I sometimes find atheists annoying

Putting my best self forward is challenging online.

I always feel a little bad for atheists. They [obviously] don’t experience a direct connection with the divine and so they have to do without something that is heart-shaking, beautiful, and full of meaning.

Of course, some of them would call me delusional. I’m fine with that. I’ve lived with someone who was delusional and worked with mental health patients. It was the latter that made me realize I wasn’t crazy. [Go on and get PC on me, but unless you’ve lived with someone with mental health issues you can shut right up.] I know the difference between contact from the unseen world and unintegrated personality fragments. The people I worked with couldn’t tell, and couldn’t focus enough to make regular meals, let alone pay bills or show up for a job.

I’m strange, but I’m sane. I’m even happy.

I came across this post on Substack notes, and a response.

It started here:

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this assessment in and of itself. As the saying goes, ‘there’s no atheists in foxholes.’ But what the author misses is that the purpose of prayer isn’t just hope. We can’t get by on hope alone. Eventually, we’re going to get exhausted and give up.

She also misses a whole chunck of experience which is apparently unimaginable. Not only the sense of connection with the divine, but the real help and insight one gets when one has a relationship with the unseen world. The guidance and insight I get almost daily that makes my life better isn’t my imagination.

One of the responses illustrates what I find deeply annoying about many atheists:

I have to go back and block this guy.

Let’s break this down, shall we?

1. Dude, you are a snob who hates poor people and shows it with contempt for what keeps them going. You are pretentious enough to believe you know what people are thinking and what you believe they’re thinking is an indicator of lower-level intelligence.

2. He’s not entirely wrong about group identity, but claiming that Ayaan Hirsi Ali [I have no idea what he means by ‘and friends’] turned to Christianity as way to resist other ideologies is blind stupidity. Ali was an atheist for years. She found it incomplete. Religion is far more than an ideology. Also, seriously? You want to critique the woman who escaped an arranged marriage at 14 and traversed two continents only to serve in her adopted country’s government only to endure death threats? Really?

3. You saying this means you haven’t cared enough about anyone to feel loss, and/or have never taken an actual challenge that could involve significant risk. People in prison find that religion provides structure and rules for engagement that they never learned as kids. If you want to be part of society, then such rules are necessary. Would you rather they didn’t?

This guy sounds like he might be a malignant narcissist who would be happy to run the world. He thinks he understands something about human nature but all he’s done is brush the surface. I hope no woman is captured by his charms and produces a child with him. He’d be a terrible father.

What most people, including atheists, don’t know, is that the architecture of our brains is built to allow us to feel the presence of the unseen world. Andrew Newburgh, PhD, and Eugene D’Aquili, MD studied the brain activity of Buddhist monks and Christian nuns when they were meditating or praying.

When the monks or nuns had achieved what they felt was union with God, a specific area of their brains lit up like fireworks. This was the part of the brain that allows us to distinguish the difference between our bodies and the world outside our bodies. This area became profoundly overwhelmed. The experiments are described in, Why God Won’t Go Away. [don’t be fooled by the category, it’s not specifically Christian] It’s a short book and I recommend it.

As scientists studying purely physical phenomena, these researchers could have concluded that the reason we believe in God is because we have this function in our brains. That’s not what they did. They assumed nothing. They simply documented the phenomenon and left it for the reader to decide.

This is a humble approach from two highly educated men.

Dr. Newburgh has written many books, including some on mythology and many on religion. He continues to retain an open mind. [Dr D’Aquili passed.]

In podcast #485, Jordan Peterson articulated the dilemma of atheism. To paraphrase: We have two options, either we move towards some transcendental concept or we don’t. That’s the idea that all things move toward unity. If we have nothing that unites us at the highest level then we live in conflict. So we can fall into nihilism or a dis-unified plurality. Without a higher form of unity, other, less functional forms of unity will pop up to replace it.

In other words, we have a god-shaped space in our minds. If we don’t fill that with something good and worthy of reaching for, other things will take its place.

This is where we get ideologies.

Religion is not the same thing as an ideology. Only someone who can’t see past their own ideology would think so. Sam Harris recently came to the conclusion that living in a Western, Christian-based culture was something he appreciated, [although some of his former fans are annoyed]. Even Richard Dawkins recently defined himself as a ‘cultural Christian.’ Whatever religious practice does inside our brains, and that isn’t trivial, religion also binds us together for a common purpose.

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Pagans seem to be more able in general to feel the connection with the unseen world. There’s a reason we do ritual and drum circles, music and dancing. While I know of a few Pagans who don’t feel the presence of the gods, many seem to have been drawn into our religion specifically because of being able to feel the unseen world; not only the gods, but the life around us, moving through the Earth, the trees, the sky. What is sometimes missing is that sense of unity and reaching for something greater than ourselves.

I think it would be hard to be an atheist and feel that.

However, I also think the ability to feel the presence of the divine, or even of the landspirits, or ancestors, is a function of both practice and group cohesion. When people join together in worship, meditation, or ritual [assuming those are being done well.] We start to match brainwaves, especially if there is singing or dancing. But this happens even with silent meditation if it goes on long enough. It’s the reason why Buddhists like to meditate in groups if possible.

Silent practice will also build that connection. However, this may take a great deal of consistency and determination before one feels a brush of presence. But even without this connection, it’s better to reach upward toward meaning. I’ll take Christian Ayaan Hirsi Ali over arrogant atheist guy any day of the week. She’s contributed to the world. What’s he done?

If you’re curious about Paganism/Heathenism/Wicca/Druidry, please feel free to message me and I’ll be happy to answer questions.

Selina Rifkin, M.S. [Nutrition], LMT, has been Pagan since she was 14 [which was a long time ago] and been to Hades in a handbasket. More than once. This has given her some opinions. She has direct communication with her gods and they’ve always given her answers when she asks. [One does have to ask.] Like most of her generation [X] she’s okay with snark. Most days she tries for good writing. But the snark, and side comments creep in. Be warned.

Pagan Organizations

Cherry Hill Seminary

Sacred Well Congregation