Atheism and happiness

[The Valkyrie]

To all those who found that it felt like a burden had been lifted once becoming an atheist.
Is it safe to assume that you were never really believers.
How many were true believers here and are now athiests?
Did you try to defend your invested beliefs tooth and nail (to yourself at least) like eg: user: Ronedee.
If you did, why did you change and good people like Eg: Ronedee cannot?
Just curious.

I can honestly say that I was very devout. Granted, I was a kid and didn't know better but there was no doubt in my mind about the truth in my beliefs.

[Whateverist]

"Don’t say, “I am depressed.” If you want to say, “It is depressed,” that’s all right. If you want to say that depression is there, that’s fine; if you want to say gloominess is there, that’s fine. But not: I am gloomy. You’re defining yourself in terms of the feeling. That’s your illusion; that’s your mistake. There is a depression there right now, but let it be, leave it alone. It will pass. Everything passes, everything. Your depressions and your thrills have nothing to do with happiness. Those are swings of the pendulum. If you seek kicks or thrills, get ready for depression. Do you want your drug? Get ready for the hangover. One end of the pendulum swings over to the other.

Anthony de Mello

What is all that even supposed to mean? Nothing is permanent? Well that's unfortunately not always the case, but all the rest seems to be empty words.

I think only someone who has never been depressed will think it is possible to stand outside depression. Self acceptance is possible even in a depressed state. But in depression one finds out just how dependent we all are all the time on the gifts of the unconscious mind. Stoic resolve alone is worthless without insight and understanding to get ones bearings.

[Mudhammam]

On the one hand, nothing is more beautiful than understanding more and more of a breathtakingly complex and godless Universe where natural laws account for brains that in turn determine natural laws. Reality is stranger than fiction and that is exciting at times. On the other hand, it can also be frighteningly lonely, and that many of the brains around me have evolved to be taken in by superstition, which I see in a new (secular) light, and where I am now a minority perspective, is a bit depressing.

[GrandizerII]

To all those who found that it felt like a burden had been lifted once becoming an atheist.
Is it safe to assume that you were never really believers.
How many were true believers here and are now athiests?
Did you try to defend your invested beliefs tooth and nail (to yourself at least) like eg: user: Ronedee.
If you did, why did you change and good people like Eg: Ronedee cannot?
Just curious.

I wish I could answer the question of whether I was a true Christian. I think, in one sense, I was a true Christian as I felt God and accepted the doctrines of the faith and defended the Bible and did lots of things that would indicate I was a Christian.

On the other hand, when I look back, I was lying to myself. One day, I'd be all confident that Christianity is true, the next day, I'd be confused and scared that it may not be true. Then the next day, I'd go back to telling myself it's true. And so on.

At the end, I just said: fuck it, I want to know if what I'm believing is the truth. After lots of research and inquiry, I finally confessed to myself I couldn't really believe this Christian bullshit anymore. But it's possible I was already an unbeliever long before the confession.

[Tonus]

Do you think being an atheist (it doesn't matter if you are an agnostic or gnostic) enhances or diminishes your chances of being a happy human being?

I'm certain that it has some effect, but I think it's different for each person. I have always been a happy and optimistic person in that I could always rationalize things towards a positive outlook. So I was always a happy person as a theist, and I have remained a happy person as an atheist.

[Jaysyn]

I've personally been a lot happier since I gave up religion and became an atheist.

Ditto, although I never really had religion to start with. My happiness came after I realized all organized religions were bullshit at best & stopped worrying about my "soul".

[Whateverist]

I suspect neither the enthusiasm of a fresh convert to religion nor the exhilaration a new atheist feels lasts forever. If ones attitudes and habits have made him happy as one thing, they'll likely do the same post conversion.