My Spiritual Journey - Part 3
Actually, there ain't no Part 3.
My Spiritual Journey ended years ago with the realization that I am just not a spiritual person. I am a rational, secular, humanist who is in absolute awe of a universe devoid of any supernatural influence.
I don't believe in gods, devils, ghosts, witches, vampires, werewolves, goblins, elves or leprechauns.
I deal with the world as it is...not as I or others wish it to be.
When I look at how vast, and incredible, and beautiful and awe inspiring the universe is, it just boggles my mind.
The fact that it all happened randomly, over billions of years, and out of that chaos we humans arose on a microscopic piece of interstellar dust and were able to comprehend and appreciate the scope and splendor of the universe and work out the underlying laws and principles that govern the formation of galaxies, the behavior of black holes and the very origins of time and space...that's incredible. From our little grain of interstellar sand, we are able to gaze out at the universe, see 14 billion years into the past, and make sense of what we see. That makes us and the universe as we know it incredibly unique and special.
But if there were some supernatural being somewhere who could just speak a word and bring all of this into existence, that would, for me, cheapen everything in the universe. It would make us and all that we see nothing more than a cheap parlor trick. Because he could just as easily wink us all into extinction and bring to life a whole other universe with different laws and different intelligences.
Where is the awe and the mystery in that?
Posts
20 comments:
How can you prove that there is no supernatural being out there, Xavier???????
What is your theory exactly?
If so, why is there faith?
Have the people of this world made up religions?
How can you prove this?
Show evidence, rather than speaking for yourself. I’m interested to hear from you.
ANONYMOUS
I want to know why you call your title "My Spiritual Journey"?
In yor context what do you mean by spiritual? you are a non-believer at the end of the day!
What do you want to put across to your readers???
ONE MORE IMPORTANT QUESTION
What is the terminology of Atheis and when was it invented ans why?
I don't have to "prove" there is no supernatural being. I don't have to prove anything to anybody because I don't care what anyone else believes. Believe what you want.
Why is there faith?
Because people are scared. They need a crutch to prop them up.
They are scared to death to face the world head on. A world where things DON'T always happen "for a reason". A cruel and random universe where you are left to live or die by your own means without any divine concern or intervention.
So yes, people make up gods and demons and religions to explain things that are beyond their comprehension.
Religions are nothing more than emotional crutches for people who lack the intellectual capacity and emotional maturity to deal with reality as it actually exits.
Let me ask you this. Judeaism, Christianity and Islam all began with Abraham. Shouldn't the land of Abraham be the one place on this earth where God's grace and serenity reign supreme? It is the home of three of the worlds great religions! Shouldn't it be a divine utopia where even the worst of mankind could feel the undeniable presence of God?
No. It is the cruelest and most brutal place on the planet with car bombings, beheadings, kidnappings and random acts of unspeakable violence every minute of every day. All in the name of this God that you so cherish.
You will have to excuse me if I choose to have nothing to do with a God who could allow his foolish children to bicker and fight with such consequences.
Go wallow in your "faith". I want nothing to do with it.
Yes, my spiritual journey left me a non-believer.
The point is that I came to that conclusion after a lifetime of soul searching and contemplative thought. I have some knowledge about that of which I speak.
Ponce de Leon went on a journey in search of the Fountain of Youth. Doesn't mean he found it.
No, please prove that there is no supernatural being.
All the three famous religions actually belongs to each other, they have almost the same quality and features within the religion itself.
The world is going crazy but thats not because of faith. People choose to create problems themselves because they have too many oppotunities and freedom, yet they dont appreciate what they have. AND thats why there is alot of jealousy, bitcheness, crimes, anti-social behaviour and many more issues. This can't be blamed on god, this is got to do with people making there own judgements to what suits them.
I can see that you always go on about faith, religions and god on your website, yet you show yourself as a non-believer. So, why do you talk the same subject all the time? I think you have a belief HONESTLY.......Take my word!
YOUR A BELIEVER OF A RELIGION BECAUSE IF YOU WASN'T, THEN YOU WOULD TALK ABOUT OTHER SUBJECTS....AIN'T THAT RIGHT XAVIER?
"No, please prove that there is no supernatural being."
I'm not interested in proving anything to anybody. Believe what you like. I don't care.
"People choose to create problems themselves because they have too many oppotunities and freedom..."
RIGHT! So we should all adopt some restrictive, oppresive religion that severely limits our opportunities and freedoms and blindly leads us down a narrow path of fearful obedience. Yeah, THAT will solve all the world's problems!
"I think you have a belief HONESTLY..."
OK, busted. I do have a belief. I believe that the vast majority of the people on this planet are ignorant fucktards who couldn't pour piss out of a boot if you wrote the instructions on the heel. And it's all because they choose to let other people tell them what they should think and believe instead of exercising their brains and start thinking for themselves.
X,
Did you ever notice that non belivers are always told to prove that there isn't a supernatural being, God, Allah, or other such stuff?
I want the belivers to prove, without a doubt, that thier "god" or supernatural being exists. And "becasue the Bible says so" is not proof.
We don't need to prove there isn't, belivers need to prove there is, and they can't.
JOE, So why are you still reading the bible then????
Why are you non-believers on the believers case....!
I honestly think you guys have a belief because i cant understand why you lot focus 100% of your time talking about spirits, faith, different religions and god.
What are you people going on about half the time????
OK, if there isn't a supernatural being, what is there? Tell me how was this planet created? did you create it then, if you did how?
Show evidence!
I'm a non-believer i find it quite embarrassing when i can't prove anything to the believers. The believers tend to have stronger case then us non-believers. I think we should keep our opinions to ourselves because we can't prove anything, we don't have evidence and that’s a fact. We just have to give up.
Xavier, even you are saying that "i don’t have to prove anything to anyone" but realistically you can't prove anything too.
TOM
The beauty of what is around us is the very reason I believe in God. It is impossible for me to believe that random events caused the world, the universe. The fallibility of man can only be explained by the fact that God gave us free will as a gift that other animals don't have and many of us choose to use it in bad ways.
On a personal note, I have watched a loved one die before my eyes. As he laid before me, I prayed with every part of my being that God would take him to Heaven. There is a time when we all will face what he did. It is the most alone time we will ever have unless we have faith that there is an afterlife.
I'm not smart enough to convince anyone to share my belief...I wish I was..but please let me recommend a book called The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel that is very well written and worth reading.
And, I'll leave it at that, my friend.
Wait just a minute, here. There aren't any leprechauns? Where the fuck does all the gold come from, then? EXPLAIN *THAT* TO ME, MR. XO!!! :P:P:P:P
I love my faith. It's mine, and no one else's, dammit. And I also love hearing about how you came to your realization about your own personal spirituality.
Anonymous, just for the record, XO doesn't ONLY write "100%" about religion on this blog, you jackass. He also writes about politics. So, there. (Um, which is an entirely different word from "their," by the way. Sorry! One of my pet peeves, I'm afraid!)
No one can prove or disprove the existance of 'God' or a supreme being.
For the uneducated, evolution IS NOT random chance. That's just what the creationists want you to think. Evolution does not provide all the answers.
and it is not the unbeliever's responsibility to prove that God doesn't exist, it is the believer's responsiblity to prove that he does exist.
Studies have been done and are being done to prove that the brain is 'wired' to believe or disbelieve.
In other words, God is all in your head.
Excuse me Janet. Would you please clarify your statement about the uneducated and random chance. I don't exactly consider myself a dummy because I'm a believer in God. Perhaps I misread your post.
Janet..disregard my comment. I just took a few minutes to read your blog. I don't think a debate with you on this subject will be productive. I saw your pain and I don't want to create any more for you.
Soooooooo everybody, happy New Year..damn XO this is a touchy subject.
joe - thanks for stopping by. I agree. I would like someone to show me a prayer, or a ritual, or an incantation...ANYTHING, that God always answers and the answer is undeniably god-like. I'm talking something that defies all natural, physical laws. "Say this prayer, or recite this verse, and the earth stops orbiting the sun for one hour." I could accept something like that as proof of divine intervention. But no, we are asked to just have faith. No evidence. Just faith.
travel - I respect you and I know you've been through a lot of personal pain. I don't mean to dismiss other people's faith. I realize that for a whole lot of people on this planet, faith works. It is as vital to those people as food, water and air. I understand that. I've just found that it doesn't work for me. Sometimes I wish it could. I've seen some people of faith that just breeze through life with this incredible attitude, are always happy and smiling and can face anything. But I can't do that. Not without some HARD evidence that what I am basing my life on is real.
faith - thanks darlin'! I knew I could count on you to have my back! And "all that gold" comes from supernovas. So do black diamonds. And the calcium in your bones, the iron in your blood, and pretty much everything in the universe other than hydrogen. It all comes from stars that have exploded over the past 14 billion years. Seriously.
janet - I always knew my brain wasn't wired right! I think I have a couple of sets of divorce documents that state that pretty clearly! LOL!
travel - Yeah, this does seem to be a touchy subject, don't it? WHO KNEW? What a shocker! LOL!
I think my next post will be less controversial. Kind of like an intellectual and emotional sorbet to cleanse the critical palate before tackling anything else substantial.
Anon,
I spend time looking at the Bible because it is an important work that educated people should have at least some exposure to. That doesn't mean that I have to believe it, or in it.
I don't spend 100% of my time on this stuff. C'mon, you can do better.
How did we get here? I don't know. Yep, I don't know. I admit that.
Will science tell us one day? Maybe, but probably not in my lifetime. Can I accept the mystery of not knowing? Absolutely!
And though I consider myself a soft atheist, or agnostic, you're incorrect in stating that we must have beliefs. I don't have any beliefs or faith and I never have.
My thoughts are this: I believe there is a God. I believe that it is the same god of all religions. Different cultures, different languages would/could perceive their god differently. Just as many people perceive me differently. Some know me as Spyder, some as Marie, some as Rosemarie, the husband perceives me as "she who must be obeyed". Some read or hear me in English, some in french. Some see me at church, and some at the bar. I am all of those, just as I believe God is all of those. Am I less if someone doesn't know me? Am I less if someone chooses not to know me? Was it Popeye that said "I yam who I yam?" Anon trying to browbeat XO isn't going to bring XO to the fold. If anything it will push him farther. We have every right to believe & write/talk as we wish. If it isn't your cup of tea so be it. Start your own blog and write your beliefs there. Being confrontational (pissing in someone else's sandbox) won't work to convert anybody to your beliefs. So as the bible says shake the dust off you sandals & move on. Christians are told that we are children of God. Well, so are the ones that don't believe in God. I believe that God wants us to love & respect each other. Some are harder than others. Anon, the only thing you are accomplishing is irritating believers & non-believers. Xo, keep on keeping on!Sorry for being so wordy tonight. I think that turning 50 has had an effect on me. Peace!
Travel, no offence taken. I did not mean uneducated in general. I was taught by the church what evolution was. They were wrong, to say the least. Unfortunately, my 7th grade science class didn't correct my perception. I had to educate myself about evolution. (it is anything BUT random!)
When people just accept what someone else tells them, without doing their own research in the matter, I consider them uneducated in that area. Sadly, alot of people are like that in this country. They are happy having someone else tell them what to do and how to think so they are not responsible for deciding their own actions.
After leaving the religion of my birth, I still considered myself a christian. While part of the church, I was discouraged from doing my own research. After I left, I began my own journey, which I'm still on. My journey ends with my death.
btw, the studies I refered to are being done at McGill University in Canada.
Thanks, Janet. I can appreciate what you're saying.
And thanks, XO, for being a really good blogger. You're an intelligent guy (and good hearted too I think) who puts it all out there and allows a free and spirited debate. I enjoy hanging with people who aren't a clone of me (and be very very glad you aren't..lol)
travel - Thank you VERY MUCH for that extraordinary compliment. That means a lot to me.
Post a Comment