A little bit of a personal crisis

[Bad Wolf]

Personal thoughts, feelings, and soul searching. That sort of thing.

So you haven't been convinced by any facts or evidence? You just believe it because you thought of it?

[SilentVex]

So you haven't been convinced by any facts or evidence? You just believe it because you thought of it?

I searched deep inside myself over several years, thinking on if I was atheist, diest, theist, or what. Over that time I couldn't deny a feeling of being connected to the world on a deeper level than simply living on it.

So long story short, from inside myself I came to the conclusion of an energy connecting everything. I named it Aether so I could talk about it with people and not have people make comments pretending I was some sort of Jedi.

[Minimalist]

I believe that all of life is comprised of energy

This is quite simple, really.

If you have some tangible evidence of that position then what you have is a scientific thesis that can be tested and repeated by others.

If you don't, what you have is your own religion and I would say that impacts your identification as an atheist.

[SilentVex]

If you have some tangible evidence of that position then what you have is a scientific thesis that can be tested and repeated by others.

I never said it was testable... I am fully aware of how ridiculous and slightly crazy I seem. ^^" I could've simply asked if an atheist can also be spiritual, but thought that was too vague to give an honest answer.

If you don't, what you have is your own religion and I would say that impacts your identification as an atheist.

And I was under the impression that a religion required an idol or deity of some sort to worship? I could be wrong but, that was what I thought.

[Whateverist]

If you don't believe in gods, you're an atheist. You don't lose that label just because you believe some things without evidence. Labels don't really matter so much.

Pssh, typical apologetics from a Dragonist!~

If you recognize dragonist apologetics I guess your ass must be dragon too, brother.

[Simon Moon]

I never said it was testable... I am fully aware of how ridiculous and slightly crazy I seem. ^^" I could've simply asked if an atheist can also be spiritual, but thought that was too vague to give an honest answer.

Just curious, what caused you to come to your lack of belief in gods?

Was it a 'felling'?

Or was it the correct application of critical thinking and skepticism toward the god claim?

[Minimalist]

If you have some tangible evidence of that position then what you have is a scientific thesis that can be tested and repeated by others.

I never said it was testable... I am fully aware of how ridiculous and slightly crazy I seem. ^^" I could've simply asked if an atheist can also be spiritual, but thought that was too vague to give an honest answer.

If you don't, what you have is your own religion and I would say that impacts your identification as an atheist.

And I was under the impression that a religion required an idol or deity of some sort to worship? I could be wrong but, that was what I thought.

The deists have a 'god' who started the whole universe and then drifted away to jerk off somewhere. No worshiping involved.

[SilentVex]

Just curious, what caused you to come to your lack of belief in gods?

Was it a 'felling'?

Or was it the correct application of critical thinking and skepticism toward the god claim?

It seemed illogical to me first that if there was some great and powerful being in the world that created everything and wanted us to be happy, that it would also condemn diversity and being unique.

Which in my opinion eliminated most every religion but left a god as a possibility. But it also seemed illogical that an all powerful being would create a wonderfully complex universe and said, essentially "F*ck it, I'm done. Too much work." And gone off to play cosmic solitaire for eternity. After all if one had as much power as that it would be odd to simply leave things to their own devices and no longer interact with the universe it had created.

Which threw out the idea of a god or gods. Which is why I don't have a god in my beliefs.

The deists have a 'god' who started the whole universe and then drifted away to jerk off somewhere. No worshiping involved.

But they still have a deity don't they? Even without worship and throwing that bit of the idea of religion away, they still have a deity.

But I don't? So does that mean I'm not part of a religion because I don't have a deity or idol or worship involved?

[Minimalist]

We have some fantastic deist posters around here. None of them have ever been able to explain why they still hang on to the concept of any kind of 'god.'

[Simon Moon]

It seemed illogical to me first that if there was some great and powerful being in the world that created everything and wanted us to be happy, that it would also condemn diversity and being unique.

Which in my opinion eliminated most every religion but left a god as a possibility. But it also seemed illogical that an all powerful being would create a wonderfully complex universe and said, essentially "F*ck it, I'm done. Too much work." And gone off to play cosmic solitaire for eternity. After all if one had as much power as that it would be odd to simply leave things to their own devices and no longer interact with the universe it had created.

Which threw out the idea of a god or gods. Which is why I don't have a god in my beliefs.

So, yes, you used pretty good logic to become a disbeliever.

There are stronger reasons to disbelieve than yours, but you still applied reason and critical thinking.

That leads to an obvious question. Why don't you apply the same critical thinking to your 'Aether' belief'? Why do you rely and your personal feeling for that belief?