I am an atheist with Buddhist philosophies that practices
Wicca. Because of this I get asked about my thoughts on “God” quite often.
After all, based on what is commonly believed about Atheism, Buddhism and
Wicca, I seem to be rather self contradictory.
So, I am writing this to try and explain where I come from spiritually.
Before I get into this, I want to redefine a term. Because I
am lazy, I am going to use the word ‘believe’ quite often. The fact is I do not
really believe anything. I do, however, have several hypotheses that I lean
toward. Since ‘I believe’ is a lot easier to type and read than ‘I hypothesize.’
You can assume that if I say that I believe something it actually means that I
have a hypothesis that currently has me leaning towards a certain thought or
concept.
I should first explain my own religious history. I was born
into a Baptist family, but was never forced to adhere to any religion. At the
age of seven my book of choice to read was the Bible. At the same age, I made
the choice to attend the First Christian Church. I was twelve the first time I
read the Bible from cover to cover and I spent my teenage years studying
scripture in-depth and learning the original intent of the words as they were
written in the original Greek, Hebrew and Chaldean. By the time I had graduated high school I was
constantly challenging my minister on his interpretations.
Once I became an adult I began to study other religions
including ancient religions that far preceded Christianity. It did not take me
long to realize that everything that I had spent so many years studying in the
Bible were actually adaptations of stories and myths that came from those
ancient belief systems. I also began to study science. The more I studied
science and religious history the more I was able to understand where religion
came from. Why religion was created in the first place and why it persists
today. Those understandings lead me to accept that it is highly unlikely that
there was ever a conscious creator of the universe.
There it is, I am an Atheist because there is not a single
bit of scientific evidence pointing to the possibility that a God/Creator
exists, but there is plenty of historical evidence to indicate that one was
simply made up.
So what do I believe? I believe that all of existence is
energy. Even the densest objects in the universe are still forms of energy. I
believe that everything that makes up a personality, all thought, emotion,
desire, etc. is a form of energy. We call that energy consciousness. We know
that different forms of energy can interact with and influence other forms of
energy. I believe consciousness is no different. I believe that conscious
thought and desire can and do influence other universal energy forms. We know
that energy cannot be destroyed, but it can be transformed. Here is where my
concept of ‘god’ comes from. Throughout history mankind has needed to believe
in gods for various reasons. Out of this desire they created thought forms to
be the gods that they needed. The power of their beliefs actually brought into existence
their gods by manipulating and transforming existing universal conscious
energy. Therefore, gods did not create us, we created them. And they DO exist.
They are actual forms of energy no different from the energy that makes up your
own personal consciousness. They exist just as surely as you exist. I believe
that when mankind advances to the point where we no longer need gods, then they
will no longer exist. They exist because they are believed in.
What about prayer? I believe that prayer is a conscious
attempt to manipulate energies and bring about ones desires. By directing that
attempt to a specific god we are able to focus our intent and strengthen our
belief. It is not a god that answers prayers, but rather our focusing of consciousness
that manipulates the universe to make what we want to happen come about.
When I get to this point in my explanation people then ask, “Well
what happens after we die then? Do you believe in Heaven or Hell?” As far as
Heaven or Hell goes we make our own and live in it every single day of our
lives. As for an afterlife? Here is my thought. Conscious energy is universal.
Think of it as an ocean. If you take a glass and dip it into the ocean you have
a single glass of water. It is unique. You can dip several glasses and each one
is going to be an individual glass of water. Now think about the consciousness
of each person. If it helps, think of that consciousness as a soul. That has
become the common term used for what I am talking about anyway. When a person
is born he or she becomes a vessel, like the water glass, that holds the
conscious energy that makes up their soul. Now, let’s go back to those glasses of water.
Take one of them, hold it over the ocean and destroy the glass. What happens to
the water? It goes back into the ocean. Now grab a fresh glass and try to fill
it with the exact same water that was in the one that was destroyed. You can’t.
It is impossible. Now it is possible that you might end up with some water
molecules that were in the previous glass, but you can’t possibly get the exact
same glass of water. I believe that when we die, our conscious energy goes back
to the universal ocean of consciousness and as other people are born, a little
bit of who we were ends up as part of each of them. Maybe that is why so many
people have past life memories of being Napoleon :-D
So, why do I claim Buddhist philosophies and practice Wicca?
The peaceful nature and concept of coexistence that is the basis of Buddhism is
very close to my heart. I understand what Buddha went through as he was trying
to understand human suffering. I understand the conclusions that he came to and
I desire to live as peacefully as possible much like he did. As far as Wicca
goes, remember above when I talked about focusing energy to bring about ones
desires and how praying to gods helps bring about that focus? The practices and
rituals of Wicca do that for me. I feel very close to nature. I feel most at
home when I am alone in the forests, or floating in the oceans. Wicca is a
religion based on nature, on the earth and the cycles that the earth goes
through. I can relate to those things a lot easier than I can relate to an
unseen god. It is a lot easier for me to bring about the changes in my life
that I need, if I have something tangible that I can attach my thought forms
to.
There you have it. The convoluted spirituality that makes me
who I am today. But do you want to know the really amazing thing about my
spirituality? I am willing to change my ‘beliefs’ if it becomes obvious to me
that I am wrong. :-D
