This is an excerpt of a message I posted at a Delphi Forum about atheism & "proof" of God's existence. I think the original topic said there is no such thing as spirits, souls, reincarnation or God. So, at the time (around May 2000) I couldn't resist. It did force me to ask 'What DO I believe? and why do I believe it? and what is a belief anyway?' So it was an interesting exercise. As always, I reserve th right to modify these beliefs in any way I feel is right for me at a moment's notice.
... I suppose I did generalise and extrapolate from my own experiences. My time as an atheist was as dark as any human being could experience. There may in fact be joyous atheists though I have yet to meet one. If you are a joyous atheist then I wish you well with it. That's one thing there is not enough of in this world at this juncture in human history.
Sounds like you have also had some extraordinary experiences yourself. I too have read a HEAP of material since my Awakening experience. Without wishing to oversimplify or make unprovable claims, I will preface the following with "I believe".
I believe that every human being has a body, a mind & a soul or spirit. I do believe atheism qualifies as an illness for the following reasons. (Again based on my own experience as an atheist and observing those who hold or have held similar views) To be truly healthy, a human being needs to nourish each of the aspects of his/her nature. There are many sources of nourishment for the soul such as reading sacred or inspired texts, meditation, contemplation, chanting and prayer. Since atheists don't believe in the existence of a soul, they will generally not seek out such nourishment as often or as deeply as someone on a spiritual path will. Signs of a healthy soul include spontaneous bliss, compassion (as opposed to pity), sympathetic joy (joy in the happiness of others), inspiration, wonder, serenity, synchronicity. Signs of a mal-nourished soul include apathy, depression, the need to be continuously occupied or entertained, cynicism, anger, hatred, animosity, blame & sarcasm. (Again based on my own personal experiences of what I was like as an atheist and my observations of other atheists)
I do believe there are spiritual Laws which govern our existence. I firmly believe that whilst any individual holds onto such negative energies as blame, hatred, fear, anger etc that they are like an eagle attached to an anchor and that they will be robbing themselves of many potential joys. I believe the ONLY reason we are incarnated in this three-dimensional reality is for our souls to experience pure, uncondiditional love. I believe no other pursuit can ever satisy a human being. Based on my own experiences, I find it hard if not impossible to believe that a person can experience pure, unconditional love while practising atheism. I know I sure could not. Indeed i often wondered if love was even real while I was an atheist.
Moreover, I believe that in all the centuries of human "civilisation" that very few of us have even scratched the surface in our understanding of our True Nature and what-on-earth we are doing here. I'd be the first to admit I have a LONG way to go and that "finding God" does not answer all questions and solve all mysteries. In fact it merely deepens the mysteries. Furthermore, if you had told me 15 months ago that I would be writing such words I would have had you locked up. That alone tells me that "reality" is deeper and more mysterious and wondrous than I would have ever imagined.
BTW, on the subject of the holocaust and similar horrors, I too used to use them an incontrovertible evidence that God either did not exist or was not worth bothering with. This is precisely what Neale's books seek to address and he does so in ways I also could NEVER have imagined in terms of reconciling what seems utterly irreconcilable. I could not possibly do justice to those books by attempting to summarise them in this brief space. Hwever here is one quote to puzzle over (admittedly taken out of its FULL context it lends itself to misinterpretation) -
{Neale had posed just such a question to God along the lines of "Yeah, but what about people like Hitler!"}
The reply was - "Hitler went to Heaven. When you understand this you will understand God."
I believe books like Neale's talk directly to the soul and assist to wake it up. If the human soul and God do not exist then it is a little hard to account for the number of people whose lives have been transformed from anger & hatred into love and joy by pursuing one or other of the genuine spiritual paths and practices. BTW, I do NOT include dogmatic or fundamentalist religions or sects in this category. Like you, I see warning signs in any system which seeks to DICTATE and CONTROL people (especially through fear). That is not what God is about at all. In reality, there is only one true religion. Love. There are however many paths to it. From my experience, atheism isn't one of them.
I believe "Christianity" has acquired a BAD name over the centuries due to a complete distortion of what Jesus life was all about. He demonstarted the finest example of unconditional love by uttering the following "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." To say that after being tortured & crucified is unimaginable to most of us. That is why his life & death have been chronicled and remembered for twenty centuries. However, Christ is not the only example of such a love throughout history. Buddha, Krishna, The Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa, Ghandi and many others are shining lights who show us that inside each of us exists the potential for pure, unconditional love. Our souls are "down here" to transform that potential into actual experience.
I believe these things based on the quality of my experiences before and after being an atheist. I had no real idea of what TRUE joy and love were during my atheism days. I genuinely wish you all the best. I can get a bit carried away at times trying to "prove a point". I'm not a saint just yet.
For those interested, who may come across this message, Neale's website can be found at:
For more on this theme -
cure.htm
This link also has a bit more on beliefs
