Atheist or Satanist

The word atheist seems to conjure images of devil worship, demonic sacrifice and cannibalism even if it’s just some sort of metaphysical cannibalism. Metaphysical cannibals do not prey on the life-blood but the magic, spirit and wonder of humanity.

Just to clarify, atheists generally deny the existence of any conscious being or force that acts outside natural progression, whether this outside force is called God or Satan. Hence religious folk are more likely to believe in the devil than atheists. Those who do choose to worship the perceived dark spirit as opposed to the holy spirit are called satanists. And guess what? Satanism is a religion.

With regards to sacrifice, I am certain that like all humans’ atheists make many sacrifices. However their sacrifices are not to appease, honour, pleasure any metaphysical being. I am not saying that all atheists are paragons of selflessness and that all their sacrifices are for the greater good. As humans we all have the potential for altruism and selfishness, compassion and cruelty, generosity and callousness, openness and constriction, flexibility and rigidity. The choice it entirely yours, “what are you willing to sacrifice?” and “what do you want to gain?”

With regards to cannibalism, metaphysical or otherwise, atheism as a philosophical standpoint does not set out to destroy humanity. Atheists too revere in unexplainable phenomena, intangible (spiritual) experiences and marvel at the natural world. However they believe that when one looks into things deeply, when one really tries to understand then this awe-inspired wonder is multiplied. This is contrary to simply defining incredible natural phenomena just as magic, miracles, grace.

This and my previous posts are not intended to be blasphemous or proselytise atheism, rather my aim was to clarify a point of view that engenders such irrational anger, irritation and venom. In this age of freedom, why do we still persecute alternative viewpoints? If religion is supposed to teach tolerance, then why are the religious so intolerant of contrary philosophical positions?

I greatly admire Richard Dawkins intellect, work and commitment to the Humanist Society. However I am not driven to be a militant atheist. Frankly that is because the beliefs of society, friends and family don’t really matter to me, as long as those beliefs are not imposed on me.

My choice is to sacrifice everything that prevents me from being the best human being that I can be. I choose to honour the human spirit as opposed to dark or holy for humans can transcend this duality.

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Coming Clean

I am an atheist. I have spent much of my life feeling guilty for this gut feeling. Yet denying it, is denying myself. Hence I feel the need to come clean, to state my case. I am an atheist not just because I do not believe in the God principal but, to paraphrase the Marquis de Laplace, “I have no need for that hypothesis”. I do not want to be altruistic, compassionate or generous because these acts ensure salvation. I want to be all of those because that is who I am. No perks required.

I have been vegan/vegetarian for most of my life because I do not want to part of the meat trade. Not because this is bad for my soul, but because I don’t think it benefits the planet. In fact my idea of the soul is contrary. It is not some spiritual form that will survive after my body perishes. To me, my soul is the heart of me, the passions, desires, intensions that drive my action and behaviours, forces me to create art, poetry, products, strings of words with meaning. My soul is all that I create that will either survive me or be forgotten with me.

I do not believe in religion, yet Daoist, Vedantic and Zen Buddhist teachings are an essential part of my philosophical outlook. I practice yoga, meditation, mindfulness because it benefits my body, mind, intellect. These practices enable discernment and focused attention. Hence I religiously engage in these practices for selfish reasons.

Even though I do not have faith, I respect people who do if that faith leads them to compassion, personal growth, internal strength. However faith that leads to mindless acts makes me angry. That’s where mindfulness practice comes in handy, I need to be aware of this anger so I prevent it biasing my behaviour. For all actions and behaviours have repercussions. Sounds a lot like karma. My karma does not span multiple lives for it all happens here and now.

My experience and gut feeling about life and the universe is somewhat similar to James Lovelocks, Gaia hypothesis. This hypothesis posits that the Earth is a self-regulating complex system that is constantly evolving. Biological organisms (biota) co-evolve with their environment: that is, they “influence their abiotic environment, and that environment in turn influences the biota by Darwinian evolution”. Hence the evolution of life and its environment are intimately linked. My worldview expands this concept slightly as I believe that every thought, action, deed (conscious or unconscious) either directly or indirectly affects your environment. Hence every being plays a vital role in how his universe was created and will evolve. So I am a universal atheist. And this is where I take a leap of faith. I  mchoose to believe in humanity. I believe that as humans we will ultimately do what benefits the whole.

I present myself as a rationalist, yet my default mode of thinking is intuitive. Scientific exploration fills me with awe and wonder. Physics and chemistry feel like magic, especially when you observe a reaction or phenomena that you cannot explain. However, I hated school because I did not want to regurgitate information that was fed to me, I wanted to objectively and subjectively explore what lies beyond the known. Does this make me a mystic or sceptic? A fake, a fraud, a believer, a seeker?

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Flow: Harnessing Wasted Energy

With global warming looming, the impact of our energy usage being pondered and alternative forms of energy being the most economically viable ventures, energy is definitely on the collective mind. Yet daily we waste valuable emotional, mental and psychological energy.

Worrying about something that has already happened, replaying that old memory tape in the mind over and over again, thats wasting vital human energy. Thinking about how you could have altered your past actions to change the outcome is also a waste of energy, unless you actually change your future actions. Or is this type of thinking opening up wormholes to a multitude of alternate universes? What would the energy impact of this be? Wishing that somebody else will change to make our lives happier, that’s wishing wastefulness.

Can we harness this wasted energy? Ilya Prigogine, the Nobel laureate and chemist described dissipative structures. These are physical systems that harness energy that would otherwise be lost. While humans seem to be dissipative structures, we use energy from the sun that would be lost to maintain our core temperatures, we don’t seem to understand how to harness our own wasted mental energy.

Theres so much I don’t understand, yet the need to conserve energy intuitively feels right. My solution to the energy problem is to conserve both natural resources and psychic energy. That means 2 things.

1. Recycle, repurpose, reuse. 

2. When ruminating on anything, I force myself to stop and ask “is this thought useful or wasteful?” 

Maybe its just me, but the wasteful thoughts seem to far outnumber the useful ones. Hence I now have free time to write blogs, try new yoga poses and practice mindfulness…

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Wanting To Be Normal is a Mental and Social Disorder

While still uncategorised by DSM, this syndrome includes:
-Conforming to what you think is normal at all costs, almost to the point of obsession.
-The belief that you are not normal, hence you have to pretend that you are. The stronger the pretence the more severe the condition.
-Wanting to be the Persona you think will be loved, accepted and approved by your peers, family and employers.
-Feeling like something is missing from your everyday interactions and you just cannot figure what it is.
-Have a feeling that people are always looking at you.
-Hiding everything that you are, that you think others will not like.

Many of us consciously or unconsciously spend much of our lives trying to be fictionalised versions of ourselves. The version that appears groomed, poised, serene, successful, perfectly put together. The image of a swan comes to mind, gliding beautifully on the waters surface. Yet we do not see the little feet paddling frantically, painfully to maintain that image of perfection.

This may have led to the myth of the swan song. Swans are supposed to be silent all their lives but sing as they die. Is that because they expend so much effort trying look perfect all their lives that they are free and happy enough to sing only as they die?

BTW the swan song myth is false, swans do not sing as they die. But would it not be wonderful if they sang throughout their lives? If their swan songs were an ode to their individuality and uniqueness? What would your swan song be? And whats preventing you from singing it now?

“Sometimes I pretend to be normal but it gets boring, so I go back to being me” Anon

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Discover Your Strengths in 15 minutes

Stereotypically us humans are are obsessed with deficits and disorders. To help counter this prevailing tendency towards the negative, psychologists Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman wanted to create a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Positive strengths and virtues. Surely it would be useful, they thought, if people could use a questionnaire to identify their strengths as human beings?

What they came up with was the ‘Values in Action Inventory of Strengths’ (VIA-IS). I suggest you take this. But first a bit of background so that you can understand what it means.

To create the VIA, Peterson and Seligman (2005) came up with 6 virtues and 24 strengths. The core virtues are those identified by philosophers, religious thinkers and others as being central to a ‘good character’ – these are the six main headings in the list below. The 24 character strengths, meanwhile, are those characteristics of individuals that contribute towards these virtues. These are listed under the virtue to which they contribute.

Knowledge (virtue)
Creativity (strength)
Curiosity
Love of learning
Perspective (wisdom)
Open-mindedness
Courage (virtue)
Bravery (strength)
Persistence
Integrity
Vitality
Humanity
Capacity to love and receive love
Kindness
Social intelligence
Justice
Citizenship
Fairness
Leadership
Temperance
Forgiveness/mercy
Modesty/humility
Prudence
Self-regulation
Transcendence
Appreciation of excellence and beauty
Gratitude
Hope
Humour
Spirituality
Take the survey

The VIA-IS can be taken at http://www.viacharacter.org/survey/Account/Register a site run by the VIA institute. You need to register and then the site will save your results so you can always revisit and check your strengths.

Once you have registered with the site, you’ll see there are three different versions: the full survey for adults (240 questions), the full survey for those between 8 and 17 years old (198 questions) and a brief version (24 questions). I’d highly recommend putting in the 15 minutes or so it will take to complete the full survey. While the brief survey is a good indicator, you’ll get much more accurate results from the full survey.

The VIA-IS questionnaire asks you questions that access each of the strengths. It then gives you your top 5 ‘signature strengths’, along with all the other strengths in order, from strongest to weakest. You might be surprised about some of your signature strengths – I certainly was.

More on strengths and virtues

Included in the results is a short description of what each strength means. There is also more information on some of these strengths and virtues on the VIA site – these are linked in the list above. You can also compare your own top 5 strengths to averages obtained by others.

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Are you a Dandelion or an Orchid?

Most humans have genes that make them as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere.

A few, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care.

A provocative new theory in genetics asserts that the genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success. Orchids may be hypersensitive to their environment, have difficulty with certain foods, types of people, situations. This may make it very difficult for them to function well and fully, to thrive as human beings.

Therefore with a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail—but with the right environment and good parenting, their sensitivities and vulnerabilities can help them grow up to be society’s most creative, successful, and happy people. These orchid people may have an innate sense for the subtle issues that confound humanity and find mediums to express these issues in a way that strikes at humanities heart.

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CREATIVITY IN NATURE – COSTA SMERALDA OLBIA

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Are we too clever to create?

Picasso said and I quote: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

From the perspective of brain development, Picasso maybe on to something. The frontal lobes are the last brain areas to fully develop and are considered our control center and home to our personality and ego.

The frontal lobes and ego : how do they relate?

Information processing occurs in various brain areas, like the visual cortex (what we have seen) or auditory cortex (what we have heard). Responses to this incoming information are carried out by yet other brain areas such as the primary motor cortex (voluntary movement – i.e. run away from a lion in front of you) or Broca’s speech area (respond verbally (speak) to alert others of an impending danger).

The role of the frontal lobe is to monitor the functions of these areas. Information coming in from the visual cortex passes to the frontal lobe, which may halt the response i.e. running away from the lion (effected by the motor cortex). This occurs because a second piece of information gets added into the equation by the frontal lobe, that the lion is actually on a cinema screen, hence it is only an image and not an actual lion. The frontal lobe therefore enables some voluntary control over automated behaviours. The rest of the brain and body seems to function almost automatically.

As the frontal lobe develops, our ability to voluntarily control behaviour and responses seem to increase.  Hence we have the ability to control how we want others to see us. This is how the ego develops. The frontal lobe enables us to navigate societal challenges and adapt our behaviours. The better we are at doing this, the more successful we will be perceived. But can we become too good at this? Can we become too controlled? Every talent comes with a tradeoff. When we repress our urge to act spontaneously, we also repress the urge to create.

Quick Tip

The way around this may be to learn to control our frontal lobe function.

The first step is learning to accept our mistakes. In fact when we learn to celebrate our mistakes, with no fear of appearing ‘the fool’ – we may finally be getting somewhere with frontal lobe control. And we too may remain the child-like artists forever.

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Intuition versus Rational

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” ~ Albert Einstein

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Why Intelligence Increases When You Think Less

Intelligence increases when you think less

Guy Claxton in his book “Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind” argues that the mind works at different speeds. Some of its functions may be performed at lightening speed, others take seconds, minutes or even days to complete.

Some of these processes can be speeded up, like we can become quicker at crossword puzzles and math. Other processes cannot be rushed. We need to learn to respect these slower processes and give them the time they need. It is these slower, deeper thought processes that often enables us to lead fulfilling, deliberate lives.

The society we live in seems to operative on the motto “Think fast, we need the results”. This may sometimes be counterproductive.

Each individual learns, thinks and knows in different ways. These modes of mind operate at different speeds and are good for different mental jobs.

The proverbs, “He who hesitates is lost” and “Look before you leap” have opposing meanings. Yet both are true.

Roughly speaking, the mind has three processing speeds.  The first, which is faster than thought is wonderful for situations that demand an instantaneous reaction, like getting out of danger.  This is a reflex action and has evolved in our species enabling us to achieve rather complex manoeuvres without thinking about them.

Then there is thought itself.  The sort of intelligence which involves figuring matters out, weighing the pros and cons, constructing arguments and solving problems. Our society labels people good at solving these sorts of problems as “bright or clever”. Hence most education systems only focuses on developing this type of thinking.

But there is another mental mode that proceeds more slowly.  It is often less purposeful and more playful, leisurely and dreamy. In this mode we are ruminating or mulling things over, being contemplative or meditative. We may be pondering a problem, rather than trying to solve it.

Latest cognitive research show that this leisurely, apparently aimless ways of knowing and thinking are just as “intelligent” as the faster more direct ones. Allowing the mind time to meander is not a luxury that can be safely cut back as your life gets busier.

On the contrary some kinds of everyday predicaments and natural phenomena are better approached with a slow mind. Some mysteries can only be penetrated with a relaxed unquestioning attitude. Scientific evidence shows convincingly that the more patient, less deliberate modes of mind are particularly suited to making sense of problems that are intricate, shadowy and ill-defined – the truly intelligent stuff.

Einstein seems to have used the leisurely, slow mode of thinking and look where it got him.

It seems that we need the tortoise mind as much as we need the hare brain. Ensure that you develop yours, give yourself a chance to daydream. You never know where it may take you.

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