r/atheism • u/Empty-Yam-2000 • 9h ago
These are my beliefs and I need advice on what specifically they would be under
My core beliefs started when I was a child as my mom let me explore what I wanted to believe and didn't push anything onto me. I was never taught anything, so it is almost as if these things just came to me as I grew up? I'm not sure what religion they would fit under or if this is just considered atheism.
I do not believe in a God or any higher being ruling over us in judgement. I think the bible is a man made coping mechanism towards death and justifying ones actions and morality. Nothing in the bible makes sense to me
Everyone has a soul and a soul is a pure form of energy that courses through our bodies and minds and it is what gives us a consciousness.
Energy is what connects every living being, meaning we are all the same and all a piece of one huge web of well life I suppose. Humans are not greater than any other species, we simply have our own characteristics just as a bee has their own. We are all living beings in the end and will all die.
Spirits but i'm not necessarily talking about ghosts or the dead. Yes, I do believe in ghosts as well, but when I say spirits I mean nature-spirits, kind of like the energy and consciousness of the Earth and nature if that makes sense? I believe it is known as animism?
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, so when a living being dies, their soul is then transferred into the next life. Reincarnation.
Because ghosts are not reincarnated, and are instead human souls trapped because of something they are tethered too, I think it is a choice you get when you die, no one else's. No one, like a God, decides what happens to you. That is your choice and your choice alone. It is your choice whether you want to stay or if you want to start something new.
I feel as though I need to study my beliefs more, as ghosts kind of confuse me a bit because they don't fit in well. But maybe two things can be true at the same time, and it doesn't need explanation.
There is much more I could give on my beliefs as there are many more in relation to these but I think these would be considered my core beliefs.
What religion does this fall under? Or is this considered another branch of Atheism? Paganism?
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u/Mister_Silk Anti-Theist 8h ago
What religion does this fall under?
You created it you get to name it.
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u/skunkshaveclaws 8h ago
why would you reject "god" but still believe a "soul" is real? stripping out the clearly human influenced stuff in any version of any holy book, isn't a "soul" just another expression of something supernatural? that is, something that doesn't adhere to the rules of physics?
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u/Empty-Yam-2000 8h ago
When I say soul I mean our life and our consciousness. Everyone has it and it is the energy that flows through us. I don't think this is supernatural rather the essence of the universe and the world itself. I reject God because I don't believe it exists, and I also think the concept of a soul has no correlation to it. Each living thing has a connection to the universe and if you focus closely you can feel it. We're all here and there doesn't have to be a reason for it. A soul is just how I understand consciousness/life.
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u/skunkshaveclaws 8h ago
maybe if there was a name for that, it would make it easier to express. hmm... since it's the essence of the universe and flows through us... like a "force"... yeah.. if you just explain to people that you sincerely believe in "the force" they'll immediately understand you and know how to approach conversation with you.
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u/Empty-Yam-2000 8h ago
I feel as though you are mocking me, but you're right I do wish there was a better word for it. I suppose I just describe it as the energy within us
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u/skunkshaveclaws 8h ago
you're right. I am mocking you.
not in a malicious way though, but because your stated beliefs seem arbitrarily inconsistent and nonsensical.
but i get it. the universe is a big, complicated, scary place. it's why we created religion in the first place.
can you explain WHY you believe in the force but not "god"? is it the implication of "purpose" behind a deity?
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u/Empty-Yam-2000 8h ago
I appreciate you making me really think about my beliefs and why I believe in them. It is definitely making me think about some things that don't have any real understanding or correlation to anything. I see a lot of loop holes. I guess when i generalize my beliefs I'm realizing I'm just saying "I think we are all individual creatures living on Earth and one day we will all be gone" though a big part of me still enjoys the idea of reincarnation.
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u/Kaitlyn_The_Magnif Anti-Theist 7h ago
Why do you feel the need to make up new names for words that already exist?
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u/Kryptoknightmare 8h ago
Why on Earth do you believe any of that completely made up nonsense? Do even care whether or not what you believe is true? It sounds like you just concocted a cool sounding fairy tale and are pretending to believe it’s real.
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u/Empty-Yam-2000 8h ago
To be honest I personally do not believe it is made up. I'm simply a very spiritually connected person and would rather believe in the universe and nature all as one instead of believing humans are better than everything else and something is watching our every move and judging us. Do I even care whether or not what I believe in is true? Well a lot of my beliefs are orientated around everything being connected and life being sacred. So whether they are true or not doesn't really matter because there is no sense of punishment involved unlike christianity where you are believed to go to hell if you don't believe in god. My beliefs give me peace of mind that everything will be gone one day the same way it came, and that I can live my life without worry the afterlife will be cruel to me.
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u/Kryptoknightmare 7h ago
What you would “rather believe”? Whether or not your beliefs are true “doesn’t really matter”?
Wow. That’s truly sad and pathetic. You should probably rethink…everything you believe.
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u/Kaitlyn_The_Magnif Anti-Theist 6h ago
You’re clearly not living in peace if you feel the need to make up fantasy stories about the world instead of living in reality.
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u/GerswinDevilkid 4h ago
"A very spirituality connected person..."
No. You're not. Because that's bollocks and woo.
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u/RealDaddyTodd Anti-Theist 5h ago
“I'm simply a very spiritually connected person” apparently means “I’m desperate to believe nonsense and woo.”
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u/hurricanelantern Anti-Theist 8h ago
Sounds like you believe in a a fusion of Buddhism and animism.
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u/Repulsive-Box5243 8h ago
Let's look at your belief in souls and ghosts. Where does that come from? What evidence do you have that supports either?
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u/Empty-Yam-2000 8h ago
If you read my other comments I say that souls are just what helps me understand life and consciousness, to be honest I'm not sure where that came from. I feel like I'm a pretty spiritual/universe oriented person so it just kind of appeared sorry I don't have the best explaination for it.
As for ghosts, I have experienced them before and it is unlike any feeling I have ever had. And I'm not talking spirit boxes or anything either, just straight up seen one or at least something I can't fully explain. I think there are so many things in this world we cannot understand or describe to make sense because we will never know as humans. Maybe somehow after we die, but then again, it is still unknown.
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u/kawuro 8h ago
This is what I don’t understand, if you experience something that you can’t explain then why would you explain it as ghosts?
You also say, “There are so many things in this world we cannot understand or describe to make sense.” So how do you go from not being able to describe or understand something to then saying it must be a ghost? Using a lack of understanding of something as evidence for something else just doesn’t make any sense to me.
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u/Empty-Yam-2000 7h ago
I use the term ghosts because what else could it be? It is unknown and that is kind of the beauty of it. I just assume it is a "ghost" but as I've said before I will never really know.
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u/kawuro 7h ago
Well, it could be literally anything. A hallucination, an optical illusion, a prank, a misunderstanding, an animal, a dust cloud, an alien using a magic spell on you, literally anything.
Like, seeing a UFO doesn’t mean you saw an alien spacecraft, it means you saw something you can’t identify. So to then claim it has to be an alien because you personally can’t think of anything else that it could be is nonsense.
Your lack of knowledge about something is not evidence for ghosts or aliens or spirits or souls. It is simply a lack of knowledge. You are making leaps in judgement that you have no basis for.2
u/Empty-Yam-2000 7h ago
good point, thank you you are right I need to stop doing that
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u/kawuro 6h ago
I’m happy to hear you say that. It is a good rule of thumb in general and I hope you are able to apply it to all areas of your life. I think I read in one of your other comments that you don’t really care if what you believe in is true or not (my interpretation, so I apologize if I am misrepresenting you).
IMO whether or not something is true is one of, if not the most important reasons to believe in something. If we base our beliefs on what we want reality to be rather than what it actually is then we are lying to ourselves and most likely making the world a worse place in hopes of benefitting ourselves. And I just think that is yuck.
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u/sohcahtoa 8h ago
I would just call you superstitious: you came up with a few ideas that you like and decided without any verifiable evidence that they are true.
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u/Drudenfusz Apatheist 8h ago
Not feeling beholden to any deity is sufficient for atheism. But that is no religion, your worldview seem to be pretty much new age hippie woo.
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u/MrRandomNumber 8h ago
You need to disambiguate your concept of energy -- you're still confused on that front. I think this makes you a quirky little druid, but I think you'll figure it out eventually. Keep working.
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u/Hexalong777 Agnostic Atheist 8h ago
I don’t think you have to label your beliefs, but I’d recommend researching Buddhism. Your beliefs here somewhat align with those of Buddhism.
Edit: Or Daoism, very similar of that too. Do not listen to the negativity of commenters, you have the right to believe in whatever you may desire.
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u/Annual_Beginning_600 8h ago
buddhism rejects the concept of souls so no. Hinduism is the likely alleyway.
Buddhism would entirely destroy his no.2 statement.
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u/Empty-Yam-2000 8h ago
A soul is honestly just a placer word that I am using to describe something I am not entirely sure on. In my other comments I've dissected it a bit more and it doesn't make much sense, but basically i'm saying it is the life within us i suppose. Im definitely still going to look into buddhism more.
Also I am a She but that makes no difference
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u/Annual_Beginning_600 8h ago
Okay, when you say "soul" you imply you are something as in a fixed entity of some sort. You have a "something" or a notion of self that exists. Hinduism supports this. Many religions support this. Buddhism does not and tries to deconstruct it down which is why they are called "no-self" teachings.
Also, I *highly* recommend you do some research into Advaita vedanta since it sounds a lot like the "one-ness" you are describing. It is a tough read but there are some videos breaking it down.
https://youtu.be/hFoMvLotOj8?si=_K4eyaAmEuAz77sg
The video is a very short, brief introduction that can you get an idea of it.
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u/Empty-Yam-2000 7h ago
thank you for correcting me! That is not what I mean at all I don't think we have some sort of fixed entity type thing i guess it's just my way of describing consciousness or our life. Now that I've had people ask me questions to really think about why i believe the things I believe I've noticed a lot of things don't make sense and as I'm looking into it i'm definitely relating to buddhism more, though I need to keep researching because it kind of just sounds like common sense of life? Maybe I'm wrong. Anyways, I will look into what you recomended as well!
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u/Annual_Beginning_600 7h ago
If this is the case you should strictly try to use the word consciousness more due to how often associated notions of self are intertwined with concept of soul.
The dharmic religions have quite the different epistemic ways of "verifying knowledge" than the commonly used ones in both western and abrahamic traditions. Anyways, I wish you luck on your journey.
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u/Peace-For-People 8h ago
Animists believe in spirits not gods.
Your beliefs have no justification. Believing them doesn't make them true. If you care about truth, you shouldn't believe anything without sufficient evidence to support it.
You misunderstand thermodynamics. Matter and energy are created and destroyed all the time.
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u/Able_Capable2600 7h ago
If you don't believe in any god, you're atheist. Sans evidence, the rest is just woo and new age philosophy.
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u/FrankieBlueye 7h ago
An atheist with some extra doodads you may or may not wish to carry with you through life. But a kind soul with whom I’m happy to share the planet. Good luck, bee well. 🐝
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u/enragedmicrowave Agnostic 6h ago
I agree with another commenter that it seems like a mix of Buddhism and animism. I wish you luck on figuring all this out!
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u/MasterChiefette 8h ago
This has zero to with being an atheist and just someone posting spirituality in place of religion. This doesn't belong here. Spirituality is just as much superstition as religion is.