Hello from a lifelong non-believer

[PessiOptiMystic]

Hello, everyone!

I've been reading on here for a while during my work breaks on tapatalk.  I thought it might be time to introduce myself and maybe join in a few conversations here and there.

A little about me:

I'm a natural born skeptic.  I never fell for Santa Claus, although I sometimes wanted him to be real; much like the appeal of an all-loving creator.

I remember testing prayer when I was five.  I thought of the most selfless act of kindness and love that I could imagine and prayed with all of my will for it.  No answer of any kind along with the continuation of suffering in the world spoke volumes in my mind.

I was never forced to attend church.  My parents weren't non-believers, but they didn't actively practice any religion and were mainly just disenchanted by their moderate religious upbringings and the problems that accompany them.

I've attended services in probably over 100 different churches, mostly Christian denominations.  I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana- the City of Churches.  We have over 500 churches of most every stripe and color.

I've been active in the atheist communities in varying degrees over the years since about 1995.  I was involved in a few local freethought groups over the years, but I haven't been active for a few years now.

I've started writing again about religion, atheism and everything else.  I'm using atheistforums (among other resources) as inspiration for my ongoing projects.

I've come to the point in my life where I just want to record my thoughts, ideas and opinions about religion, morality and philosophy into concrete form for people to take or leave on their own accord.

The days of debating, arguing and debunking I consider to be mostly over.  I'll probably just comment whenever it seems clever.

I've briefly met Richard Dawkins and thanked him for his tireless efforts.

I've talked with Sam Harris and William Lane Craig- a chronic master debater.

I've had drinks with Christopher Hitchens.  One of the fondest nights of my life.

I've yet to meet Daniel Dennett to round out the four horsemen.  I hope to meet him someday.

I talked briefly with PZ Myers at the Creation Museum in Kentucky.  I love his blog and dedication.

There are others and plenty of stories to be told, but that should give you a good idea of my history.

If a label must be applied, I identify as a secular humanist.  I believe religion is the bane of humanity, so I suppose that puts me in the anti-theism camp.

I look forward to talking with many of the people here that I feel I somewhat know just based on reading their writings.

[Mr.Obvious]

Welcome, to this our little band of heathens.
Good to have you.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Greetings from a Boilermaker! I used to live around Marion. And I've been a rational person my entire life. I do expect a death bed conversion, of course. My fundy cousins have guaranteed that would happen.

[Baruch]

Welcome also.  I hope you find much material to think about.

[Solomon Zorn]

Another fellow Hoosier! Welcome! I live over by Lake Michigan.

Think John Gregg has a chance at becoming our new governor?

[SGOS]

Wow!  You seem to hob nob with the big players.  I haven't met any of those guys.  But then I hardly meet anyone anyway with my hermitism.

[PickelledEggs]

Welcome to Hell.

Btw, Hell is where the cool kids hang out 

[Baruch]

Wow!  You seem to hob nob with the big players.  I haven't met any of those guys.  But then I hardly meet anyone anyway with my hermitism.

If you would shift to hermeticism ... all your relationships would be golden ;-)

[SGOS]

If you would shift to hermeticism ... all your relationships would be golden ;-)

OK, I had to look that one up.  What is wrong with these people?  Most of the definitions were shorter than this one, but all contained and abundant quantity of Deepak Chopra sounding gibberish, and all used the word "esoteric" in the definition.  I'm not fond of esoteric.  Not fond of bullshit or the unfathomable either.

Hermeticism is an ancient spiritual, philosophical, and magical tradition. It is a path of spiritual growth. Hermeticism takes its name from the God Hermês Trismegistos (Greek, "Thrice-Greatest Hermes"), a Græco-Egyptian form of the great Egyptian God of Wisdom and Magic, Thôth. What the Hermetic Fellowship defines as Hermeticism has also been called the Western Esoteric Tradition, and embraces the Perennial Philosophy or the Ageless Wisdom. Generally, the following can be said to be characteristic of the positive form of Hermeticism advocated by the Hermetic Fellowship.

Hermeticism:

 
Bullet Considers humanity to be on a spiritual journey to return to a state of unity with the Divine; this is the Great Work of humankind. 
Bullet Holds that if we would attain to the Divine, we must aspire to the Divine; spiritual growth cannot be achieved without human effort 
Bullet Is eclectic and draws material from sources spanning the entire Western Esoteric Tradition 
Bullet Is polytheistic, yet ultimately monotheisitic (i.e., posits a multiplicity of Manifestations of the Divine Which emanate from an ultimate Divine Unity) 
Bullet Holds that the Divine is both immanent and transcendent 
Bullet Holds that the Universe is Divine and basically good 
Bullet Teaches that when we seek the Divine, we may best begin with the Mysteries of Nature 
Bullet Encourages spiritual curiosity 
Bullet Understands that human beings can access the Subtle Realms through technique and aspiration; to this end, it embraces theurgy, meditation, ritual, and other spiritual and magical practices 
Bullet Urges those who seek the Divine to also seek balance in embracing all things 
Bullet Is a poetic rather than an ascetic worldview

[Baruch]

Deepak gets his fingers in a lot of things, because he has been reincarnated many times ;-)

Hermeticism is a fancy word for traditional alchemy.  How is that for a definition?

[PessiOptiMystic]

Thanks for the welcomes!

I had been meaning to respond earlier, but I didn't see my thread on tapatalk for some reason.

Thought maybe it had to be vetted by the admins, perhaps.

I don't get on my laptop often, but my thread still doesn't appear when using tapatalk on my phone. It won't allow me to sign in on tapatalk either, so I'm limited to responding on the laptop for the moment.

[PessiOptiMystic]

Wow!  You seem to hob nob with the big players.  I haven't met any of those guys.  But then I hardly meet anyone anyway with my hermitism.

I just took advantage of the few opportunities provided when these folks were in my backyard.  I'm a big admirer of them all (except Craig, of course- he's a professional clown; maybe that's not fair to clowns) and I've read the bulk of all of their works.  I really just wanted to shake their hands and say thank you, but I got a lot more out of it than that.  It was a blast just being around them and others like myself.

As far as hermitism goes, I can identify.  I think if I had lived 1000 years ago, I would have lived in a cave and shaken sticks at curious kids that got too close to my lawn.

[SGOS]

I think if I had lived 1000 years ago, I would have lived in a cave and shaken sticks at curious kids that got too close to my lawn.

I sit on my porch in a rocking chair with a 12 gauge in my lap, but that's mostly just for when the Feds come.

[PessiOptiMystic]

I'm a noob myself.

Nice to meet you.

Pleasure meeting you, as well!

[Sal1981]

Hidey-ho neighbor.