / works / unfolds, and adapting to that. This doesn't mean I like everything about it, but it is really clarifying to figure out reality, and to be honest with myself about my likes and dislikes and needs, and make decisions based on what is real and honest.
Also, it helps a lot to be clear about what I actually am and am not entitled to. I had a tendency to think that life or existence "owed" me something, usually to be "fair" to me. Once I got it through my thick skull that such concepts presuppose an Orchestrator that (1) exists (2) is in charge and (3) cares about me -- any one of which is highly unlikely, much less all three at once -- I spent a lot less time bemoaning The Way Things Ought To Be.
That just leaves Other People to deal with, which is plenty to handle, if you ask me.
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Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer
This is something that happens to me from time to time. Even though I "know" that atheism is probably the most intellectually honest position, I find that it does not always relieve anxiety and bring peace and happiness to the mind.
Can anyone else relate to this? If so, how have you reconciled this contradiction? Let's hear about your journey.
Oh yeah, as an agnostic I sometimes find myself envying the True Believers out there who are snuggly ensconced in the warm, fuzzy, comforting cloak of their religion, believing that God will look after them son long as they obey his rules and worship him and live good lives.
But at the end of the day I just cannot bring myself to throw away my mind and intellect, as well as all the scientific facts I have learned over the years, in order to become such a firm believer.
In fact, I go so far as to think that anyone who believes in, say, a 6000 y.o. Earth, or that all those allegorical myths in the Old Testament really happened, is suffering a mild form of psychosis. (which is, after all, defined as "magical thinking" which is what that is.
But as an atheist or agnostic you can take comfort in knowing that you did not waste your life worshipping a non-existent deity. Instead, take your solace in the beauty of the world and Nature and all the good things humanity is capable of, and even sometimes does. Friends and family and the Joy of Knowledge are better than any Invisible Friend.
Since I've never been a believer, I've neither been in such a state where I felt the grovelling need to bask in the domineering shadow of something grandiosely superior, nor have I been conditioned to think that I'm an integral cog needed to obediently play a role in an incomprehensible yet wonderful plan of some all-supreme entity.
I'm quite content with the realization that I'm just one biological being out of countless trillions with a brief moment of life and consciousness.
No. Really. There is a huge mystery out there, and in the sub atomic and in the past and that is getting better all the time as more is discovered. I feel no need at all to have it 'mean something' in terms of Human existence or that it should have been planned, and as for some sort of invisible cosmic human watching over us - well the idea seems laughably self important of us, and quite at variance with the way the world seems to wag.
I've never felt such a need, but even if I did it would not alter any of the realities, known or unknown. My absence of religious belief isn't based on a need to not have it, it is based on seeing such beliefs as unsupported and unsophisticated explanations. If I developed a need to believe, they would remain unsupported and unsophisticated explanations and I don't see how I could suddenly persuade myself that they are actually viable beliefs just to feed that need.
I understand where you're coming from, but that's probably because I was a Christian for 40+ years. Now it's more of a wish than a need, just wishing I had that same kind of dumb blind faith that I had for so long. Then reality hits and I'm back to my discerning, critical thinking self and that makes me happy all on it's own. I'm free forever from the bondage of religion and there's no amount of coaxing and proselytizing that will draw me back to that. Once it's gone, it's gone for good. Hallelujah!!
This is something that happens to me from time to time. Even though I "know" that atheism is probably the most intellectually honest position, I find that it does not always relieve anxiety and bring peace and happiness to the mind.
Can anyone else relate to this? If so, how have you reconciled this contradiction? Let's hear about your journey.
Actually I never felt any such need as an atheist for 30+ years of life until my epiphany. But even after I never felt a need because my certainty removed all doubt . . . leaving only a questioning intellect. The succeeding decades simply discovered explanations that satisfied my intellect leaving very few questions. There will always be questions about what is next . . . but questions about what is here and what we are supposed to do is answered FOR ME. YMMV.
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