SWEET, GLORIOUS PEACE!

When I had occasion to mention in an email to the daughter of an old friend who was a co-cultist with me in the old Worldwide Church of God and he and his daughter have now devolved back to traditional Christianity, that I was an atheist, she self-righteously wrote back and consigned me to hell if I didn't repent.

The old "intimidate through fear" ploy! If you can't dazzle someone with your supposed billiance, try to baffle them with fearful bullshit.

We no longer correspond, and the father took offense with my blogs (he's an ardent creationist who imagines himself an anthropologist -- a physically blind one yet) has by his own request exited my list of contactees.

I'm certain they both think I'm a bitter, unhappy old curmudgeon who spends his days thinking hateful thoughts -- in short, totally miserable and headed for unimaginable misery when it soon now is going to be all over for me.

Truth is, I've never had a happier, freer, more satisfying existence.

When I was caught up in religion, I thought I was happy but my life was an endless round of tension and concern. As I look back on it, I now see that I was in constant fear of not measuring up and ending up in that horrible "lake of fire."

Day to day life was no picnic either. In the cult, one felt the judgmental eyes of the exalted overseers everywhere and the absolute conviction that whatever they might miss, the great "sky fairy" certainly wouldn't.

By the time all the tithes and offerings were deducted, there wasn't enough left to buy a decent suit of clothes or go out to eat.

A discontented and Judgmental wife made day to day living a literal misery.

Letting that all go and getting my head screwed on a whole lot straighter has changed my life to one of joy and contentment.

My time is now my own as I don’t worry about what day of the week it is when I want to do something. There was no seven-day creation week by any god, so screw the sabbath.

My money is my own as I don’t feel obligated to give a lion’s share of it to sustain the extravagant lifestyles of pompous liars who claim to be the special representatives of that great sky fairy.

My short life is my own as I no longer worry about what is going to happen to me after it’s over and I no longer “search the scriptures” to make sure how I’m living won’t offend the great sky fairy who magically knows the intimate details of the private lives of billions of people and takes personal umbrage about what they do.

In short, all the tension and fear has gone. Every day is full of joy and interest.

Ah, sweet peace!

WHERE IS "UP THERE?"

From little children on, most of us were assured there was a great supernatural being called "god" somewhere "up there" controlling and dictating everything.  The concept is rather universal in the Western World.  It has become such a set part of our thinking that even atheists like myself find our minds reverting to the concept that was drummed into us early on in our lives when we aren't on guard.

This illusion has held sway in the world from ancient times.  The Greeks envisioned it all as a pantheon of gods and goddesses (a divine family) residing invisibly on Mount Olympus.  Other nations and tribes had equally fanciful ideas about deities inhabiting holy parts of the earth and the heavens and showing up as planets, constellations, etc.  It was not too hard to imagine these things prior to our modern technological and scientifically advanced age.

We tend to imagine souls floating off into the ether and continuing to surround us unseen.  I still find the thought comforting, but it is most likely a complete illusion.  It's probably just the last vestige of my former superstitions still trying to assert themselves in my mind.

As I asked in a previous blog, just where is "up there?"  Certainly not Mount Olympus, nor any of the planets and celestial bodies we now know about and have studied ever more thoroughly.

Go to Google or some other search engine and type in "maps of the cosmos."  You will be amazed at what you find.  Surrounding us in every direction, more than thirteen billion light years in all directions, is an "up there" that is totally unfathomable.   Among all the galaxies, stars, nebulae, black holes, etc., there is no "up there" one can point to as the abode of any fantastic being like "god."  The vastness and the distances boggle the mind.  Billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars and attendant planets and  multitudeness wonders yet to be discovered.

The "faith slaves," are absolutely convinced that some magnificent, super-intelligent and utterly omnipotent anthropomorphized being created it all, but they never try to explain where such a being could have originated, or where, exactly, he resides.  Of course, he has to look like us because we are the pinnacle of earthly creation.  We have to be a mirror of the source.

It wasn't too long ago that people thought lightning was Thor (or some other god) hurling his hammer.  We now know better, but many people will still think someone struck by lightning was being punished by god.  We still view diseases and natural disasters as instruments of punishment wielded by "god." 

Superstition survives intact in this enlightened modern age. 

We aren't that far removed from our superstition-ridden ancestors.