Well written and thought out. Thanks for sharing. I have a very similar story, for me it has meant a dramatic difference in the way that I approach life. Before my rejection of faith, I was plagued by a feeling of impending doom. I carried the world on my shoulders as if the fate of all these “souls” relied upon my efforts. I was continually depressed and struggling with negative emotions and thoughts. It turns out it can be rather upsetting and extremely difficult for a person who thinks and asks questions to maintain a relationship with a being who never reciprocates the effort. After 6 years of slowly picking my way through all of the bogus arguments in favor of faith, I began to go through the typical winnowing process (christian pluralist, pluralist, agnostic, indifferent, atheist). Stumbling upon Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World started me on a process of rearranging my way of thinking and processing information. Truth be told the gloom of life is gone, I am free to accept reality and embrace it. In rejecting fantasy and embracing reality, I have come to find that the route to piece of mind is not divine favor from an invisible deity, but to reasonably approach disagreeable circumstances with calm thought and reason. Honestly I have never looked back.
As an atheist, I was seriously bothered by the thought of my inevitable, irreversible death in just a few decades. As a Friendly AItheist, I’m seriously bothered by the thought of highly probable astronomical waste, but cheered by the thought of MWI putting more of my future probability mass in universes that turn out really nifty, especially if I can help out with its creation. Of course, unless something like mangling takes place, MWI + quantum immortality is far more horrifying than astronomical waste.
I’ve got the impending doom but I don’t bother with the ‘plagued’ bit. Why on earth should lack of incomprehension oblige me to experience negative emotion or adverse psychological states? That makes no sense.
I imagine because the thing you’ve successfully comprehended could be very, very bad. Not sure if that “obliges” you to feel anything (or if anything ever obliges anyone to feel anything), but if you’re actually wondering what the thought process is...
Well written and thought out. Thanks for sharing. I have a very similar story, for me it has meant a dramatic difference in the way that I approach life. Before my rejection of faith, I was plagued by a feeling of impending doom. I carried the world on my shoulders as if the fate of all these “souls” relied upon my efforts. I was continually depressed and struggling with negative emotions and thoughts. It turns out it can be rather upsetting and extremely difficult for a person who thinks and asks questions to maintain a relationship with a being who never reciprocates the effort. After 6 years of slowly picking my way through all of the bogus arguments in favor of faith, I began to go through the typical winnowing process (christian pluralist, pluralist, agnostic, indifferent, atheist). Stumbling upon Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World started me on a process of rearranging my way of thinking and processing information. Truth be told the gloom of life is gone, I am free to accept reality and embrace it. In rejecting fantasy and embracing reality, I have come to find that the route to piece of mind is not divine favor from an invisible deity, but to reasonably approach disagreeable circumstances with calm thought and reason. Honestly I have never looked back.
I was a happy atheist until I learned about the Friendly AI problem and estimated the likely outcome. I am now plagued by a feeling of impending doom.
As an atheist, I was seriously bothered by the thought of my inevitable, irreversible death in just a few decades. As a Friendly AItheist, I’m seriously bothered by the thought of highly probable astronomical waste, but cheered by the thought of MWI putting more of my future probability mass in universes that turn out really nifty, especially if I can help out with its creation. Of course, unless something like mangling takes place, MWI + quantum immortality is far more horrifying than astronomical waste.
I’ve got the impending doom but I don’t bother with the ‘plagued’ bit. Why on earth should lack of incomprehension oblige me to experience negative emotion or adverse psychological states? That makes no sense.
I imagine because the thing you’ve successfully comprehended could be very, very bad. Not sure if that “obliges” you to feel anything (or if anything ever obliges anyone to feel anything), but if you’re actually wondering what the thought process is...