If you're an Atheist, what comforts you?

[Rahn127]

What brings you comfort when life is hard?

There are a couple ideas that bring me comfort.
1. Tomorrow is a new day filled with potential.
2. Whatever is happening today, this too shall pass.

Nothing lasts forever.
Change is the only constant.

I also trust in my own ability to do whatever I must do to survive, but if I make survival my goal, then I may come to a point where I accept homelessness.

So survival isn't my goal. My goal is to thrive.
My goal is to not only provide for myself, but to also provide for others.

The betterment of my species as a whole comforts me.

[Whateverist]

Don't you think that most people are attached to their own ideas?
Atheists too try to have the last word so where is the problem?  

Sure. I just thought that one of a yogi's goals was to be indifferent to such things.  

With no desire for success,
no anxiety about failure,
indifferent to results, he burns up
his actions in the fire of wisdom.

Surrendering all thoughts of outcome,
unperturbed, self-reliant,
he does nothing at all, even
when fully engaged in actions.

There is nothing that he expects,
nothing that he fears. Serene,
free from possessions, untainted,
acting with the body alone,

content with whatever happens,
unattached to pleasure or pain,
success or failure, he acts
and is never bound by his action.

When a man has let go of attachments,
when his mind is rooted in wisdom,
everything he does is worship
and all his actions melt away.

Too bad to see Little Dik miss the mark again and again.  

Oh well maybe he'll try again in the next life.  

[Angrboda]

I once upon a time struck upon what I call "the oatmeal principle." Life is going to be lumpy and smooth, simultaneously, that's just the way life is.

As long as we're quoting, here's something a little more up Little Rik's alley. A favorite of mine from my days as a Hindu from the Indian sage Vivekananda:

Many times I have been in the jaws of death, starving, footsore, and weary; for days and days I had no food, and often could walk no further; I would sink down under a tree, and life would seem to be ebbing away. I could not speak, I could scarcely think, but at last the mind reverted to the idea: "I have no fear nor death; never was I born, never did I die; I never hunger or thirst. I am It! I am It! The whole of nature cannot crush me; it is my servant. Assert thy strength, thou Lord of lords and God of gods! Regain thy lost empire! Arise and walk and stop not!" And I would rise up, reinvigorated; and here I am today, living! Thus, whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish. For after all, it is but a dream. Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Maya. Fear not, and it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.

[Aegon]

I don't tend to need much comforting.  I enjoy good food and discovering hidden truths about the world, via philosophy.  Though since you ask about books and videos, I can pass along a few recommendations.  I find the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius quite stabilizing (the Gia Fu-feng translation for the former; the Stephen Mitchell translation and the John C.H. Wu translation are also good).  I don't remember it much, but my recollection of Markings by former U.N. secretary Dag Hammarskjold offered considerable wisdom concerning the existential situation.

I also find Thomas Cleary's translation of Sun Tzu's Art Of War with commentary comforting, but that may be just me.

I'll second Meditations. Also, The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday is a good introduction to Marcus Aurelius and other Stoic thinkers for people with no understanding and a short attention span (AKA.... me.)

[Angrboda]

Another recommendation, more on the side of deprogramming than comfort, is Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith by J. Anderson Thompson, Jr., MD. It's about how psychology and neurology combine to encourage belief and maintain belief in gods. A fascinating read. And relief from your religious obsessions may provide some comfort. Plus, the kindle edition is nicely priced at $6.

In this groundbreaking volume, J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD, with Clare Aukofer, offers a succinct yet comprehensive study of how and why the human mind generates religious belief. Dr. Thomson, a highly respected practicing psychiatrist with credentials in forensic psychiatry and evolutionary psychology, methodically investigates the components and causes of religious belief in the same way any scientist would investigate the movement of astronomical bodies or the evolution of life over time—that is, as a purely natural phenomenon. Providing compelling evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, and related fields, he, with Ms. Aukofer, presents an easily accessible and exceptionally convincing case that god(s) were created by man—not vice versa. With this slim volume, Dr. Thomson establishes himself as a must-read thinker and leading voice on the primacy of reason and science over superstition and religion.

[The Valkyrie]

I noticed that a number of you suggest meditation.
That is mostly bizarre because through meditation you reach the stage in which God is within and you are that entity.

Very strange suggestion indeed considering that is coming from atheists.  

You’re saying “god” molests people while they meditate?

[Angrboda]

[Rahn127]

God's homophobic because his son is gay.
33 yr old man hangs out with 12 other guys all the time.
Come on now.

[Magilla]

I'm someone in transition who's pretty close to being an atheist, so I would not suggest that atheists have nothing to live for or some of the other ignorant ideas people have about atheists. Just wanted to get that out of the way. 

That said, I am having a lot of depression and anxiety that, back when I was a believer, I'd be coping with by praying. Now prayer is out, so I wanted to ask a general question: 

What brings you comfort when life is hard? I'm especially interested in any book recommendations or videos that I can turn to repeatedly when times are tough. They don't have to be by atheists or about atheism. Any secular source will do. 

thanks

For what it's worth, I comfort myself.

I comfort myself by being a "student" of reality. I learn over time. I try hard to get to know things; some from experience, some from what others report, verbally or in text etc. I have some understanding of the human condition. I know why we go through bad times, (mentally). I know there are techniques which can handle the bad times to get me through. I know that the bad times don't last ad infinitum, they can - and usually do - fall away. Knowing that, is comforting, in that just letting time pass, can be all that's needed to get to better times!!!

I am addressing the part where you talk of depression and anxiety. Physical problems like poor health, joblessness, isolation, or poverty etc., need a physical solution, in addition to taking care of the mental issues.

The better you know reality, (as far as anyone can), the better you are positioned to live within it, and to take care of your depressive or anxious feelings. This is a lifelong project, and it's fun to do, (ie. learn stuff - stuff that's actually useful and real). As a lifelong learner in that way, you never need to be bored. I am happy, that I know I can never know everything, and so will never run out of learning that I can do.

Best wishes, Dragonfly.
Magilla.

[Macoleco]

The laws of physics.

I may be atypical of atheists in that I'm not at all cool with the idea that I am nothing more than a piece of meat that came into this world in 1959 because my parents decided to fuck one night and am destined to be nothing more than worm food. I do not at all subscribe to the platitudes that the finite nature of our lives bestows special meaning there. Indeed, I view that as a very cruel aspect of reality. Being bestowed life and a desire to continue to live while the current situation makes that impossible is the ultimate cruelty.

Maybe I'm not really that rare and many of my fellow atheists share in that viewpoint but will not admit it. But I won't go there other than to raise the possibility.

I think most of my fellow atheists vastly underestimate how amazing this universe we live in really is. Its laws pf physics limit us but that still leaves us amazing possibilities.

I share some of that pain. Indeed I believe that science will eventually give us the chance to live as much as we want (though not forever), and it is a shame we will be dead before that. Nonetheless I believe intelligence will not give us eternal life. I believe there are some universal rules which cannot bet broken.

Regarding the question of OP, I think about the value of my work. I believe it is work what gives life purpose. Through my work, I will give future generations a gift and a legacy. This idea of leaving a legacy also helps me endure almost any hardship. A man worth admiring shound not only leave a scientific or artistic legacy, but also a life worthy of admiration, which inspire the future generations.

I think that one way or another, pain is part of life. And we cannot completely avoid it. Nonetheless there are things that make us better and improve our lives. We should follow those things. I recommend all the volumes of Robert Ingersoll. His way of writing is very inspiring.