Atheism does not exist - what do you worship?

[noname223]

David Foster Wallace once wrote something similar.

"Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness."

So what are you worshopping?

I worship different things. As he said for example ethical principles. I defend my right to die and want that assisted suicide gets implemented all over the world. I am against the discrimation of minorties. I believe that we should treat homeless and poor people better. And I try with my very little means to contribute to that goal. I worship escapism. These are different things for example short-term joy in entertainment (though I don't like most enterainment) and playing video games. Another thing I worship is education, knowledge and sometimes even intelligence. (which is probaby not good but it has to do with my biography. And it would be a better point if I really i was intelligent.) Maybe I am worshipping not believing in God.

 

[Snake of Eden]

I worship the god of equilibrium.

 

[noname223]

I worship the god of equilibrium.

Who is that?

 

[Murasa]

His Noodly Appendage.



But seriously, according to the concept you expose, it can be said I "worship" Flying Spagetti Monster's "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts", despite their parodic origin I consider them positive moral guidelines, basic but positive in the end.

 

[Rational man]

There is No God, at least not in the way that religions portray. There is no final judgement Nor resurrection. I believe in the comic god, the creator and energy source. We came from that source and we return to it. We are god and extension of the universe. We have nothing to fear in death as it is guaranteed for everyone.

i worship the natural law of mother earth and when I die, im sure i wont be met by a bearded bastard waiting to judge me for my sins, of which there are many. To believe this is real is absurd and delusional.

 

[jkfromfaraway]

I think my "inviolable ethics principles" aren't hard written down, just the golden rule for me. I'm like you, I think I worship escapism as well. I view ctb as the ultimate escape.

Worshipping seems like a strong word. I don't think I base my whole life on either of these things or spend time consciously praising them, but I do find them comforting.

 

[lostautist]

Quantum Field Theory. Endeavoring to do the right thing. Being there if I can be of help. Trying to live past life altering traumas. Being nice. Trying to minimize my autism. Secretly wishing that I could find someone who can relate.

That's a weird list to worship I think, but I've spent years parsing psychology trying to understand why my mind works differently. I still don't fully realize why, but I've somewhat learned how due to this and lots of introspection.

 

[Foresight]

I worship Christ as a gnostic heretic. I like Buddhism and study it. If I wasn't what I am I would be a Buddhist. Very difficult endeavor though, one of the hardest paths a human can take.

 

[lostautist]

Oh, I guess I'm a Buddhist / Nihilist by upbringing. My mother was an old-world hardcore Buddhist, so I grew up with ceremony, prayer and have been to temple. But a little short on actual teaching. My dad was a nihilist who didn't care about anything, especially me so that had a profound impact....

Life is suffering but nothing matters? Or some bullshit I want to believe isn't true.

 

[Starryeyes]

I worship atheism

 

[Mixo]

David Foster Wallace was a drunk who slept with his students and was abusive to his partners.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Arceus.

 

[height jumper 69]

‎

 

[WoAiGou]

Machine elves

 

[LastFlowers]

Honesty, compassion, true desire for equality.


And food.

I worship the god of equilibrium.

Balance in all things would be nice.

 

[plastic]

The universe is so simple, but we as a human species have complicated it.

 

[noname223]

David Foster Wallace was a drunk who slept with his students and was abusive to his partners.

I have to agree that he was a controversial character. Though his texts were pretty good imo. There were some allegations against him.
But this counts for some famous people. Did you know what Ghandi did privately the allegations are insane. Still I he made politicially good things. I try to differentiate between these two things. However this does not work always.

 

[D&D]

Love.

"For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation." (RMR)

To worship is to admire. To aspire. To long for. Despite, or because of never attaining it.

All faiths (not necessarily religions) are born from it. From the fundamental human desire to be loved. Protected. Cared for. This is why there is no such thing as atheism. Not at that core, primal level.

Jesus of Nazareth, is an unsurpassed example of it. Which is why his story, however interpreted and irrespective of whether believed or not, remains alive today as it was over two thousand years ago. Everything else in human world has changed and keeps on changing. But his story persists. For it is a story of a pure, absolute love.

 

[Superdeterminist]

I worship:

-The alleviation of suffering
-The right to die, like you
-A totally deterministic picture of reality (I'm so convinced of it)
-Pretty women (damned Darwinian directive)

 

[motel rooms]

Jesus of Nazareth, is an unsurpassed example of it. Which is why his story, however interpreted and irrespective of whether believed or not, remains alive today as it was over two thousand years ago. Everything else in human world has changed and keeps on changing. But his story persists. For it is a story of a pure, absolute love.

I wish people would read everything that Jesus supposedly said. Historians call people like him fanatical Jewish apocalyptic preachers (he wasn't even the only one) for a reason...


34 ​"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 ​For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 ​And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 ​Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." 38 ​
Matthew 10:34-38

"I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth?"
Luke 12:49

"He who is not with Me is against Me."
Matthew 12:30

 

[Mixo]

34 ​"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 ​For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 ​And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 ​Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." 38 ​
Matthew 10:34-38

"I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth?"
Luke 12:49

"He who is not with Me is against Me."
Matthew 12:30

Is this the King James version of the Bible? I'd imagine so from the harsh wording.

 

[OrcWitch]

I worship eat mcdonalds, charge they phone, twerk, be bisexual, eat hot chip & lie

 

[GentleJerk]

I don't agree with the statement that "there is no such thing as not worshipping", and that "everybody worships". A complete lack of reverence for anything is quite common, I would go as far as saying it's a hallmark feature of our modern dystopia.

I worship eat mcdonalds, charge they phone, twerk, be bisexual, eat hot chip & lie

Whatever this is probably has enough followers it deserves tax exemption xD

 

[motel rooms]

Is this the King James version of the Bible?

Yeah.

The only choice we get is what to worship.

Do we really get that choice? I don't think so. I didn't consciously decide not to be able to buy into any form of spirituality. I didn't choose to develop hypersexual disorder & start worshipping sex as a teenager. My brain doesn't choose to be addicted to & worship Xanax. I don't choose to need/worship my partner.

And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.

This is just plain silly. Life will eat us all alive no matter what we worship.

 

[Rational man]

Yeah.


Do we really get that choice? I don't think so. I didn't consciously decide not to be able to buy into any form of spirituality. I didn't choose to develop hypersexual disorder & start worshipping sex as a teenager. My brain doesn't choose to be addicted to & worship Xanax. I don't choose to need/worship my partner.



This is just plain silly. Life will eat us all alive no matter what we worship.

Do you think humans become attached to the things we worship like people or God, etc. Like, it creates identity for us..?What if I said there is no god, ONLY the cosmos of which we are part. !. We return to the soil when we die. Its guaranteed. Thats why i dont fear death. I just fear the awfulness in the process.

 

[og.]

I worship:

-The alleviation of suffering
-The right to die, like you
-A totally deterministic picture of reality (I'm so convinced of it)
-Pretty women (damned Darwinian directive)

simp

 

[noname223]

Yeah.


Do we really get that choice? I don't think so. I didn't consciously decide not to be able to buy into any form of spirituality. I didn't choose to develop hypersexual disorder & start worshipping sex as a teenager. My brain doesn't choose to be addicted to & worship Xanax. I don't choose to need/worship my partner.



This is just plain silly. Life will eat us all alive no matter what we worship.

Concerning your remarks that we have no choice what we worship I can add another quote of him. He said it right before the quote which I gave. Btw it is from his speech This is water if anyone wants to know that.

Again, please don't think that I'm giving you moral advice, or that I'm saying you're "supposed to" think this way, or that anyone expects you to just automatically do it, because it's hard, it takes will and mental effort, and if you're like me, some days you won't be able to do it, or you just flat-out won't want to. But most days, if you're aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-lady who just screamed at her little child in the checkout line-maybe she's not usually like this; maybe she's been up three straight nights holding the hand of her husband who's dying of bone cancer, or (...) (I shortened it. You can read the full speech online)

But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars-compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things. Not that that mystical stuff's necessarily true: The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship…

 

[motel rooms]

But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars-compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things. Not that that mystical stuff's necessarily true: The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship…

No offense, but this reads like a glorified excerpt from a self-help book, like juvenile prose poetry. DFW killed himself. So much for his extraordinary power to experience life as not only meaningful but sacred, to perceive the mystical sub-surface unity of all things & to decide how he sees oppressive mundane situations... I'm reminded of this quote that I really, really hate & that therapists adore:
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
--Viktor Frankl
Everything can be taken from a person, dear Frankl, absolutely everything. You can be completely stripped of dignity.

 

[Foresight]

I wish people would read everything that Jesus supposedly said. Historians call people like him fanatical Jewish apocalyptic preachers (he wasn't even the only one) for a reason...


34 ​"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 ​For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 ​And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 ​Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." 38 ​
Matthew 10:34-38

"I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth?"
Luke 12:49

"He who is not with Me is against Me."
Matthew 12:30

Jesus was against the ways of the world. He was very combative but it was in the name of love. As a gnostic, the world itself is a detriment but we as people are divine. For him to say I'm going to set the world on fire is saying he wants radical change in how we view ourselves, our relation to each other, and our relationship with the material. That's a struggle.

If you have a radical attitude about anything that's nonconforming your parents are probably going to be rude about it. Jesus had a radical attitude and knew family members were likely going to try to sway them back into everyday life. He was asking people to choose love and God despite family criticism. He was against Jewish religious leaders and often said they taught wrong. These people thought highly of those leaders. Fighting was going to occur.

Buddha and Christ are not entirely dissimilar, but Buddha definitely had more grace in manner and speech. Christ was more fuck the world and how we navigate it right now. I love that about him, honestly. He is not like the Old Testament god though and actively went against it. That's part of what got him killed.

I'm not trying to preach to anyone, just know that Jesus chose to teach almost exclusively in metaphors and there are better spiritual teachers if you want literal statements.

 

[Superdeterminist]

simp

Er... isn't that kind of ironic with your pfp?