the Dao of Atheism :jeffers' petroglyph, pre-dakota, minnesota : the Shaman Atheist 23/81

23

Silence is our natural state.

Tornadoes don't last all afternoon, nor rainstorms all day.
Stars collapse and planets decay.
Does somebody create these things?
No.
It is the nature of universe.
And if neither the universe nor the earth
can make something last forever, how can humanity?

So it is that those who use natural law as their teacher
will be at one with nature and the universe.
Truth to truth, power to power.
Let go of truth or power, and both will let go of you,
weakness to weakness.

For those who take the path of natural law,
nature is always giving.
For those who take the path of human order and control,
disorder and chaos will be everywhere.

As you trust in the universe
so will you be trusted by others.

Imagine the religious world as a great big dinner plate. In the very center are all the orthodox versions of religion, like orthodox Hinduism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Around the center are the conservative factions, and around them are the reform factions. Around the reform are the liberals, and around the liberals are the atheists, on the very edge of the plate, where substance and nothingness meet.

Atheism is the edge of religious anomie. By religious anomie i mean that point at which religions lose
their proper names, their moral definitions, their reasons for being. Atheism has no purpose in itself
no communal identity among us
no laws or ethic or morals
no inherent meaning.
It is simply the edge.

From specific, nameable, knowable goddesses and gods,
values and goals, myths and miracles, commandments and laws,
to no deity.
Value free, goal free.
Beyond atheism there is
no thought
no religion.
Atheism is not to be believed in.
Theism is not be disbelieved in.
There is no value in belief. There is nothing to believe in or against.
The way simply is.




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