You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.
And at one point you’d hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.
And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.
And you’ll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they’ll be comforted to know your energy’s still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you’re just less orderly. Amen.
Aaron Freeman “You Want A Physicist To Speak at your Funeral”
(source: npr)
I can’t stop crying.
(via everythinginthrees)
Not a bit of you is gone— you’re just less orderly.
(via qglas)
A lot to think about here. Every bit of it lovely.
(via invisiblelad)
(Source: lonelyheartsdeathmetal)
Reasons People are Atheists vs NOT Reasons People Are Atheists
Just because atheists don’t pray, don’t worship a deity, and don’t participate in religious rituals, doesn’t mean they’re not spiritual. Au contraire. By MANDY DE WAAL.
There’s this commonly held misconception that atheists aren’t spiritual. That if you don’t have faith, if you’re unconvinced of the existence of that deity the religious call “God”, or aren’t praying at some kind of altar, you’re devoid of spirituality.
Theists commonly think the word “spirituality” is synonymous with searching for meaning in life using faith as a vehicle. For others spirituality infers some kind of communion with an intelligent creator of the universe.
It’s curious for theists that people who reject the notion of a God can have a deep and intense spirituality. But they do.
Of course I cannot speak for all atheists. I can only speak about my own journey of abandoning God to come home to reason, logic, knowledge and truth, and from what I have learnt from the works of other atheists during my own journey.
Read more at Daily Maverick
neither is the ocean. ung modern pagans and alchemists(thats what we have chemistry for silly) make me face palm.
That awkward moment when you respond to a quote I posted but clearly haven’t understood it at all.
“What is Apollo but the magic of the sun whose soul is light? What is Aphrodite but the love-charm of the sea? What is Pan but the mystery of nature, the felt and hidden want pervading all?” - John Addington Symonds, 1876
The quote itself is saying that the gods and goddesses are personifications of nature. It is a pantheistic view expressed in poetry. Pantheism and science are fully compatible.
Wow. Some atheists have no imagination whatsoever. -__-
And stop it with the condescending attitude.
(Source: amaulthea)
It seems like we are at a turning point in our relationship with the Earth. Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency, icecaps and glaciers are melting, ocean currents may be shifting. It’s a wake up call, to reduce and reverse the damage we are doing to the Earth and the other creatures we share it with. It’s no longer a case just of preserving the Earth for our grandchildren: it’s now a question of preserving it for ourselves as well.
Religion is a major determinant of people’s attitudes to nature,
and past religions have been part of the problem. Although many
Asian faiths have generally given nature and animals a prominent
status, the dominant Western faiths have given them a low priority.
In the Christian Bible, Earth is not seen as an important end in
itself, it is only a passageway to an eternal afterlife. God gives man
dominion over all the earth and its creatures, and tells Adam and
Eve to “Be fruitful and multiply and fi ll the earth and subdue it.”
It seems that at this critical moment we need a new spirituality,
one in which Nature is central and not just incidental, and
one in which the planet is seen as an overarching whole. Some
people are already trying to shift the traditional religions in this
direction – a key harbinger is the Christian Evangelical Climate
Initiative, which in March ran prominent ads in US media calling
for stewardship of the earth and action on global warming.
Given that Christianity and Islam account for half the human race,
these efforts are intensely important and should be supported.
But new spiritual directions also have a part to play, and the
environmental crisis is expanding nature-oriented religious viewpoints.
Pantheism’s nature-centered view can offer inspiration. We
see ourselves as members of the natural community of all life on
earth, with the same rights as other members, but with greater duties
because of our greater power to do harm. We see Nature as our
mother, our security, our peace, our past and our future. Nature
made each one of us, and as long as we live we remain part of
nature and at our death each one of us will be reabsorbed into
nature.
The earth is our only home. It’s here that we are born, live and
die. It’s not some temporary launch pad to heaven, or temporary
stop-gap until God violently destroys it and replaces it with a new
heaven and a new earth. Indescribably beautiful, endlessly diverse,
a clouded blue sapphire hanging in the deep black of space, it is the
only place where we can fi nd or make our paradise. But it’s a fragile
paradise, and we are well advanced in the process of destroying
its natural beauty and diversity, reducing it to drab uniformity.
In this issue we explore aspects of our relationship to nature as
Pantheists. Do we think and act globally, or locally? What do we
do to conserve and enhance Nature? Where does Nature rank in
our priorities? How can we use Nature in our spirituality and our
ways of coping with life?
Our responses are diverse and very personal. As the articles
in this issue show, Nature is a prime resource for us, not only for
material survival and shelter, not only for our aesthetic and intellectual
pleasure, but also for our sanity and our mental peace.
Nature offers us ways of coping with stress and pain by transcending
our selves. It gives us ways of coming to terms with grief,
through the knowledge that we and our loved ones are and always
will be part of Nature.
Our feeling of gratitude and reciprocal obligation makes
Nature a uniquely strong focus of our ethics. We care about and
care for humans, but also for the millions of other unique species
with whom we share our planetary home.Pantheist Magazine No 17.
NDT
(Source: ummagumma-)
First off, yea there is no concrete evidence for god. BUT there is so much more to being an atheist (or actually deconverting from a religion) than just that.
So if there was scientific proof for god, what kind of god would it be? Would it be the Christian god, the Muslim god, or maybe even a bunch of gods (i.e. Hindu gods)? Don’t be so quick to say you’d be a strong gospel spreading god-follower of the Christian bible, Koran, etc. You need to know which god is the true god first.
Ok. Let’s take a step further. What if the Christian/Muslim/Jewish god was real? Or any other “all-mighty” god for that matter? I’m going to use the Christian god as an example because I was a former christian. What if the christian god really said and did all the acts committed in the bible? Would you consider him a moral god? This god who says one thing and does another. This god who would send people to hell just because they’re not “inlove” with him or because they question his ways. This god who commands that people should not murder, yet orders slaughtering of men, women, and children in the old testament. So. So just because he’s real, you would become his zealous follower? You can’t see for yourself the moral wrongs of this god? Would you be afraid to rebel? I believe it would just be out of fear that you follow him. It is irrational for you to think that this god is right and just.
Even if there was scientific evidence for a supreme and powerful deity, why would you worship it when this deity doesn’t seem to care about the world it has created? When it hasn’t abolished suffering or save those who are crying out from pain. People who suffer, cry out to god, this selfish god not listening to them, and they die without ever having their prayers answered. No hope.
The reason I first stopped believing in god was for moral reasons. The science came later. At first, I thought that even if he was real, I wouldn’t follow him BECAUSE of the horrible deeds done in his name. BECAUSE of the intolerance and bigotry. I believe these reasons to be far more important than the lack of physical evidence.
So thank goodness there is no scientific evidence for god. Thank goodness. But even if he was real, there still wouldn’t be a valid reason to follow him unless you want to subject yourself to his will and become completely intolerant of those want to live their own lives. Our consciences should tell us that it is immoral to do so. What we can all agree to is the universal truth of doing no harm to others. And to help those who are in need. To love. Everyone wants that. We don’t need a god to tell us this. We already know that. After that, devise your own virtues. Everyone is different after all.
If you say that the ONLY reason you’re not a bible thumping god fanatic is lack of scientific evidence, then i would question your moral judgments.
You have to admit, it’s a pretty substantial reason to not believe. This is like saying
“The only reason you don’t believe in unicorns is because of the lack of evidence? I now think less of you.”
When I was writing this, I was directing this at people who were formerly religious and say that they would gladly go back to being … idk… God’s devoted bible fanatic if he only existed. Even if he did exist, there’s still no reason to be his “slave” and shove intolerance down other peoples’ throats because well… it’s still immoral. That’s not love. If an evil god existed and had so much power and required impossible tasks of me, I still don’t think I would follow him for the sake of his existence. That’s what I’m saying. You don’t believe in him because he doesn’t exist… and you STILL shouldn’t revert back to religion even if he DID exist. Agnostic/Atheists post a lot of things about how sadistic & immoral this god seems to be & some have claimed they would still follow his every will if there was just evidence of his existence. That’s fucking retarded. I’m sorry. :\
And I don’t think unicorns would demand total surrender to their will either.
I have a problem with atheists who say that the ONLY reason they aren’t Bible zealots is because there is a lack of scientific evidence for god.
First off, yea there is no concrete evidence for god. BUT there is so much more to being an atheist (or actually deconverting from a religion) than just that.
So if there was scientific proof for god, what kind of god would it be? Would it be the Christian god, the Muslim god, or maybe even a bunch of gods (i.e. Hindu gods)? Don’t be so quick to say you’d be a strong gospel spreading god-follower of the Christian bible, Koran, etc. You need to know which god is the true god first.
Ok. Let’s take a step further. What if the Christian/Muslim/Jewish god was real? Or any other “all-mighty” god for that matter? I’m going to use the Christian god as an example because I was a former christian. What if the christian god really said and did all the acts committed in the bible? Would you consider him a moral god? This god who says one thing and does another. This god who would send people to hell just because they’re not “inlove” with him or because they question his ways. This god who commands that people should not murder, yet orders slaughtering of men, women, and children in the old testament. So. So just because he’s real, you would become his zealous follower? You can’t see for yourself the moral wrongs of this god? Would you be afraid to rebel? I believe it would just be out of fear that you follow him. It is irrational for you to think that this god is right and just.
Even if there was scientific evidence for a supreme and powerful deity, why would you worship it when this deity doesn’t seem to care about the world it has created? When it hasn’t abolished suffering or save those who are crying out from pain. People who suffer, cry out to god, this selfish god not listening to them, and they die without ever having their prayers answered. No hope.
The reason I first stopped believing in god was for moral reasons. The science came later. At first, I thought that even if he was real, I wouldn’t follow him BECAUSE of the horrible deeds done in his name. BECAUSE of the intolerance and bigotry. I believe these reasons to be far more important than the lack of physical evidence.
So thank goodness there is no scientific evidence for god. Thank goodness. But even if he was real, there still wouldn’t be a valid reason to follow him unless you want to subject yourself to his will and become completely intolerant of those who want to live their own lives. Our consciences should tell us that it is immoral to do so. What we can all agree to is the universal truth of doing no harm to others. And to help those who are in need. To love. Everyone wants that. We don’t need a god to tell us this. We already know that. After that, devise your own virtues. Everyone is different after all.
If you say that the ONLY reason you’re not a bible thumping god fanatic is lack of scientific evidence, then i would question your moral judgments.
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” ― Marcus Aurelius
Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.
Mohandas Gandhi (via delucazade)
I’d like to dedicate this to all the brave atheists out there.
(Source: miszpania)
There can be plenty of evidence that somebody loves you. All through the day when you are with somebody who loves you, you see and hear lots of little tidbits of evidence, and they all add up. It isn’t purely inside feeling, like the feeling that priests call revelation. There are outside things to back up the inside feeling: looks in the eye, tender notes in the voice, little favors and kindnesses; this is all real evidence.
Richard Dawkins - Letter to his daughter. Kenyan-born British zoologist and evolutionary theorist. Dawkins’s book The Blind Watchmaker demolished the creationists’ “argument from design.” Dubbed “Darwin’s rottweiler.” Ardent atheist. Wrote best-selling book The God Delusion.
(via helvetebrann)
All over Facebook, people beg for prayers for their loved ones, often describing horrific and near unthinkable accidents and illnesses with life-and-death outcomes… Ask yourself what all of the “prayer” posts really imply. If God truly wanted a child cancer-free, he would simply prevent the cancer, no? If he waits for the baby to be ravaged by chemo before being “healed” (aka: remission), he would be guilty of ambivalence (and sadism?)… All we human beings have is each other, and for every plea to the sky, we should offer 1000 gestures of thanks and support to our doctors, scientists, rescue workers, medical staff, volunteers and the very human hands which provide the true solutions.
Seth (The Thinking Atheist). Read the entire essay HERE. (via teachthemhowtothink)
One of the people that had the greatest impact on my view of the world was Carl Sagan. The way he explained space and our place in the Cosmos was more like poetry than an explanation of scientific fact and logical reasoning. It is truly a shame that such a great person is no longer with us.
Carl Sagan was a poet, and science was his pen. ~ Steve
“Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature.”
― Carl Sagan
People who identify as pagans don’t all believe the same things. Some believe literally that gods or spirits exists, that elaborate ritual is critically important, or that magick can achieve real effects outside of the user’s natural reach. Most books on pagan beliefs and practices belong in this “supernatural pagan” category. This approach is accompanied by a whole panoply of products and paraphernalia, from crystals and cauldrons to chalices, daggers and tarot cards.
But there are others – let’s call them naturalistic pagans, pantheist pagans or atheist pagans - who don’t believe in any supernatural beings, forces or realms. For naturalistic paganism, the pagan gods and rituals are not taken literally but as symbolic expressions of a reverential attitude to Nature, while magick is a kind of therapy or “soul-work” rather than a supernatural way of controlling natural events.
If you clicked on World Pantheism’s ads, you are probably a naturalistic pagan. You love Nature and you may be looking for a form of spirituality that focuses on Nature. But you probably have doubts about some aspects of mainstream paganism – especially the beliefs in magick, gods and spirits – and you may feel uncomfortable in meets where these are taken quite literally.
An earth-centered spirituality
If you are naturalistic, and celebrate Nature, then you will probably find the World Pantheist Movement a congenial community of like-minded folk.
Nature is the center of our spiritual approach. We revere Nature and the wider Universe. We have different ways of expressing those sentiments. Going out into nature is the most common practice, but many of us may add some celebratory or meditative practice. We do so all the while remaining completely naturalistic. We don’t believe in heavens or hells, gods or ghosts, spells or miracles. Instead we focus on our present lives, in our real bodies, on this beautiful planet.
Care and concern for Earth and saving Nature are among our central ethical values. As our belief statement says:
We are an integral part of Nature, which we cherish, revere and preserve in all its magnificent beauty and diversity. We strive to live in harmony with Nature locally and globally. We acknowledge the inherent value of all life, human and non-human, and treat all living beings with compassion and respect.
Saving Nature together
We express these values as a community in several ways. Our active click group at EcologyFund has saved more wildlife habitat than any other religious or environmental group. We also from time to time sponsor ads in EcologyFund which pay for the land to be preserved. And we have a Wildlife Habitat Schemewhere people undertake to manage all our part of their garden or land in the interests of native wildlife.
We have numerous mailing lists about nature-centered ways of living and naturalistic ideas, as well as topical lists and local area lists.
How does naturalistic paganism fit in?
We don’t have fixed rituals as such but we encourage celebration of earth’s seasons and personal life events.
If you have a personal liking for pagan ceremony, symbol or dress, then there’s no problem. We recognize that celebration is always a matter of personal preference. In surveys, we have found that our friends and members’ attitudes to ceremony range widely, from distaste or disinterest, right across to active enthusiasm, with everything in between.From a naturalistic point of view, celebration is an expression and embodiment of one’s own feelings, rather than a magical means of getting around natural laws.
We recognize the freedom of all pantheists to express and celebrate their beliefs, as individuals or in groups, in any non-harmful ritual, symbol or vocabulary that is meaningful to them.
