There’s lots of reasons I’m happier being an atheist than a religious believer. One reason is that I much prefer feeling like an ordinary person rather than a special “chosen” child of God. Or of a guru, which amounted to the same thing in the Eastern religion I belonged to for 35 years. (Radha Soami Satsang Beas taught that the guru is God in Human Form.)
Among many weird things that I used to do was thank god/guru for mundane things like finding a parking space in a crowded downtown, or being met with a series of green lights when I was late getting to our local RSSB meeting on Sunday. My magical thinking led me to believe that unlikely events in my life were mini-miracles brought about by god/guru intervening to make something good happen.
It’s a pleasure to have those days be just a tiny reflection in the rear-view mirror of my life, a distant memory that now means nothing to me. Here’s an example of how I’ve changed.
Last Tuesday I had an appointment to bring my recently leased 2026 Tesla Model Y Juniper to a business here in Salem, Oregon that was going to put XPEL paint protection film on parts of the car prone to getting chipped paint, plus XPEL XR Black 70 tint on the windshield and front side windows to reduce infrared heat absorption without noticeably darkening the glass.
My wife was out of town, so Jim, a long-time friend, agreed to pick me up at the business and drive me home, where I could use the Subaru Crosstrek that I still own.
Jim and I get together for coffee and conversation at a coffeehouse almost every Sunday at 1 pm. I’d been idly thinking about paying for Jim’s scone and cold brew the next time we got together, but it had escaped my mind as I was paying for my order, latte and bagel. Until I saw Jim walking into the coffeehouse just as I was about to press my credit card to the payment machine.
As Jim walked up to us, I said to the clerk “Don’t let this guy pay for anything. It’s on me. Well, unless he wants everything in your display case to go.”
As I was toasting my bagel, I was struck by the fact that Jim and I had driven separately, left our homes at different times, and yet arrived at the coffeehouse in a perfect way for me to buy Jim’s drink/food order: me arriving first and Jim slightly after. Then another unexpected happening happened. A woman I knew from my Tai Chi class walked up to our table with a vegan oatmeal cookie on a plate. She told me, “This is the cookie that I’ve been telling you is simply amazing; the knife is for you to cut it in half and share it with your friend.”
We thanked her. She walked away. I told Jim, “Man, first you get your coffee and scone paid for, then you get half of a tasty oatmeal cookie. Good karma is flowing over you.” Implication: from taking the time and trouble to give me a ride home from the car business.
Religious believing me would have taken the good karma remark seriously. Atheist me said it jokingly. There are so many things going on in everybody’s life every single day, that seeming “mini-miracles” happen frequently by coincidence alone. Usually Jim and I arrive at the coffeehouse at considerably different times. Sometimes he gets there first; sometimes I do.
Yesterday we arrived at close to the same time. That’s happened many times before; it will happen many times again. But this time felt special, because I used it as an opportunity to pay for Jim’s order. And my Tai Chi friend frequently meets with a female friend of hers at the coffeehouse while Jim and I are there. So it wasn’t unusual to see her; this was just the first time she’d bought a cookie for me and Jim, even though recently she’d told me how much she loves the cookie as we were chatting before our Tai Chi class started.
Life simply is what it is. We humans love to make special stories out of seemingly special events. Nothing wrong with this. We’re story-telling creatures. But religious belief can raise stories from the “special” to “miraculous” category. There’s a lot wrong with that, since it elevates ordinary events into a sphere that fosters divisiveness: “God loves me more than you; just look at this prayer that was answered.”
Not sure if this quote really fits here, but it’s been on a post-it note hanging around my desk and I want to get rid of the note. It came from a guided meditation I listened to on my iPhone: “Awareness has no preference for one experience over another.” I like that sentiment, even though I don’t fully understand it.
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Glad that God showed you the error in your ways and that It was a mistake . But you do have a promising future because I promise everyone dies.
??? yep, everyone dies. that means no future after you are dead.
Everybody has the same future being death is how I meant it. We aren’t dead yet. I promise.
well written. Nothing like confirmation bias to feed religion. the most offensive of this is when some theist claims how wonderful it was that some god saved them, and they conveniently forget about the family down the street who lost everything.
So who do you thank now ?( For parking space and coffee and such) . Who do you thank for the good life? Your wife??
Recently been watching some Meher Baba devotee videos. Many of these devotees interpret whatever happens to them as “Baba’s will.” That is, they believe Meher Baba is literally God, and the events of their lives are orchestrated for their benefit by Meher Baba working behind the scenes.
One woman told of how she was hot to visit India and Meher Baba’s shrine, but when she got to the airport the authorities told her she couldn’t board the plane without a visa. At first, the woman argued with the airport folks that she must go to India now, because she was convinced it was Baba’s will that she do so. But of course, this made no difference to the airline, and she was denied boarding. The lady had to wait a couple of weeks to obtain a visa. She interpreted the forced delay as not being the result of her ignorance of basic international travel procedures, but as “Baba caused this delay” for very real but unknown karmic reasons that were to her benefit. She then went on to tell of other dumb things she’d done, but to her, none of them were dumb mistakes she could have avoided by employing a bit of intelligence. The snafus of her life were all a result of “Baba’s will,” and not her heedlessness.
So I think it’s fair to say that seeing God’s hand in everything that happens to us can sometimes be nothing but magical thinking, and rather self-serving to boot.
On the other hand, if we believe the big-U Universe is impelling everything that happens to us, then how are we wrong in calling out apparent good fortune as an act of God? That’s the Spinozian take anyway, and it has its obvious philosophical flaws.
But doesn’t a hard determinist shift to compatibilism when thanking a woman for a cookie, or springing for a friend’s meal at a restaurant?
Some guru devotees do look like silly magical thinkers. Moreover, these guru devotees often cherry-pick what events they see as Guru’s Will vs. those they see as accidents or the work of nefarious forces.
But hard determinists can be every bit as inconsistent with their own metaphysical view that there’s no such thing as free will. To be consistent, they’d have to never blame anyone for their actions. But it seems they have categories for people whom they hold are exempt from blame because they have no agency, and those whom they apparently see as having full agency. Hard determinists sometimes excuse themselves from past actions that hurt people, citing “the universe made me do it.” On the whole, hard determinists are not exempt from the same kind of self-serving rationalizations, any more than guru-devotee types.
For these reasons, I reject both the guru-devotee and the hard-determinist metaphysics at their extremes.
But I have no problem with the metaphysics of gratitude. Whether expressed on the human level or directed at an idea of God, gratitude is always salubrious.
God’s grace and not Gurinders & Jassdeep
These Fraudulent baba like Gurinder Singh Dhillon and Jassdeep the new fake baba
Being with all these high and mighty people shows us Gurinder and Jassdeep are all about filling his ego up and not being humble and meek like a real God men should be.
Even as A Satsangi you should now Open your closed eyes and digest the ugly truth that is Gurinder Singh Dhilion and new clown jassdeep
Disgusting and revolting the way Gurinder lives a shameful way of life which exposed us ans showed us all what he really is, and not the lies he plays out on stage
He is a perfect example of a dogy Baba who is living a dishonest life and enjoying the money and lifestyle of a sold out Baba.
Who handed himself over to the Devil for his worlds lavish livings. Soldout
God would never go near such a horrendous and horrible persons who’s motive is dishonesty and deception against humanity.
No shame No morals No ethics
Sums up Gurinders life as he approaches retirement which is something never to be proud off, out of work still trying to live the disgraceful dream which is Gurinder Singh Dhilion
Such a disgraceful individual who is such a Coward and Liar who will be Punished endlessly by God for eternity
Karma is here for you, times up bud.
You’ve nailed it. That’s what most are afraid to say much less admit. As true as it is I keep hoping there’s a reason for all the falseness we mere mortal saints just can’t see. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
A child can have all the toys they could ever want, even toys that might have cost other children, hundreds of thousands of them, their lives.
But the child blinded by their toys, their sense of superiority or entitlement, doesn’t see it. Those children are invisible to them. Caught up in their pleasures and complaints, they have neither thanks nor shame. And they want nothing to do with either.
Can you even call that human?
I would just call it common. They want to say they are not special, but it takes a special ego to ignore the suffering going on, even the suffering they themselves have caused.
It explains much about why problems persist when we have more than enough to solve them, and have for some time.
When we realize we are nothing, and we can see very little, we are much more careful in our choices. We see that they often have unintended consequences. We avoid making choices that hurt others. We don’t make excuses for them, nor for tyrants.
And then of course we are thankful that we can see some of this. Thankful that we have the power, by controlling our decisions, to avoid harm. We are thankful that was given to us, for in so many other ways we are totally ignorant.
But it means nothing if you are not thankful for that gift of Vivek. For the power to do what may cost us dearly, that which is right and does no harm.
For the you don’t use it, and it disappears, leaving nothing but parochial prejudices. And you lose the awareness the sacred awareness, of the results of your words and actions.
Hi ALL
Ho réactions on my idea of an Eternal Being (A FREQUENCY)
Trying to Find out What IT `IS
MALEVOL OR BENEVOLENTE, perhaps NEUTRAL
ANYWAY : GOOD. IN HIDING
777
GROK
Hello, 7!