the Dao of Atheism :jeffers' petroglyph, pre-dakota, minnesota : the Shaman Atheist 29/81

29

The person who believes that inner experience
can be governed or controlled or taught
will simply fail.
A person's inner universe is like a house of cards
beautiful, delicate, in perfect balance.
Tamper with it -- it falls.
Glue it together -- it serves no purpose.

In the world of religion
there are leaders and there are followers.
Some people speak a lot while others remain silent.
Some are active, some are passive.
Some ideas remain, others disappear.

The atheist has nothing to do with
absolutes, logical necessity, or agnosticism.

Regardless of an atheist's own inexperience of deity, one should always respect the believer. Many atheists are religious xenophobes, afraid of ideas and words that are foreign to their own in/experience, unable to cope with passions beyond their ken, and therefore disdainful of them. Theists speak another language distinct from atheism, and there is no way to fully translate their knowledge in a way meaningful to atheists. God/desses, Satan, soul, heaven, commandments, devil possession, grace, salvation, ... what atheist can understand them the way a theist does? Even if we grew up as theists and lost the faith we once had, our understanding was never complete and lacked a key element of meaning that theists possess innately.



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