I Believe In God
Now Atheists please don't go crazy over me lol but doesn't your life feel a little empty?
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frostyflower
I've said it before but I guess I have to say it again. Atheists aren't loners lurking in a dank basement with no friends, families, careers, or direction in life. Religion an god are not the only things that give life purpose and meaning.
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It is wonderful to have the safety net of religion to fall back on when times are tough. It is all the more challenging to find our way in life without a road map. But it is also freeing. We realize that we are a community. We have ethics based on our humanity, compassion, rather than creed set down by divinity. We have hope because we still know what love is, we still know what happiness is, what it feels like to have a hard day of work but feel accomplished. We know loss and pain, but we look to friends and family, and we look within ourselves to get through it.
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We hold ourselves accountable for our actions. I am my own harshest critic. When I do something small, or don't do something, like I was in a hurry and didn't stop to offer a monk a ride when it started to rain, I feel guilty, and I think about it for years after, and that influences my future decisions without fear of eternal damnation. I give to the poor and other charities I care about, because I want the world to be a better place, and because I don't have to have experienced starvation and homelessness to be compassionate and empathetic to their suffering. When we help each other, we ALL benefit.
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The Japanese art of flower arranging is a meditation on the temporary nature of life. Life is short and fleeting. We all wilt and die like those flowers.
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This life, this one, short, precious life is all we get, so we aim to make the best of it. We work hard each day to provide for our families and let the people we love know we care about them. We work hard for a better tomorrow for society, because our children also only get this one, precious life. And we don't take a moment for granted, because we don't get to be with our loved ones in heaven. --
This, right now, is all we have. And that's not scary, that's beautiful.
--
It is wonderful to have the safety net of religion to fall back on when times are tough. It is all the more challenging to find our way in life without a road map. But it is also freeing. We realize that we are a community. We have ethics based on our humanity, compassion, rather than creed set down by divinity. We have hope because we still know what love is, we still know what happiness is, what it feels like to have a hard day of work but feel accomplished. We know loss and pain, but we look to friends and family, and we look within ourselves to get through it.
--
We hold ourselves accountable for our actions. I am my own harshest critic. When I do something small, or don't do something, like I was in a hurry and didn't stop to offer a monk a ride when it started to rain, I feel guilty, and I think about it for years after, and that influences my future decisions without fear of eternal damnation. I give to the poor and other charities I care about, because I want the world to be a better place, and because I don't have to have experienced starvation and homelessness to be compassionate and empathetic to their suffering. When we help each other, we ALL benefit.
--
The Japanese art of flower arranging is a meditation on the temporary nature of life. Life is short and fleeting. We all wilt and die like those flowers.
--
This life, this one, short, precious life is all we get, so we aim to make the best of it. We work hard each day to provide for our families and let the people we love know we care about them. We work hard for a better tomorrow for society, because our children also only get this one, precious life. And we don't take a moment for granted, because we don't get to be with our loved ones in heaven. --
This, right now, is all we have. And that's not scary, that's beautiful.