atheism.

many people interpret the title idea, an idea very near and dear to my heart, with hesitation or worse, misrepresentation. i hope to set the record straight on much of the ignorance ingrained by atheism's misconceptions. true, these opinions of mine will be just that, opinion, but the very essence and reason behind freewill is not to simply realize for oneself the outdated (yet classic) meaning of right versus wrong, it is to go beyond such childish extremes and find meaning to all the in between of the probable, the possible and the impossible. to put it a little more succinctly, we need to collectively discover and decide on the best logical information available in our existence, and truly believe in it. this is improbable when most of our current rudimentary truths are allowed to be filed as an opinion.

...and most aren't very popular opinions, making them difficult to sell to a consumer population, who believe themselves to live through an insignificant, temporary existence, which holds no influence or connection to a seemingly imaginary past, present and future. this allows followers of the economy to convince each other that leading any form of "large" individual life, is time spent sufficiently enough. but a lot of people "give back," right? ...sure, but most fail to make a real, forceful, collective contribution to true, future-forward progress. this is due to the fact that today's vast majority of "influential" citizens are less equipped with knowledge and rationale than the folks who follow them. it's the deaf leading the blind... but that's another topic.

the other major populous of vehement opinion holders are those who subscribe to any form of organized religion, or earthbound faith. i will not debate the existence of god(s), the fact that i am an atheist clearly proves that i am not convinced by the arguments or evidence, and never will be. atheism does not need to disprove religious ideology, that is the task of science, truth and reality. atheism is simply the collective of scattered individuals, who have overcome civilization's willful ignorance, and our childish fear of life without a conscious, omnipotent creator that rewards and punishes.

but atheism is not anarchism, nihilism, despotism or satanism either. of all the isms contrived by a human mind, atheism is the only idea with no individual agenda, and no specific qualification requirements... other than realizing our true, unified reality. i do not direct this sentiment solely at the religious folk, but everyone who has yet to see the real, my fellow atheists included. the only difference between believers and non, should be just that. when you stop believing in god, it is not an allowance to become a self-serving, doomsday disciple who runs their mouth about the triviality of existence, and the death of meaning. our existence has no less importance with the absence of a creator, on the contrary, the movement beyond such archaic beliefs is yet another pivotal moment of mankind's brief, but rapid evolutionary gamut.

to be honest, atheism is not designed to be a "belief" system. the absence of god is not an idea to rally behind, but an obvious truth that simply needs to be realized. this leaves out an area of the human condition known as faith, and faith (not god) is truly what has kept our people alive and thriving on this lone planet. unfortunately, faith is almost always misinterpreted, misrepresented or misunderstood, and has been since our ancient ancestors decided to give names to the complex emotional, mental and physical genetic desires that linger, to some degree, in every living entity. i will not get into the myriad ways we have managed to misconstrue these understandably confusing growing pangs, or our incredibly imaginative, but detrimental ways of expressing such fables, instead it is my hope you will realize these fallacies yourself. i will say, however, that this idea of faith, or sense of hope that most of us share is not futile and is not some sort of evolutionary mistake, it is simply the result of life being conscious enough to realize the contradiction that arises when intelligence seeks everlasting harmony in a mortal form, on a temporary plane of existence. like all our other extraordinary traits, our faith is something we must utilize properly, another perspective we must learn to focus.

so what, you ask, is worth our faith? we are. life is. existence. our future generations and theirs. life has molded a near perfect form of all it's abilities, but it is up to us to decide to recognize and use them correctly. every day should be lived in wonder, respect, understanding and faith for our past, present and future, and all of our hope should be placed in finding sustainable harmony in our existence and evolution. whether it be on this planet, another or voyaging through space, we all need to have faith in biological survival. currently, the only suitable ism we should wholeheartedly embrace (on a global scale) is humanism... but, that too, is another post.