(September 10, 2012 at 5:22 pm)kindofblue Wrote: So I ask you, how do you live with being an atheist? How do you prevent yourself from turning to superstition? How does the atheist attain solace with a neutral, uncaring universe? These are not "bait" questions. I really have yet to hear from an atheist on these matters.
Simple for me. I care whether my beliefs are true, or at least likely to be true.
The single best way to achieve that is to base them on demonstrable evidence and reasoned argument.
You seem to want to base your beliefs on some sort of feeling you hope to get out of them.
Quote:I think the main reason why I keep teetering towards religion is because I'm scared shitless of a world without a God or a purpose. It's easy to mask my failures and shortcomings with the idea that "everything is happening as it should be." But if I really am the master of my own fate -- holy shit, that's scary. That's not something I think I can handle. But if that's the case, well, I'm gonna have to do something.
Reality doesn't care what you believe. If you want to be comforted by beliefs that are not based in reality, have at it.
Quote:I'm not looking for proof from either side; I've investigated all the proof I care for. What this comes down to is really faith -- what do I, given the evidence before me, think actually happened? And, given that answer, how, then, do I live?
Faith is the excuse people give themselves when they can't provide evidence or reasoned argument to support their beliefs.
Faith is NOT another source of knowledge.
Base your beliefs on faith if you chose, just know that your beliefs are almost assuredly false.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
