How Does Not Having Faith Effect Your Life
How Does Not Having Faith Effect Your Life
Occasionally find myself envying people with faith and wonder how my life is different than theirs.
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I feel like, at their core, most religions boil down to two things, for most people:
- Giving you purpose/security/scapegoats ("I'm living a good life so I can go to heaven," "the Lord has a plan/is watching over me," "Satan/sinners/demons tempted me")
- Dissuading you from inquisitive, critical thought (out of self-preservation, I'd imagine)
Personally, I prefer to define my own purpose, live a more "dynamic" lifestyle than is traditional, think critically, and question authority. Doesn't make me "better" than religious folks, in fact they're probably overall happier than I am. But I can't imagine living that way, regardless of whether or not I believe in a magical sky Santa who can't decide whether he loves us unconditionally or whether or not he's actually omnipotent.
There's that, but also along with it comes an enormous sense of community. It's a lot easier to find friendship and companionship when you're in a group dedicated to a purpose that meets regularly, and it's a very attractive concept and feeling, even if people don't realize it.
I can relate to this. I'm a full blown atheist, someone who just doesn't have any doubt on their beliefs for religion.
Even then, when I visit my besties Eastern Orthodox Church once in a blue moon (probably for a significant personal occassion or learning a new Holiday I never celebrated), I still feel an overall sense of community at her Church, and it helps that everyone i've met there is so nice.
I don't believe being a Christian (especially a conservative Christian) is the lifestyle for me, and I just can not bring myself to believe for a moment in it, but even with that, the vague sense of community is still there. Makes for a pleasant trip at least.
For sure, there’s no community as large and passionate as religion. BUT there are other communities that are centered around goodwill to others, living a better life…some of them even have chanting, if you feel like you’d be missing that part lol.
Those communities usually involve doing work though (volunteering, performing, teaching, etc.) while you can just show up to church and kinda pay attention, and you’re in.