unformatted
Atheist Spirituality
- – 1 of of 78––
The Great Book of Atheist Spirituality
(Small Version – WIP) this is a smaller version of the Great Book!
First Edition, copyright 2000 A.D, Christuus Gnosis (Christopher Don Taylor)
christopher.don.taylor@gmail.com
at googledocs: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd75mgnq_9f7fzmrd6
All rights reserved
This document will remain uncompleted until the author begins to experience success in this world.
No manuscript or electronic version of the missing details of these chapters exist in order to eliminate the possibility of theft.
You may make copies of this document for your friends, commercial distribution is prohibited.
http://christuusgnosis.blogspot.com/
http://christuusgnosis.wordpress.com/
Enjoy. Smoke a cigarette standing in the rain like a bad dog.
Away from your coffee and chair.
Then send it to someone else
Preface
I dedicate this book to any who finds some tiny pearl of Truth within.
My name is Christopher D. Taylor.
That would be Chris T.
The Great GOB of Atheism spoke to me.
I smoked another joint and contemplated what it was saying.
Myself told myself that now was the time for the Great Book to emerge from the depths of our collective consciousness.
I pulled my tongue from my cheek and set about the task.
Copy it. Spread it around if you wish. Stick it on an FTP, webpage or newsgroup. Make paper copies and give them away. Please do.
Donate. Buy a paper copy from me if you can. Then I’ll be able to spend the time and energy and cash to refine it into something cool with twisted groovy art and nice layout.
If that’s not something you can afford, this is what you get. Enjoy it nonetheless and copy it multiple times for your friends.
This tiny tome is often irreverent and occasionally mocking in its tone. If this offends you please give your copy to someone else and go find yourself a sense of humor.
I hope you get some real cool insight from it.
See you someday in a Spiritual Gathering Place of Atheists.
Opening
This is a book about Atheism and the Spirituality of Atheist individuals.
The Atheist Spiritual Belief system is poorly represented in many forums of debate and contemplation. Hopefully this work will give many Atheists a simple starting point toward building their own ASB and generating support for their spiritual growth.
The Atheist Spiritual Belief is currently and has been for many centuries discriminated against and suppressed, even by supposedly Atheist political doctrines such as China or Russia.
The Atheist Spiritual Belief system is currently not protected by Law and has been hidden by Law inside a completely different form of institution called Secular.
Secular and Atheist are two completely different concepts and the ignorance of this difference in Law has allowed Discrimination against those with an Atheist Spiritual Belief system to persist within Society, Law and Commerce.
The Atheist Spiritual Belief system must be further defined in a core sense so that the various sects of Atheism can gain common acceptance in Law, Commerce and Society and enjoy the same Privileges, Freedoms and Protections that every other church or spiritual congregation accepted by Law provides.
Core Concepts
I’m Right and You’re Wrong
That’s what I said.
Every Theism and religious system more or less has as one of its central tenets or assertions that all other sects and faiths have got it wrong. Only the “One True Faith” can be True. All others are False.
So I state here, at the beginning of my book that this is the only True way. All other ways are false.
I truly am not joking. Everyone else is doing it.
As Atheists we have to clearly assert that we DO have it right and everyone else is wrong. Our spiritual beliefs are the true ones.
Yes I am serious. Every other faith or sect believes just as strongly in their hearts that they are right about everything Spiritual. Everybody believes it about their own Belief System.
You must believe as well.
When you know in your heart that you are right and you have the conviction of that belief then you, as an Atheist, gain one of the key “perks” that all other religious paths have. They call it Faith. You don’t need to have a god figure to gain this confidence boosting enlightenment; you can generate it yourself with the one true fact.
That you are right.
You are the product of approximately 4 billion years of chemical, cellular, biological and spiritual evolution. You have lots of fairly accurate information and evidence to work with. You know that you are a spiritual being. Your path is True.
The Atheist Spiritual Belief is the one and only true path to enlightened being.
Proselytize
Don’t compromise with theists. They are wrong. Inform them of this as gently as you can but be sure to do it. Have tea with them and take the time to explain in a way that gives them good reason to doubt their own path and consider yours.
This is only necessary if they are Proselytizing or injecting their Belief System into a conversation or observation.
But with known Proselytizers it should invariably be done. The sooner the better.
It’s not your Right. It’s your Duty.
You know that this is the One True Belief System.
So get on with it already.
Proselytize on behalf of the Atheist Spiritual Belief System whenever you can, but try not to be pushy. The Facts are clear and with just a few positive words and concepts introduced at the right time you can pass on the concept of the Atheist Spiritual Belief System to others and they may find the One True Path for themselves.
Atheism as a Religious Spiritual Belief System
Atheism is a very real and common Spiritual Belief System in our society.
When personal Spiritual Belief Systems are formed around or attached to a common written/verbal core structure agreed with and used by a group of people then they are called Religious Spiritual Belief Systems.
Different variations of the core set of guidelines in the Religious Spiritual Belief System create different groups or sects.
Individual people also have personal variations of the core set of guidelines which may not conform or may even disagree with aspects of their core Atheist Spiritual Belief System, yet may consider themselves to be members of a sect of Atheism because most of its core concepts are representative of their Personal Spiritual Belief System.
Core guidelines and concepts of Religious Spiritual Belief Systems and the alignment of oneself with one sect are powerful factors in the development of Individual Identity within the comfort zone of a larger group
Secular is NOT Atheist
Secular refers to Institutions which must serve members of all beliefs and cannot generally promote or denigrate any known religious order.
Secular agencies must only deal with factual material.
A public market, pub or lounge would be considered a secular place although its members might be mainly of a particular sect.
Secular facilities and functions are generally public and serve the needs of many individuals. Each individual is assumed to have their own Beliefs and Doctrine and this is not discussed as it has no bearing on the purpose of the facilities and services available.
Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists, people of all belief systems make use of Secular facilities and events.
For hundreds of years Atheists and their different spiritual sects have been lumped in with the Secular concept, yet all people of any Spiritual Belief System are actually using Secular facilities and places.
Atheists need to clearly differentiate the difference between a Secular facility, place or event, and a service, event or facility that is specifically for Atheists and members of various Atheist Sects or Spiritual Belief Systems.
The Need for a Gathering Place of Atheism
Atheists need their own structures in which to gather and practice group spirituality. They need a physical building where they can Congregate and can find motivational or spiritual education through access to mentors and teachers who can assist them in their search to define their own Atheist path and Belief System.
This religious right of spiritual gathering has been specifically denied to Atheists through the devious suppression of their spiritual Belief System and the incorrect assertion institutionalized in Law that Atheism itself was not a religious spiritual Belief System and Atheists have no Spirituality or Soul Concept.
This Safety Zone which is created when groups of a common Spiritual Belief System gather is an integral and critical benefit that all members of religious communities and sects have.
We need to create Places to gather and know that the others you speak to are also Atheists with an Atheist Spiritual Belief System that is mostly similar to your own.
It is also the place where Group Spiritual Phenomena and Abilities may be practiced. These activities require a common core mental and spiritual focus such as a common Spiritual Belief System.
Secondary Benefits of a Spiritual Gathering Place.
Atheists also need access to the secondary benefits that such gathering places confer psychologically and spiritually on their members. This one really is important.
You do not have to spend time and energy determining if you may speak with regards to spiritual issues to the persons attending.
We all can benefit to spend some time with like minded individuals discussing matters of spirituality and spiritual concept.
These exchanges give all participants access to different personal versions of the Spiritual Belief System and their possible application to other practitioners.
No threat of discrimination against your spiritual concept is expected. A Gathering Place is a personal spiritual safety zone.
Educational Access
Being surrounded by like minded people in a specified Spiritual Gathering Place allows persons of all Religious Spiritual Belief systems to access emotional and spiritual counseling services and facilities provided by the Spiritual Gathering Place.
An Atheist Gathering Place can have additional facilities for job training and placement, volunteer service, childcare, secondhand/thift shop, etc.
Psychological/Mental Health/addiction counseling services and or liasons with government processes with a focus on the Personal Atheist Spiritual Belief system of the participant.
Educational materials and libraries, workshops and meetings, an Atheist Spiritual Gathering Place can have all of the useful facilities and features of traditional Spiritual Gathering places and even more.
Social Connections and Networking
Atheist Spiritual Gathering Places and their facilities/functions allow like minded people to network, and a growth of personal and business relationships will emerge within the individuals making use of its services.
Many business, hobby and personal endeavors are made easier and more enjoyable by having long term partners.
By networking with others at an Atheist Spiritual Gathering Place we can form the beginnings of long lasting partnerships that will enrich our lives spiritually and financially, knowing that we’ve built our work on a common understanding of core spiritual values.
Most of us at one time or another in our lives wish to enter into a relationship or project that requires a common spiritual framework. A simple example would be a long term relationship with the idea of Marriage. For someone with a strong Atheist Spiritual Belief System to enter into a relationship with a Fundamentalist Theist of another religious sect such as Christianity may cause a severely strained relationship which drains energy and trust from each of the participants over time. By working at the outset to join our spiritual and personal power with like minded individuals we can be reasonably assured of receiving greater spiritual benefit and harmony from the endeavor.
Energy placed into the conversations and projects you may have with this person will hopefully not be wasted by a misalignment of spiritual goals.
Childcare.
One of the key services and facilities offered by most Religious Gathering Places is daily childcare that is consistent with the spiritual beliefs of the parents.
In a child care class attached to an Atheist Spiritual Gathering Place a child won’t ever be given stories or answers that are inconsistent with the Atheist Spiritual Belief system.
Business is about contacts
Psychological and Spiritual Confidence
The Need for Strong Atheist Icons, Symbols and Shamans
Icons and Symbols
Amulets, talismans, statues, stickers, shirts, wall hangings can have shapes, archetypes, or symbols applied to them. These Symbols and forms have a certain psychological power given to them by both the viewer and the wearer’s interpretation of the content and meaning.
Symbols and Icons are useful tools of communication and identification. Many sects throughout human history have used Symbols to identify each other in Secular places.
Atheists can make use of these adornments as well to identify each other or to communicate Archetypal Spiritual Concepts. Personal jewelry, buttons, necklaces, shirts, hats and even skin can be used to display Atheist and Spiritual imagery for decoration and communication.
Displayed Symbols such as posters, leaflets, web pages, bumper stickers, etc. may identify information about Spiritual Gatherings or promote the Atheist Spiritual Belief System.
Shamans
Powerful speakers and presenters can give our Spiritual Gatherings focus and excitement.
The amount of Spiritual Energy generated at an Atheist Spiritual Gathering is just as great as that generated by any other congregation of people. Guides and educators can give us focus.
Atheism
The doctrine that there is no Deity.
Atheist
One who denies the existence of GOBs.
GOBs
Greater Omnipresent/Omnipotent Beings.
The supernatural superbeing.
In us. Around us. Above us.
Watching what we do.
Measuring our ethical behavior.
Judging.
Weighing our compatibility with the special place we will get when we die or otherwise ascend.
Influencing events in Real Life. Balancing actions and intents.
Influencing or tempting or inspiring.
Most Theist concepts have a main Light/Good/Positive GOB and a Dark/Evil/Negative GOB concept but not all. Some profess to only have one good/positive GOB. On closer look most single GOB religious beliefs do have at least one opposing GOB figure or Lackey, because there is generally a negative spiritual destination for the unfaithful or impure such as Hell or Limbo or being “reincarnated” at a lower evolutionary form.
Usually GOBs have extensive creative and retributive power. Not always. Many GOBs are Passive Observers and Judges.
GOBs are generally human in form, but many animal and creature forms exist, often with anthropomorphic qualities. Some nebulous GOB concepts also exist.
Pantheistic cultures have various main GOBs, each with their own Lackeys that often represent aspects of human psychology and archetypes.
Some forms of Christianity have Satan as a GOB figure in his own power and balance (Pantheism) and other sects believe that Satan is a powerful fallen Lackey that wages a guerilla war with his former master. The Christ figure is a Lackey in some sects and an ascended GOB in his own right in other Christian sects.
Inanimate objects are often anthropomorphized as GOBs or Lackeys. Examples would be an Elemental GOB, a Gaia GOB, a sun GOB, etc.
GOBs are created by PEOPLE.
That’s right. Every GOB that has ever existed or will exist is created by the imaginations of people. GOBs are projected by the people who believe them. The GOB itself does not actually exist.
Men and Women Created the GOBs. Some have one or two GOBs, others have many GOBs. All created and maintained by people.
That’s right. We did it to ourselves.
There are many reasons why a person or group of people creates a GOB for themselves.
Let us work out the details of that another time.
For now let’s just keep as one of our core beliefs that GOBs are created by People.
GOBs usually have Lackeys.
Lackeys can be enlightened beings, creatures, human agents, demigods, Lower Gods and spirits.
Lackeys are all created by people too.
Lackeys can use various powers of influence, deception, blessings, curses, observation (spying), reporting, enumerating and Judging, etc.
People often call upon their GOBs Lackeys, knowing that the GOBs themselves are probably quite busy and their assistant can obviously get the matter settled for them.
Common GOB Lackeys of today
Ghosts and spirits, Zombies
Saints
Angels and Demons
Little Grey Bald Guys from Space
Karma or Fate
Although they often are more of a nebulous observer rather than a specified personage, these two GOB Lackeys and their cousins are commonly called upon to explain unfortunate or serendipitous events.
The Holy Estates (HE)
This is the big reward or nasty ending.
Carrot or Stick.
Heaven or Hell.
Paradise or Damnation.
Place of Light or Place of Torment.
Ascension/enlightenment or Limbo/nothingness/dispersion.
Ascension to the next spiritual form or regression/loss of spiritual gains in the next ongoing attempt at Ascension.
Some beliefs have many possible destinations with varying degrees of positive or negative qualities.
For the rest of the book we will refer to these as Positive Holy Estates (PHE) or Negative Holy Estates (NHE).
Also 100% Made byPeople.
That’s right. The whole thing is again made designed, furnished, embellished, and wholeheartedly described in various colorful manifestations by People.
All great Estates need Sales Agents.
Holy Artifacts of Spiritual Habituation
Yes, it does make the acronym HASH.
These Artifacts require you to make a habit of reading/viewing/visiting them.
THE Great Book.
There is no other. All other Great Books but the one belonging to your GOB are false. For some Atheists this might be their Great Book. Stare in awe at its magnificence when you are Truly Bored.
THE Great Thing.
A statue, an altar, an amulet, a cup, a great big rock, the list goes on and on…
THE Great Place.
The gathering place, the Holy Pile of Dirt, a grave, the spot with the big rock…
Christ and other Prophets/Shamans/GOBs as Men
Jesus Christ did exist as a person. His name may not have actually been Jesus. He was an important Shaman of his time. He was no doubt learned in many things that the common person of his time did not know.
Common features of Atheism
We Believe
Atheists insist that Spiritual Beliefs must be rooted in the most current Facts and Observations, not on ancient stories or the Leap of Faith required by Shamans and Priests of most other Spiritual Belief Systems
Evolutionary concepts are based on observation and analysis of real archaeological, geologic and biological subjects.
this continually refined body of work by many currently living persons is more valid and accurate than theories of Divine Conception based on writings in an ancient text.
Ancient books were all written by men. No god ever wrote a book. Men wrote the books and then told everyone that God told them what to write.
Political hierarchies and “writings” based on a God appointed agent are illegitimate.
There is no Great Omnipotent Being hovering above the earth, peering down. There is no GOB beside us, behind us, within us. We are not being watched by a GOB. We are not being graded on Goodness or Badness or SIN by a GOB holding each of us up to a spiritual battery tester.
Gods and GOBs are creations of MEN and WOMEN. People are responsible for their own projections of the gods. The GOB itself does not exist.
When you’re dead you’re dead. Fini. Medical advancements may extend our lifetimes to centuries but when the brain is dead you are dead. The “SOUL” cannot exist outside of the living brain. They are tied together.
No afterlife. No Heaven or Hell. No reward or punishment. No real estate in the great new land that you can purchase with your money and goodwill. No HE/PHE/NHE. Birth to death, that is the single time frame that you have to work with.
Atheists are spiritual beings
Atheists are spiritual beings with the same spiritual potency as all other religious beliefs. We define our spirituality differently than theists but it is of no less importance in our lives.
Common Atheist Spirituality
We need to refine our observations of human spirituality to create a new framework of spiritual growth and well being in an Atheist context.
Tools that other religious faiths have used to further their spiritual skills are open to us as well, we just need to redefine them to make them work for us as atheists.
The Myth of Objectivity
Absolutes and “Objective” reality are constructs, they don’t exist in nature.
BT
The Great Hatred
Our history has been filled with conflict. Other races, women, and children were regularly used in slavery and had diminished rights. Worldwide slavery was still in existence as little as 100 years ago. Many parts of the world still practice this abhorrent scheme.
Many “Great Books” have written passages defending these practices.
Alternative behaviors, dress, jewelry, sexuality that are considered commonplace for average people in civilized and evolving societies are specifically spoken against in many religious texts.
Most civilized societies believe that institutionalized hatred based on external appearances and private preferences is wrong and have laws to deter such discriminations. This is completely at odds with most religious doctrine and history.
Throughout history GOBs have been used as instigators in acts of war or murder. This pattern of using followers to initiate hatred is well documented and commented upon. People grouped for a spiritual purpose are routinely used to promote discrimination and damnation. Atrocities have been committed regularly on our own soil and around the world using GOBs or their doctrine as a reason.
The Great Hatred has gone on for thousands of years of human history. Most civilized people of the world want to end its reign. Some want it to continue. Many profit by it.
Through redefining human spirituality and recognizing the misuse of positions of power it is possible to create a spiritual concept that is relatively free of abuses or temptations for abuse.
Anachronism
The old man in the woods.
Most Great Books have large portions that were written by various authors.
Many of these authors were raised or became monks, in times where these small enclaves were the only people who knew and practiced the task of Reading and Writing.
These authors are revered as Lackeys for their GOB which was able to speak through them and thus pass on the Rules and Stories of his GOB and the Lackeys that work for or against it. And what the People that believe in the same GOB as him should do to play their role.
As Atheists we assert that this old man in the woods was not the Lackey of GOB. He only imagines himself to be that. Or other people imagine him as the Lackey.
What is even more likely is that this old man was completely aware of the foolishness of “speaking for GOB”. Yet he was perhaps more learned in things such as hygiene, or mob psychology, and wanted everyone to listen to some rules that might make the community a little more organized and safe.
So he told them that GOB gave him the Rules and told him the Stories. And he was then able to get at least a small fraction of them to listen.
If an old man walked out of the woods today and stood in front of your house yelling at you and calling you Bad for breaking the Rules of GOB you probably will ignore him, turn up the stereo, and/or call the police.
Why would you listen to the Rules of one and not the other? The GOB is the same isn’t it? One man’s Holy Artifact Book is another’s Crazy Man Garbage Notebook. If the old man of today could get his crap together and seal it in some concrete maybe future generations will think he was the great Lackey of GOB in our time.
Our entire paradigm has changed from earlier cultures. Old solutions rarely can help us now; we must find our own modern solutions without the help of a GOB and his/her/its spokesperson.
The Importance of Semantics
Opening
Words can be misused.
Phrasing, Context, and Inflection
When we discuss philosophical and spiritual concepts we must constantly be aware of the phrasing, context, and inflection that we use. These concepts are so core to our being that misinterpreted statements can create reactionary diversions that waste vast amounts of time and blathering talk.
Be Extremely Clear and Precise
When you have decided to engage in a serious dialogue with someone regarding spiritual matters it is important to be precise. Extremely clear and precise.
Sweeping general statements suck. They suck completely. They suck the life out of any dialogue because they are implausible.
What are you talking about? Are you talking about a specific instance or observation? Don’t blow it out of proportion to the actual participants.
High Spiritual Concepts and Localized observation
Near and far
Word Traps
These are some of the most nefarious “philosophical questions” that are the easiest of all semantic trickery to spot.
What is the meaning of Life
This one is such a lame blatant trick that I am personally amazed at how many people fall for this one or resort to it in a serious dialogue.
By asking “What is the Meaning” the lame conjuror is injecting an outcome into the dialogue. They imply within the question that it can only be answered with a specific type of answer, one that applies “meaning” to “life”. They imply a purpose within the question and in the same set of words imply that there is only one answer. The kind of answer that a GOB can conveniently provide.
I’ll be presumptuous and answer this question for you.
On the larger scale of evolutionary time all life wants to survive. The more of any one species that survive, and the longer they survive, the more they progress as a species. They build together.
On the local level, each person has there own meaning or purpose for themselves that they have found or are finding.
Sometimes their purpose is simply survival, if their situation is bad.
Other times the Maslow hierarchy seems to apply.
Still other times the individual has found their own purpose and meaning within their family, friends.
Spiritual Religion is usually combined with elements and processes of Control.
The power of societal and group Disapproval or Approval
The power of Authority Disapproval
The power of GOB Disapproval
The Carrot and Stick
Common Humanity
The main idea I want you to take away from this work is the idea that all humans are more or less the same, including their spiritual abilities
BT
Common Human Spirituality
Atheists and theists alike share the same spiritual abilities and needs. The only difference is our way of defining them and their limits.
I don’t think there is an Atheist alive today that hasn’t had someone in their live pronounce quite loudly that since they do not believe in god or some other “acceptable spiritual belief” then they cannot have a “soul”, they are a half being, missing a part.
Obviously this is untrue.
The theist making this infantile “philosophical” statement is trying to assert that there is a difference, physically and spiritually between the Atheist and the Theist.
So let’s get this straight again. There IS NO DIFFERENCE.
All of the spiritual capacity and Soul of each person is the same regardless of their belief system.
Each person is an individual but has some capability to focus their spirituality with others. As groups people can gain a strong spiritual power that is different from their own individual spirit. This is self evident and well documented by theist and behaviorist studies. Couples, teams, groups, congregations, can all be effective focal points to augment spirituality.
The Soul
The Soul is the commonly accepted name for the life force of a human being or other creature. The Soul is unique to the individual.
The Soul has Observational and Communication abilities.
The Soul can combine certain of its abilities and gain others by spiritual gatherings and focused activity with other souls.
The Soul and its abilities can be exercised through self meditation, learning, tutoring, gatherings, and many other means.
The key difference in soul concept between Atheist spiritual thought and Common Theistic interpretations is generally one of mobility.
Atheists generally believe that the Soul is integrally tied to the body. More specifically the Soul is generally resident and generated around the brain and spinal cord (represented together as “the brain” from this point on) of the individual.
Furthermore, contemporary speculative atheist thought believes that the brain of a person may through medical procedures in the future be removed and placed in an interim environment then further transplanted into a functioning younger healthy body and as long as the brain continued to function during the transplanting process the Soul and being of the individual would remain consistent within the new body.
The human being can lose arms, legs, torsos, internal organs and as long as medical advances allow the person to be kept alive and free of brain damage during the incident then the person’s life energy and Soul will be more or less still whole. They don’t lose an “arm’s worth” of soul in an amputation. Hearts have long been replaced with plastic and ceramic versions and contrary to the wisdom of previous ages, everything proceeded fine with the individual’s identity and Soul.
The main Theistic concept of the Soul differs from the Atheists in only one main respect, the Theist believes that the Soul separates from the body during death and can continue outside of the body for the trip to the appointed celestial destination that the Soul’s characteristics determine.
This Theistic concept of the Soul existing outside of the living body also allows for the many spooky demonologies that have kept the human race fearful and in line for so long. Ghosts, Souls trapped in earthly places, Zombies, Undead Vampires, Purgatorial damnation, Celestial Demigods and Angels. The list of foolishness goes on and on but these Lackeys would not be possible without the mobile version of the Soul, and the associated prospects of NHEs.
All other uses, abilities, and observations about the Soul and spiritual being of the individual between Atheists and Theists are generally similar with some minor sectarian differences. For example, some spiritual concepts, both Theist and Atheist, hold that animals have no spiritual being or Soul and are simply for the use of humans. The opposing sectarian belief is that all beings have one, and higher more self directed animal species may have Souls which are almost as complex and spiritual as a human being.
It is not possible for Atheists to use a different word for their Soul concept and beliefs. All belief systems have their own word for Soul but these references are understood to be applicable to the same force in all persons.
Atheists are Spiritual Beings and have Souls. Atheist Souls are the same as everyone else’s and just like everyone else we have a doctrine of things we believe about our soul based on observation, learning, and personal experience.
All religions, sects, faiths, belief systems have their own description of the Soul and its capabilities.
Atheists have their own description of the Soul and its capabilities.
All individual people have their own description of the Soul and its capabilities.
No one is able to say theirs is the only doctrine and yet all do.
Personal
Opening
BT
Imagination
Prayer and Self Talk
Sexuality
Meditation
Study
Enlightenment
Spiritual focus
Drugs
People use drugs.
People like to alter their state of consciousness from the “normal”.
This is no small deal. The effects of various forms of altered states of consciousness on human society and spiritual concept are very great.
To do this they take many liquid, pill, and plant derivatives.
Drugs have unique properties, both physical and mental.
All drugs are not equal in their potency, effect, duration, addictiveveness, poisonousness or lethality.
Alcohol poisoning can kill. Marijuana poisoning cannot.
Some drugs can literally kill, some cannot. This is a key understanding we must have.
People will take substances to alter their states of consciousness regardless of the supposed legality of such self experimentation.
All attempts to create a prohibitionist society eventually fail, or exist with a Black Market and its societal implications.
Prohibition always creates a Black Market for all drugs and alcohol that are prohibited.
People will always obtain mind altering drugs. Individuals who are honest and respect Law in most aspects will purchase black market substances to alter their mind state. They will even buy black market coffee if it is especially good.
There is no way to stop drug experimentation since mind altering plants are easily grown and found in nature.
The role of drugs in the spiritual path of the individual has been idolized or demonized.
Drugs have positive and negatives. Most drugs have both positive and negative aspects or effects.
Not all drugs are equal or evil in their effects and they are used for different reasons by individuals.
Alcohol is a drug. So is nicotine, caffeine, Prozac, cannabis, valium, cocaine, heroin, laudanum, acetaminophen, etc.
Mankind has grown in Symbiosis with all effect producing herbs and fungi for all of evolution
Psychedelics found in nature are influential in the beginnings of spiritual ritual in most societies.
Even up to the early 1900’s most common herbal remedies available from the grocer contained laudanum or hashish.
Different Types and Classifications of drugs
Self Induced/Substances generated by the Body
Different activities and states will generate flushes of chemicals through different parts of the body and brain. These substances can be extremely powerful and even addictive, causing the individual to repeat the experience to an “unhealthy degree” or relive it in memory to instigate substance levels in the body.
Competitive Sports
Both the viewer and the athlete get different charges out of competitive sports.
Somatic Repetition
Running, Kayaking,
Dancing, Drumming, Music
Rocking, twitching
Music
Strength and Endurance activities
Climbing
Weightlifting
Asceticism
Meditation and breathing
Sex
Aggression
Fear
Alcohol
Many of the oldest spiritual rituals were based on wine or other fermented matter.
Fermentation as a science was defined very early on in the mental development of the species.
Up until a few hundred years ago alcohol was the only way to ingest disinfected water without boiling water in a metal pot if you didn’t have a clean well. All people drank regularly when they were away from a well or clean water supply. Everybody.
Marijuana
Tobacco
Coffee and Tea
Cocaine
Crack Cocaine
Heroin and Opium
Highly addictive
Can cause death by overdose quite easily.
Perhaps the most maligned narcotic
Instrumental in the initiation of many of the most important works of Art, Literature and Music in the last 300 years. From this we can deduce that it has an intense spiritual impact.
Herbs and other plant substances
Pharmaceuticals
Painkillers
Muscle Relaxants
Antidepressants
Sedatives
Ecstasy
Crystal Meth
Antipsychotics
ADHD
Therapeutics
Special mention
Psychedelics
This classification of drugs is of vital importance to all discussions of spiritual insight
Psychedelics are one of the most demonized of all drugs.
In lesser doses these drugs have been found to break apart rigid mental thinking and concepts, allow humans to quickly access intuitive/interpretive sensory states and cause Epiphanies to occur.
Some of the most common herbal and fungal psychedelics – the Mycenae for example – are responsible for much of the beginnings of spirituality in almost all of mankind.
Psychedelic use by religious practitioners in primitive societies is well documented. The mental amplification of the Belief System by psychedelics along with overwhelming feelings of awe and psychic group bonding make them powerful tools to Shamanic spiritual practices.
The simple fact that most psychedelics can cause extreme visual, sensual and auditory hallucinations in practically every human who uses a sufficient dose make them very useful.
A person who is steeped psychically in a Belief System of any religion or sect will invariably have amazingly detailed hallucinations concerning GOBs which they believe in.
Insights initiated by psychedelic process cannot be simply discredited by the process through which they are attained.
Strong Insights gained during psychedelic use are often life changing to the spirituality of the individual involved.
Equally intense Psychic Damage may result from unusually strong psychedelic doses, unfriendly environment during the process, Fear on the part of the participant, or a history of mental instability of the participant.
LSD – Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
Magic Mushrooms
Mescaline
Peyote
Others
Glue/Solvents
This is pretty much as low as anyone can go isn’t it?
Yet people do it. Let’s just call it Natural Selection.
Addiction
Anything taken too frequently or in considerable dosages is detrimental to the psyche and well-being of the individual.
This includes Self Induced substances.
The Moral Issue
Illegal substance sales far outstrip the gross of the American Movie industry output. Despite a supposed “All out War on Drugs” campaign, championed by the Theist ruling class spanning at least 60 years of recent history and untold centuries before.
As Atheists we cannot disapprove of substance use as a black and white issue.
Many Atheists are themselves abstainers, but most sects of Atheist thought allow reasonable amounts of substance experimentation and use, and almost all Atheist thought agrees with the validity and necessity of pharmaceuticals when properly applicable to relieve extreme pain, depression or mental illness.
The facts tell us that people do use substances.
As Atheists we are committed to the facts of human perception and spirituality. Our Spiritual Belief System has its foundation at all times in factual references.
There is no GOB figure giving us an ultimatum on what is right. We have to ascertain acceptable use ourselves through observation and self education.
What is too much?
If you are unable to stop taking for days at a time you may be going to far and need to seek counseling.
Maybe you’re fine and it’s the rest of the world that’s screwed in its perception?
Many great insights and unique visions of great creative individuals tells us that for many their use of caffeine, tobacco, strong drink, marijuana, coke, heroin, opium, ecstasy, LSD, mushrooms or the like gave them the spark to begin a particular work or set of works that has been transformational.
Tobacco and scotch is a set of substances like any other and many great jazz or classical musicians have drank their share.
Musicians and poets are notoriously associated with marijuana in the 20th century.
If you are puking you may have taken too much and should rethink your dosage next time.
Some substances may actually initiate a purging of the stomach during the normal progression of the session. If that’s the case then you might be in for a wild trip after you clean that puke off your chin.
The Congregation
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One of the key human spiritual rites has been formally denied to Atheists for most of our human history.
Human beings learned ages ago that in groups they could focus their minds and spiritual energies together and take part in a spiritual experience as a group.
This is the concept of Spiritual Congregation.
Many Atheists have the same need for this group Spiritual Gathering/Congregation and the focus it provides.
Atheists are the one major spiritual belief system that is not given the ability to own buildings or lease space at preferred tax rates for the purpose of congregating spiritually.
At every Bureaucratic and Local Administrative level the Atheist who wishes to purchase, build or erect a Spiritual Gathering Place for members of the Atheist Belief System is met with “commercial” and “association” labels and fees treating the endeavor at all times like a Secular facility even if the person consistently explains the spiritual nature of the Gathering Place and its function.
As a result of this pervasive discrimination in Law, Society, and Commerce the result is that there are almost no Atheist Spiritual Gathering places in existence. Even though there are extremely large numbers of Atheists currently existing in the world.
This is a matter which Atheists must co-operate on if they are to succeed. Without a place to congregate specifically as Atheists we are unable to participate in the spiritual growth that comes from refinement of this group gathering power and the networking opportunities we would have with other Atheists who share the same or similar Spiritual Belief Systems.
This would be the entire point of this current state of institutionalized discrimination against the Atheist Spiritual Belief System, to deny us the Spiritual Gathering Places that would enable our spiritual growth and personal networking to generate more focused and financially secure Atheists.
Group psychology
Group focus
Shamanism
Common Atheist Spirituality
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Personal
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Prayer
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Study
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Enlightenment
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Spiritual focus
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The Congregation
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Group psychology
Group focus
Shamanism
Martyrs and Saints
Atheist Spiritual Concepts
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Personal Image Construction and Repair
Atheism and Morality
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Dualism
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Good
Charity and Altruism
Evil
Life’s not so simple.
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Atheism and Marriage
Atheism is rooted in Facts and Observations of the current world.
Concepts of Marriage have in recent centuries become entrenched in Law with the Theistic interpretation of Marriage followed by the Majority at the time the Law was introduced. Most Marriage concepts in Law are anachronistic because of this and bear little relevance to the real practice of relationships and marriage within the society. The concepts of Marriage in Law are often so completely different from the true nature of human and family relations that they create complex systems of economic and social conflict within real families. These conflicts are well known to contribute to extreme dysfunction within families and society as a whole.
Much of the conflict created within law regarding relationships and Marriage is about property and Children.
So what do we know?
Marriage is rarely for Life
People have sex
People have sex outside of Marriage
People have extramarital sex
People have multiple partners
People have consecutive short term relationships
People have Children
Single people have children outside of Marriage
“Promiscuity” and children
People have property before and after relationships
Toward a modern definition of Relationships, Marriage, and Responsibility
DNA and intention
Alternate Atheist Concepts and Beliefs
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Recreational and Spiritual Use Of Altered States
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The Aliens
I’ve got to state my own personal belief here: I don’t believe Alien creatures have ever flown into Earth’s atmosphere. Ever. Never ever. The Aliens in our universe don’t know we are here. They just finished rising out of their own muck and are maybe populating a couple other planets. They sure down have any reason to waste resources on a trip to our arm of the Galaxy. The radio emissions of our planet are not even a tiny speck away yet. Nobody can hear them for a very long time. WE ARE ON OUR OWN. We live in Bumfuck Nowhere. Someone coming to visit would be like taking a expensive field trip to a swamp.
I personally believef that Aliens visiting/controlling earth is another GOB system. These persons figure that a little grey space alien with a bald head and big black eyes with no pupils is an easier Lackey to believe in than an angel or demon from some other Theism.
Gaia
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ESP and Clairvoyance
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Ghosts
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The Force
Capabilities of the Soul of the being that can be trained to commit telekinetic actions at a short distance such as push, pull, lift, localized healing, speed, increased awareness, or influence over another’s thoughts.
Even conceptualized as being able to push energy such as lightning.
Also affects the person’s ability to be in and remain in the “Zone” during intense events and physical exertion.
The dualistic nature of the force with Energy GOBs of light and dark and the application of intent in the judgment of Taint make it an unsuitable structure for most Atheists, however the strength of this Archetypal Mythos on our society is strong and many self professed Atheists believe in some of these possible abilities of the human Soul outside of the original story.
Chi
Similar to the Force concept. Traditionally used in combat, meditation, healing, and Spiritual Belief.
This force concept and the benefits of this form of study are often practiced by Atheists with combined Chi and Atheist Spiritual Belief systems. Many Atheists have benefited from the focus of these studies
Some forms of the Chi are concerned with GOB concepts, while other practiced forms are more pragmatic and concerned with the spiritual power and training of the practitioner and their Chi/Soul energy.
Chi forms without GOB concepts are found in most ground combat forms and physical/spiritual training forms such as Tai Chi.
Of great benefit to Atheists who study these arts is their long period of refinement and observation of human physical and spiritual capabilities.
Intelligent Design
Actually a tool of Christian Apologetics this theory posits that the complexity of DNA and the interrelationships of Life are not the process of 4 billion years of the plants and creatures of Earth evolving and surviving together but instead are some genetic experiment by an ET or other GOB figure. Some confused Atheists have incorporated concepts of this Christian propaganda tool into their Atheist Belief System.
Worlds within Worlds
When we look into a microscope at various samples of water and earth we find multitudes of creatures operating at different micro and macroscopic levels.
This sect believes that it is entirely possible that this concept may extend to macroscopic environments and beings which our current galaxy and universe may reside.
What makes this an acceptable concept for some Atheists is the assumption that the Macroscopic Beings are not in fact aware of our existence.
This concept falls into the realm of Speculative Fiction, yet it is a belief held by a significant portion of Atheists.
IMHO these Macroscopic Beings are GOBs like any other, used for poetical flourish and to be cryptic.
It is a cool mental image though isn’t it?
Cycles of Nature
This is a specific belief set about The Big Bang. That it recurs. Not in any of our lifetimes or the blink on and off of our species. This negates a GOB concept at “Creation” because the point of creation of this universe is a fluid point of continuing from the ending of the previous pulse.
Once again this is Speculative Fiction. Yet it is plausible and even a useful diversion in a stale discussion about “Creation”. It neatly disarms the concepts of Intelligent Design and Creator GOBs.
The Living Field
You can look it up. I think its more SF.
New Age Oneness
Who knows?
Darwin and Evolutionary Theories
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A Partial list of Spiritual Belief Systems that are currently recognized Worldwide
Muslim
Hindu
Sikh
Jewish
Buddhist
Spiritualist
Pagan
Jainism
Wicca
Rastafarians
Baha’i
Zoroastrians
Christadelphian
Druidism
Pantheism
Satanism
New Age
Eckankar
Raja Yoga
Native American Church
Vodun (Voodoo)
Occult
Ancestor Worship
Free Church of Love
Amish
Theocracy
And many more…
Common features of Theistic Religious and Spiritual Sects
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The Prophet or Teacher
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The Great Book
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The Great God
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Pantheon
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Gods
Demigods
Lower Demons
Human Agents
The Dead
Ritual and Law
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Chosen Blood
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The Shaman or Priest
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Proselytize
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Personal
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Prayer
Study
Enlightenment
Spiritual focus
The Congregation
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Group psychology
Group focus
Shamanism
Ecstasy and Rapture
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The Life After Death
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Real World
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Positive
Networking
Common Purse
Tax breaks
Negative
Social Closure
Media Control
Behavioral control
Family control
