Freethinker's corner

I will not go quietly into the night!

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  • PROUD ATHEIST? 250814

    Does being a “proud” atheist make any sense? If you consider the millions and millions of individuals that have been co-opted by religion and how difficult it is in society to steadfastly be different, it does require a measure of courage to remain unaffected. There are multiple religions, using almost the same offer, that of immortality; the pressure to follow one is real. The desire for socialization is such in the human psyche that it becomes a need to belong, almost a requirement for mental health. This pressure was created gradually over time by evolution. Those that socialized were more likely to survive and pass on that trait to descendants. It is an inherent part of the species to want to be around others and use that power to survive. A solitary individual is not as likely to overcome selective pressures and survive.

    To remain unaffected by all of the social pressures to conform requires a strength of will, as some try to conform even knowing that religions, all religions, are balderdash. To proclaim you do not want to conform, in a society that nearly requires it, takes a mental strength that is rare. Atheists are a minority for this reason.

    My conclusion is then: Yes, it is good to be a “proud” atheist. In the face of pressure to adopt fictional religion, to remain steadfast is something to take pride in. Do you suppose that is why pride is considered a sin?

  • FEELINGS CANNOT BE IGNORED. MAY, 4, 2025

    As you progress through life, you gain experience. At some point you reach a plateau; it is inescapable, and that plateau becomes you. Everything is viewed and judged by those attributes present in the plateau. You can try to change, but you find eventually that the changes are superficial. They are like a front. It’s what you want on an intellectual level, but it isn’t you.
    You come to know what you consider normal. You might say this is at a gut level. No matter how you pretend, you, your self inside, have already set, like a gel, or even like cement, a viewing perspective.

    You can say that so and so is a normal behavior, but you fail inside to change your “gut” perspective. You simply cannot change the feeling that there are some things that dwell in the category of the mentally unstable. You can deny the feelings. The feelings remain. You feel like a hypocrite. If you do not deny the feelings, there are many who would label you a bigot. The artificial façade goes up.

    All of your life you have been given perspectives of what to expect from “normal”. No matter what you claim, you can never change, not inside.

    To be honest and truthful, you must admit to yourself that certain behaviors, certain anomalies, can only fit properly in the column designated “mentally ill”. To accommodate others, the façade remains in place.

    Then, is uncomfortable an adequate word as to how you feel? Or is it worse than that? Most certainly, how people see you is not how you truly are.

    Some will see through your artificial front. A slip here or there is impossible to avoid. Once they see through the veil their own prejudices, perspectives, and assumptions… form the vision they have of you. They really do not see the truth any more than you do. They only have, and will ever have, only what they assume.

    So what next? At that point I say to hell with everyone else, not that I believe in such foolishness, but you must be true to yourself.

  • There is no… February 23, 2025

    … Noah, was no Noah, he was the fictional character in a story written before humans knew better. He did not live 900 years.

    … Moses. Yet another creation of imagination. A supposed leader.

    … Jesus. There is no record of him anywhere. There is no evidence of a singular person with amazing powers roaming the landscape.

    … God. An invention of a human who could not bear living without the parents, or leaders that have past. A father figure, to keep that feeling of helplessness at bay.

    … Ark, to seek.

    … Biblical reality.

  • Disconnet… December 5, 2024

    Is that man a man, or a woman masquerading playing a role?
    Is that woman a woman, or a man masquerading playing a role?
    Is that man or woman a deviant, who is masquerading for a purpose?
    Parents worry for their children over many things, now they have one more.

  • Old Fashioned Get Together

    Wanted: Large Torch-bearing Mob.
    Purpose: Cauterize festering open sore.
    Proceed to:
    214 Massachusetts Ave N
    Washington DC
    Goal: Sterilize everything in sight.
    Nature: Urgent!

  • The Fragility of Knowledge: Humanity’s Quest for Continuity… July 18, 2024.

    You make your mark and then expire. You came, you lived, you died. There is no steady, no flow, no continuance. Unless you make an indelible mark, once you expire, the book is closed, and may never be opened again.

    Less than a flash, more like a sparkle, your length of existence is deplorably short. It seems such a waste to invest effort in establishing improvement, when, after remarkedly little time, you will be gone and forgotten.
    The mighty sun that controls the orbits of many planets lasts billions of years. The Earth itself has been approximated at 4.5 billion. Life may have begun shortly after the solidifying of the planet. Macro life, much younger, is still estimated over 500 million years.
    There is no strong continuance. One generation leaves some information for the next, but then they die, taking the nuances with them. It’s like each generation scrapes the scum from the top of the vat, all the details below being consigned to oblivion. Information accumulates, yet one life is inadequate to assimilate it all, no one man is capable of knowing all that has been learned, much less have time to add to it.
    How does humanity improve from generation to generation? A record of what has been learned has been scribed. A fragile pool of information, vulnerable to the next catastrophe. If another asteroid comes at this early date all could be lost. It must be admitted that if no one survives, no one can learn from the information… If there is any recovery, whatever intelligence that follows, will have to start anew.
    You have to wonder if life is just an exercise in futility.

  • THE BEWILDERING STATE OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR 240701

    Humans seem extremely self-harming. The use of substances that directly do harm to their frail bodies seems to be insane.

    There are many substances that interact with the biological processes within the body. Some of these substances are proven safe and help to improve the well-being of the body. Others, though mildly affecting, do harm. Still others are downright dangerous.
    There are medications, there are stimulants, that have been used safely for many years:
    1. Caffeine.
    2. Aspirin and other pain medications.

    Some substances are safe in regulated doses. Many are hallucinogens, or produce effects that are illusionary. Some make you feel strong, others merely strange. These that produce such marked effects are dangerous. The majority produce either psychological or physical addiction.
    The mystery is why they will do this to themselves, even knowing they will deteriorate. Why would any sane person even try something that will cause degradation?
    Perhaps they are seeking something to help them to endure the hardships of life, or to ease the boredom and humdrum. There really is a choice involved. The human could choose a physical activity, perhaps read a new book, engage in a sport like skiing, bowling, or even croquet. Anything but administering lethal substances to create artificial escapes.
    No, many choose the “low road”. Myriad illegal and legal drugs are chosen and abused. The greatest “high” is sought. Many times they soar so high, they die.
    Instead of striving in the real world to better their state, they seek betterment with illusionary effects produced by drugs. What has to be asked is: are they mentally unbalanced? Are they insane? What drives these pitiful human beings to hasten their demise?

  • The Monster Among Us. 240623

    Its purpose is promised good. Its dictates are passed from parents to child. It is touted for teaching moral behavior, yet all it has provided is grief.

    Like a virus, it perpetuates itself, spreading like the disease it is. Thinking itself is the victim of this malady. Good becomes evil, evil becomes good in its light.

    There are many varieties from which to choose. Some are more malicious than some others. All can be totally evil if every aspect taught is adopted.

    Without exception all varieties claim supremacy. Each separate one folk from another. These precepts, it seems, were only meant for tribes. One tribe is said to be inferior to another, or the other way around. With these viruses around humanity will never be united, will always be at war… one group against the other. No peace is possible.

    How can something that is so treacherous be taught as good? When that something is all you know, you cannot draw distinctions. With nothing to compare it to, you can only accept what you are told. Let’s change that.

  • Proof? May 22, 2024

    Christians, Muslims, and Jews, plus others, have had thousands of years to prove the existence of their gods. Charlatans were plentiful, but others were extremely fervent believers. They were desperate to prove that their god, was god… the only god.

    Thousands of years have past. No believer has ever proven the existence of their god. If it were possible, if their god existed, at least one fervent believer would have succeeded during those years.

    No god has ever been shown to exist even in the slightest. This would make gods merely mental constructs. Human imagination is very powerful. Humans… made gods to replace their parents after their deaths.

    Conclusion: Despite arguments to the contrary, the lack of evidence, the inability to present evidence, is positive proof of the non-existence of gods.

    Go ahead and die if you wish, oblivion awaits.

  • The Value of Life … April 18, 2024

    What if “this is it”? What if there is no soul that carries on beyond death. You die and you are dead, from that point no awareness, no consciousness, just nothing… a nothing you are not even aware of. Life would be considered precious.

    Religion offers the promise of eternal life. Paradise without end. At least they think that.

    What value would this life, this organic life we live that lasts less than 100 years? How does this life, the only one we have, compare to eternity?

    To exercise maximum control over its subjects, religion must have you ready to sacrifice your life in service to it. If your life is cheap here, then you won’t mind losing it, as you will then enter a new life for eternity. Religion cheapens this life.

    Religion paints itself as pure, totally good. It hides behind this veneer to lure its victims. In reality, religions, all religions… are evil. Any religion that can elicit behavior from its subjects, in effect, directing them, is evil incarnate. The leaders, of course, being human, will never fail to direct the followers to assume their causes, their self-interests. They promise paradise eternal. They deliver war and suffering.

    Religions carry negative value. They always have.