Source
r/atheism•
cloudform511

Fellow Atheists: Let's quit with the cynicism. Let's be skeptics without hatred or anger.

I am not talking about accepting religion, I am talking about accepting religious principles. So what am I talking about?

Accepting that something is greater than you, if only for a day.

NO, not a being, not a God. Nothing like that. Accept that an idea is greater than you. Here's how you do it:

  1. Pick something and memorize it. I am currently going through the writings of Buddha and I highly recommend it as a standard place to get your day's mantra.

  2. Meditate on it as you fall asleep. This means repeating it over and over again in your head as you breath out (semi-controlled breathing). Let it sink into your consciousness without thinking about it. Push out any stray thoughts. Possibly do a short one of these upon waking as well.

  3. Let the mantra guide all scattered thoughts during the day. If your thoughts go somewhere else, gently question what they are doing and push them back onto the path. The idea is to let an outside idea be the center of your worldview for the day. Try to push out skepticism of the idea itself (for this day only), instead see how the idea can change you. IMPORTANT: The truth or falsehood of the idea itself is NOT the issue.

  4. Before sleep write a short journal entry, with the top being the mantra itself. Talk about anything, hopefully some of it related. If not, just discuss life that day.

  5. Start again from step 1. If the idea deserves another day, mark it in the journal.

Religious people do this kind of thing all the time with "devotionals" and "prayers" and "bible readings" and "meditations." The path to wisdom is not through cynicism. It is not through pure skepticism. You must let ideas become a part of you.

Posted Jul 6, 2011, 10:39 PM UTC

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RPR1983•

Your post is loaded. You're just buying into the common stereotype given to us by the greater culture.

We're also not interested in converting to Buddhism.

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JuJuOnTheMountainAtheist•

are you vegetarian?

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cloudform511OP•

yep, but I would still eat your heart... if it weren't troll meat.

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cantbebothered•

Meditation has been proved to be good for one's mind and body. The things that come with religion such as threats of hell, demonization of gays, scaring children into belief. These are the things people on r/atheism don't like about religion and religious practices. Also you are saying have a mantra you aren't saying go and pray to some invisible being in the sky to get them to fix the problems you can't be bothered getting up off your ass and fixing yourself. Meditation is good. Blind prayer with the expectation of physical effect on the world around you is pointless.

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cloudform511OP•

Absolutely agree, and yet I think that some people will be hostile to even this suggestion.

Edit: The goal is not to put any lesser value on trying to get religion out of society. It is about making religion secular. Making religion about ideas and worldview -- which is what it really is imo.

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otakumanAnti-Theist•

Blind prayer with the expectation of physical effect on the world around you is pointless.

Amen, brother!

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cantbebothered•

Or sister... whatever ;)

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MerryMortician•

I can be a skeptic without hatred or anger, but leave my cynicism alone.

and um.. on the other shit... how about no thanks.

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cloudform511OP•

Cynical: bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic.

hatred and anger are pretty intimately tied to cynicism...

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MerryMortician•

I can play dictionary too... cyn·i·cal/ˈsinikəl/Adjective

  1. Believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.
  2. Doubtful as to whether something will happen or is worthwhile.

(doesn't sound hateful to me.)

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efriqueKnight of /new•

I shouldn't be angry when religion demonstrably causes direct harm to people I love?

What are you, some kind of monster?

Fuck you and your mantras frankly. Harm was done to someone that matters to me only the day before yesterday. I damn well care about that, and I am damn well angry about that.

Harm was done by a large group, as a matter of policy, quite deliberately, not merely sanctioned by, but organized by a mainstream church, and participated in by a large number of its members. Lies and misrepresentations were used to gain the access that led to the harm. The actions are directly motivated by clear biblical instructions, and were apparently interpreted that way. This is religious people doing what their religion plainly tells them to do, and it causes harm.

If, in fact, I had been more cynical, I might have been cynical enough to not believe the misrepresentations and lies of the religious.

And my response should be to do semi-controlled breathing?!

Accepting that something is greater than you, if only for a day.

fuck right off with your smug sloganeering too.

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cloudform511OP•

I think you might have missed the point sir.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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cloudform511OP•

other people don't though.

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[deleted]•

Actually i am an atheist precisely because i see no reason to be meditating or praying or mantras or ANY of that hairy fairy rubbish.

I have no god complex, i do not think i am the single greatest thing to happen to the world, i think i am just a guy trying to live my life without gullible sheep pushing their brand of bullshit on me.

Be it Jebus, Allah or some mind numbing "just meditate and embrace reality" crap.

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cloudform511OP•

Have you ever listened to or read Sam Harris?

Calling all past insight "crap" is cynicism indeed.

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[deleted]•

Accepting that something is greater than you, if only for a day.

Greater in what way?

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cloudform511OP•

Greater than your skepticism. Even if you think "oh, it's not REALLY true that all that I am is what I have thought", you still let it guide you. You still hold it as true for a day and see what meaning it brings.

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[deleted]•

Not "greater than what", "greater in what way"? I suppose it doesn't matter though, since what you're describing doesn't really sound like a comparison of greatness at all, plus the second you think "it's not REALLY true", skepticism has already won out. After that, it's a kind of idea theater.

I've played theater with ideas I disagree with plenty of times. I learned that people have no trouble laughing when you make fun of Jewish people while they're not around. Also, if you dress like a gang member, people will treat you differently. But what is dressing like a gang member anyways, right? You should try it out; assuming fashion hasn't changed, get a Ben Davis shirt and some Dickie pants, and spend a day being a racist piece of shit. You'll learn a lot.

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cloudform511OP•

Greater than your skepticism. Even if you think "oh, it's not REALLY true that all that I am is what I have thought", you still let it guide you. You still hold it as true for a day and see what meaning it brings.

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cantbebothered•

Trying to hold something false true can be a dangerous thing. "I can fly" or "I can kill people and get away with it" or "Gays are immoral" or "Condoms help spread aids". I would much rather hold true something that is true. This is not about skepticism. This is about honesty. I don't know is far more honest than a fairy tale. I don't deny that there are things greater than me in this universe. You only have to look at the vast and incredible universe we live in to feel lucky to be part of something so much bigger than yourself. To have something so wonderful as this universe as our playground. Skeptics do still see beauty in the world and accept that the forces of the universe and nature are far more significant than we will ever be. Religious people tend to use god to make themselves feel morally superior and more important. Yes skeptics use their senses and logic to make choices and that may make some of us appear more intelligent than some christians. Skepticism is a gift and one I wouldn't be without.

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BDS_UHS•

That doesn't make any sense. Skepticism is a methodological approach to new ideas, not an idea itself. As a scientifically minded species, we have yet to find a safer or more accurate way of analyzing new information.

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cloudform511OP•

All "knowledge" per say, from our perspective, is because of where we sit. Because of the ideas that we hold valuable.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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HermesTheMessenger•

Didn't someone else post this earlier ... and then when asked for examples admitted they had very few to none?

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cloudform511OP•

I have no idea.

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