Northern Ireland

Okay, fine.  Chris and Sara both e-mailed me yesterday to inform me that neither of them are atheists, but agnostics.  I'd relied on a couple of very casual conversations from years past, when I thought they'd referred to themselves as atheists when I described them as such.  It's possible that their beliefs have changed.  Or I was making assumptions based on past comments that suggested they were non-believers, and retroactively paraphrased them, failing to consider the possibility that non-believer could go two directions:  one a non-belief in world religions, the other a non-belief in "god".

I came across the various agnostic/atheist variations in my research*, but opted against any discussion in my last post because it was already plenty wordy.  But here it is: 

By simplistic, pop-culture definition, agnostics neither believe nor disbelieve in the existence of deities, ie, they don't know whether there is "a god".  By strict definition, agnostics believe that humans are incapable of knowing whether there is a god.  Within agnosticism there are agnostic theists, who believe a god exists but claim no personal knowledge of god, and/or do not believe that personal knowledge of god is possible.  And there are agnostic atheists, who don't believe in god but don't deny the possibility.  Atheists do not believe there is a god, period. 

I don't hold steadfast convictions on the matter, so I'm not a strict atheist, either, but fall into the agnostic atheist category.  I don't think there is a god, but what do I know?  I don't.  I don't and can't know with 100% certainty.  I just find it unlikely.  Chris specifically qualified himself as an agnostic theist, so it would appear that we are on opposite sides of the same coin. I think we can agree that organized religion is bullshit.  Am I wrong?

Here is what I believe:

I believe that our higher level of consciousness (as compared to other fauna) is the result of evolution/natural selection.  I don't believe we were "chosen" by some higher power.  Sort of the opposite, actually.  Physically, we were too weak and ineffectual to competitively exist in the animal kingdom.  Emerging triumphantly from a match of wits was the only chance we had to survive.

But physical survival/increased intelligence came with some complications, namely, the human condition.  We moved beyond the physical urges necessary to species survival (eat, procreate) and started asking ourselves "why?"  I expect that belief in a "god" probably also evolved as a survival instinct.  As a species, we need to believe that there is a "why", otherwise, there's not much point in being alive.  We need God to keep the suicide rate down.

I believe that organized religion evolved when a few greedy and really convincing public speakers recognized and took advantage of the opportunity to capitalize on our common need to believe that our lives have meaning and purpose.

I have encountered some spiritual/psychic phenomenon that leads me to believe that there is another realm of existence beyond our physical life.  Call it spiritual consciousness, or your immortal soul, or whatever**.

I don't believe that there is an omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient CEO in the sky overseeing the whole operation***.

But I could be wrong.


*consultation with an omniscient and omnipresent (though not omnipotent, at least, not yet) authority.

**non-human lives included.  Don't judge or be skeptical; you've never encountered Ghost Cat.

***If there is, s/he is doing a spectacularly bad job. Of course, we humans seem to have an enormous capacity to persist in believing in the authority of individuals, even after they've failed us spectacularly.  I understand that one of the former heads of Lehman Brothers now teaches business at Harvard or something... but have to watch Inside Job for specifics.