Siddharth Raj said 10 years ago:
Hi @theclearmind!
I didn’t go through every reply on this thread, so what I am about to say might have already been said. Apologies for that and the very long post.
I am an Atheist or so I have been told. I also discovered that I am a nihilistic person. I don’t believe in “Good” or “Evil.”
Regarding your original question. I feel that it is impossible to classify any open-minded person as just atheist or any thing else. There are so many questions, unexplained phenomenon, contradictions within a person’s personality and beliefs. Thus, one person may never fit into a set definition. (Exceptions are always there, of course)
I found a word to describe my beliefs as close as possible. That word also depends on my vocabulary, my knowledge. So I am an Atheist until told or discovered otherwise.
About Ghosts. Well that depends on whether ghosts can be scientifically proven or not.
If it is proven in the future that they exist, you will still be an Atheist unless they prove that god exists as well. In that case, the term Atheist will be equivalent to the term for the flying spaghetti monster believer.
If it is proven otherwise (ghosts do not exist), and you still continue to believe in them, then, as far as I understand the word Atheist, you will cease to be one. I do not know the correct term that will be applied for this situation. I feel that Atheism deals with practicality, but I may very well be wrong.
If everything remains a doubt like it is today, you can continue to choose to be an Atheist.
Personally, I believe that ghosts or any other supernatural/ paranormal activity is just an illusion. They don’t exist. Having said that, I will tell you a short story that contradicts this and I haven’t been able to explain the predicament.
My grandmother used to live in a small town. To cut to the chase, a young 3-4 year old boy in a neighboring house started talking about his previous life. He told facts and events impossible for a boy of that age to come up on his own. His parents, fed up, took him to the address in another city far away (yes, he remembered the address!). There, they discovered that his story was completely true. He was murdered by his brother for the family business. He recognized his widowed wife. He remembered every detail about the house. And this is the end of the story.
This is a clear case of rebirth. If rebirth can exist, this means the souls exist. If souls exist, ghosts exist. Now, for me, this should have been a moment of clarity but it wasn’t. Far from it. I still feel that there must be some other explanation to it. The foremost being the story is made up. My grandmother didn’t witness this first hand, so nobody knows how much it was twisted before it reached her ears.
The point of this story was to illustrate that it all comes down to the scientific credibility.
Since, we have already started speaking about souls.
Once again, I feel that it comes down to the scientific aspect.
I “heard” about this experiment conducted some time ago.
Scientists sealed a soon-to-die body in a air-tight, vacuum container. If souls exist, they must have some mass. Now, from what I was told, when the person died, the weight was reduced by a very very small amount. This proves that souls exist.
However, if this experiment actually produced that result, we wouldn’t be having this debate.
Without any scientific proof, we are only stabbing in the dark. I may choose to believe that I killed the last son of a dinosaur and a dragon or I may choose to believe that I am mad or I may just go sit in the corner, huddled up.
Personally, I completely agree with you that souls do not exist. When we are born, it’s all about genetic make up.
Interesting fact: Initially, life was evolved underwater. When it came on land, the eyes had to re-adapt as it was too bright. Even now, our eyes haven’t been able to catch up with our underwater ancestors.
When we die, I believe we cease to exist. It’s like an eternal, dream-less sleep.
Since you mentioned religion. All religions preach the same message about how to be a better human being. There are some differences that arise due to geographical distances.
For eg:
1. Zoroastrianism doesn’t allow dead bodies. They have high tower-like altars on which they place the bodies for the vultures to feed. I assume, this practice came into being to keep the vultures from attacking the live population.
2. The Aryan race that formed the first civilization in India were obsessed with hygiene. Therefore, in orthodox Hinduism, menstruating women are treated as impure and unclean. They are not allowed anywhere near the kitchen and temples. Anything they touch will be washed immediately to purify it.
In the end, I believe God was introduced to religion by scholars to influence the mass uneducated population. You will go to hell if you don’t do this. You will go to heaven if you do this. Fear is more motivating than logic.
Try not to view the religion as a package. Pick it apart and try understanding the origin of the practices you find fucked up. By the whole package logic, I may choose to classify America solely on the wars, rednecks, etc. I may choose to classify India solely on it’s poverty and prudishness. Instead see where they come from.
Having said that, I would add that I am a godless man and I do not follow any religion but I do respect the people following them and try not to hurt their feelings. I hate extremes, of course.
PS: I read someone talking about Buddha running away from a princely life. Gautam Buddha was a prince named “Siddharth”. He got fed up with the materialistic life and left his home leaving everything behind. Very hard for a prince to do. He observed all the misery and poverty spread in the lands. He sat down under the Bodh Gaya tree in Bihar(a state in India) and meditated. He opened his eyes, only when he achieved enlightenment.
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