This is not why I became and atheist, so let's not get confused. After I became an atheist I felt a release. I believe that this was the result of not having to worry so much about my actions and merely living my life. This is in contrast to others who feel that they need to live their life through a superficial entity in order to gain any kind of fulfillment. This to me seems unreal.

Even if there is a supreme being, why should you have to live your life through it? Is God a jealous God? Does he have human emotions that cause him to react irrationally? I don't buy it.

Part of the release is not having to worry about the ambiguities in the bible.

Anyone else had the same experience?

quote:Originally posted by readyroger:





Anyone else had the same experience?

Yeas, I'm not atheist, or any other label, but I felt a tremendous sense of release when I realsied that something cannot come from nothing(Absolute Nothing) and in fact nothing does not exist, nor can it. That means existence/being/life is the imperative and as something cannot come from nothing it cannot return to nothing either, thus being has not come from non-being and can never become it. My existence is not dependent on anything other than the fact of that existence and it cannot ever become non-existence because that would be nothing and nothing cannot exist http://www.totse.com/bbs/biggrin.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/biggrin.gif)

Peace http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)

Actually, the moment I became an atheist, I had this horrible feeling of dread.

Dread that after I die, there's nothing.

Now, I accept that and understand that death without an afterlife is actually less scary than death with an afterlife.

Needless to say, I no longer get feelings of dread.

quote:Originally posted by Inti:

Actually, the moment I became an atheist, I had this horrible feeling of dread.

Dread that after I die, there's nothing.

Now, I accept that and understand that death without an afterlife is actually less scary than death with an afterlife.

Needless to say, I no longer get feelings of dread.

I remember having that feeling.

when i became a Catholic i had this incredible feeling of release knowing that i had something greater than myself to aspire to and I knew that I was privilaged to have been born, that I might have this relationship with God

Anyone who needs fairy tale bullshit to feel better about themselves is in serious need of help.

I sometimes (like after reading your post) feel a rush of joy and satisfaction that one day I'm going to die and end completely.



And now I feel slightly disturbed...

anyone who needs to rail against others' beliefs by calling them bull shit to feel good about themselves is in serious need of help

quote:"anyone who needs to rail against others' beliefs by calling them bull shit to feel good about themselves is in serious need of help"

This has nothing to do with making myself feel better. Your belief system is factually incorrect, and ontop of that perpetuates a culture of ignorance and irrationality. Therefore, it is not worthy of respect. No doubt you will post logical fallacy after logical fallacy in an effort to prove otherwise. You will fail, as so many others have before you.

Just because you desperately want something to be true does not make it so. Grow up, give your life it's own meaning. Your existence belongs to you and only you, not some fictional character dreamed up by 2000 year old goat herders. You do not need a crutch to live.

Edited for spelling.



[This message has been edited by Surak (edited 10-04-2006).]

quote:Originally posted by Surak:

. Your belief system is factually incorrect,



how so?

quote:Originally posted by Inti:

Actually, the moment I became an atheist, I had this horrible feeling of dread.

Dread that after I die, there's nothing.

Now, I accept that and understand that death without an afterlife is actually less scary than death with an afterlife.

Needless to say, I no longer get feelings of dread.

I agree, at first the feeling that when you're dead, it's the absolute end, is absolutely terrifying.



"when i became a Catholic i had this incredible feeling of release knowing that i had something greater than myself to aspire to and I knew that I was privilaged to have been born, that I might have this relationship with God

"

And jeez I can't stand people who think religion is what their life should be dedicated to. They assume that people who don't believe in God have no meaning in their lives.

Absolute ignorance.

i didn't say peopel that weren't religious don't have a sense of purpose, i said that the sense of release and freedom isn't unique to atheism, it comes from the other side as well

don't be so dense..absolute ignorance

[This message has been edited by Zman (edited 10-04-2006).]

I actually find that as an atheist, people's religious motivations are easier to understand.

A person's religious faith isn't always an emotional crutch, or always a way to feel superior and safe, as some people put it. Sometimes it just lines up with how a person wants to live their life.

But still, I think they just believe what they WANT to be true.

I'm not sure about this, and I'm sure someone's gonna come along and try and prove me wrong, but I think to see all the world's religions, and the world in general, it helps to be an Atheist. Having a totally outside view, and not having to be on any one side really helps when trying to establish empathy, so yes, seeing people's religious motivations is a lot easier.

Unless of course you choose to be totally anti-religion, in which case you'll never be able to see anything properly. To get the full picture, you have to make sure you don't choose a side.

And on the subject of death, it used to worry me a little, but now I think about it, it actually seems quite pleasant. I just think of it like sleep. And the thing with sleep is that you don't KNOW(sorry, I don't know how to do this italics nonsense) you're asleep until you wake up and realise that you WERE asleep. And as you never wake up from death, you won't KNOW that you're dead.

Even when I was 13, I called bullshit on religion. You don't need a book to govern your actions, nor should you need the concept of a creator to comfort you, like someone else in this thread "You do not need a crutch to live."