Showing posts with label im. Show all posts
Showing posts with label im. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Oh My God Im an Atheist
Oh My God Im an Atheist
Last year I finally made peace with the fact that I am an atheist. It was a long and difficult decision for me, because it flew in the face of everything I was raised to believe. It flew in the face of the culture and values of not just my family, but in many ways, my community and country.
God, or more importantly, the concept of religion, surrounds us in many ways. It helps us identify with one another. It is a level moral playing field, at least in theory.
Its been an interesting period of adjustment, that is for sure. For instance, there are a whole host of standard phrases that are cliche to offer in times of trouble, and now I just cant bring myself to say them. A colleague of mine had a sick child, and everyone within hearing distance said the same thing: "Ill keep you guys in my prayers."
Since I dont pray, and I find it hard to believe that God, who routinely allows the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children on a regular basis, is going to make an exception just because a few people really pray in earnest, I dont say it.
Coming up with an alternative is a challenge, though.
Upon removing the idea of mysticism and superstition as a way to mask fear, or give false hope, Ive chosen to simply go with what I believe to be both supportive and sympathetic. I look the person in the face who is telling me about their bad news, after everyone else says, "Ill get my whole church to pray for you" and "Ill get people to like this on Facebook" and other empty sentiments, and when its my turn, I say, "That is the worst damn news Ive heard in my life and it absolutely sucks. What do you need me to do?"
They invariably say that they dont need me to do anything. I then say, "If you want to go grab a beer and talk, I will buy."
Of course, if they do put me on the spot, they might say, "Just keep us in your prayers."
I just nod and say, "Sure, certainly." Obviously, I do not do that, because I dont have any, but I do try and stay positive for them and stay up to date with the situation. One thing I never do is argue, protest, or try to convert others. Accepting atheism was a personal thing that took me years to come to grips with. Im not going to convince you youre wrong about religion any easier than you will convince me youre right.
A sillier, less complicated issue is what to say when someone sneezes. Typically, an offering of "God bless you," or any sort of faster, more streamlined version is given. To not say anything is to be considered rude.
The fact that we say "God bless you" dates back to the year 590, when Pope Gregory I ordered that it be said to anyone who sneezed, because sneezing was a sign of the plague. Just to give you an idea of how long ago the 6th Century was, whose custom we are still mimicking:
I say, "Hang in there!" or if its a particularly loud sneeze, or even worse, its a sneezing attack, I offer them the helpful encouragement to, "Cling to life!"
One thing that accepting atheism has done is fill me with complete terror that this is it. This period of time, whatever we have, is all we get. There is no heaven, no hell, no continuing on in another aspect or going somewhere to find ultimate peace and knowledge. Pretty scary stuff.
However, it has also left me with a deeper passion to get the most out of this life than I ever felt before. Every day is a gift. Some people live their lives preparing to die, hoping theyve built up treasures in heaven and will someday have a big mansion in the sky. Some people believe they will go to heaven and have 72 virgin brides. Some people believe that Xenu is going to...all right, I admit Im not exactly sure what people who believe in Xenu think. Actually, Im not exactly sure that the word "think" can be used appropriately in that context.
Being an atheist has opened my eyes to the majesty of this awesome planet and the universe around it. How can anything be so big, so filled with mystery, and so perfectly ordered? How, out of all the organisms and environments and eons of turmoil, did we get here? And more importantly, what is going to happen next?
The answer to all those questions, for me, for a long period of time, was the simplistic and dull-headed response, "Gods will." That sure is a lot easier to understand than having to go all through the years of scientific study required to grasp astrophysics. Why bother learning all that science-y crap when the answer is "Gods will" to everything, anyway.
And I think thats where the secret really lies as to why I embraced atheism. I finally grew tired of being told to just shut my mouth and believe in something, rather than question it and require it to be proven. People use the word "faith" a lot when speaking about God or their own personal religion, and I respect that. I simply do not have faith. Not in something that offers no greater proof than an ancient book, or books, written by men who made astonishing claims in the pre-scientific age. I dont want to just have faith. I dont want to just believe.
I want to know.
Today, I identify myself as a humanist, or rather, a global secular humanist. It sounds a lot less harsh than atheist, and sadly, most people dont know enough about the terminology to realize what you are saying when you call yourself a humanist. Sadly, their misunderstanding of the word "atheist" is sometimes so polluted and twisted that it invites unwarranted anger. Atheists, theyve been told, are the worst kind of human beings possible.
I think, if we were to stack up the crimes against humanity committed by atheists and the ones committed by religious people, or people who claimed to be acting on Gods behalf, wed see a staggering disparity that would defy argument.
There are some who cannot fathom a moral, loving world unless it is based on the foundation that religion presents. Even someone as cultured and learned as Oprah Winfrey cannot understand how an atheist can feel "wonder" and "awe" unless it is coming from God.
My experience has been that by tossing aside religion, it has opened my mind to a wide universe of possibility, and also deep personal responsibility. If there is no God steering the ship, that just leaves us. If God isnt going to wipe out humanity with any sort of Rapture or Revelations, that means were just going to keep on existing until we either evolve and advance as a race, or we sit here waiting for the sun to collapse. Or we kill ourselves with some sort of bomb, plague, pollution, or war.
The human race can be much, much more than we are now. Well never be that as long as we chain ourselves to concepts and doctrines that benefit some but not all, or force conformity to ancient rules and customs, or excuse the murder of innocent people because they pray to the wrong God.
It takes a certain amount of guts to accept atheism, but I can honestly say, Ive never felt so free.
God, or more importantly, the concept of religion, surrounds us in many ways. It helps us identify with one another. It is a level moral playing field, at least in theory.
Its been an interesting period of adjustment, that is for sure. For instance, there are a whole host of standard phrases that are cliche to offer in times of trouble, and now I just cant bring myself to say them. A colleague of mine had a sick child, and everyone within hearing distance said the same thing: "Ill keep you guys in my prayers."
Since I dont pray, and I find it hard to believe that God, who routinely allows the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children on a regular basis, is going to make an exception just because a few people really pray in earnest, I dont say it.
Coming up with an alternative is a challenge, though.
Upon removing the idea of mysticism and superstition as a way to mask fear, or give false hope, Ive chosen to simply go with what I believe to be both supportive and sympathetic. I look the person in the face who is telling me about their bad news, after everyone else says, "Ill get my whole church to pray for you" and "Ill get people to like this on Facebook" and other empty sentiments, and when its my turn, I say, "That is the worst damn news Ive heard in my life and it absolutely sucks. What do you need me to do?"
They invariably say that they dont need me to do anything. I then say, "If you want to go grab a beer and talk, I will buy."
Of course, if they do put me on the spot, they might say, "Just keep us in your prayers."
I just nod and say, "Sure, certainly." Obviously, I do not do that, because I dont have any, but I do try and stay positive for them and stay up to date with the situation. One thing I never do is argue, protest, or try to convert others. Accepting atheism was a personal thing that took me years to come to grips with. Im not going to convince you youre wrong about religion any easier than you will convince me youre right.
A sillier, less complicated issue is what to say when someone sneezes. Typically, an offering of "God bless you," or any sort of faster, more streamlined version is given. To not say anything is to be considered rude.
The fact that we say "God bless you" dates back to the year 590, when Pope Gregory I ordered that it be said to anyone who sneezed, because sneezing was a sign of the plague. Just to give you an idea of how long ago the 6th Century was, whose custom we are still mimicking:
- Attila the Hun had died just one hundred years before
- In the 6th Century, there was still a Byzantine Emperor ruling over the remains of the Roman Empire
- Genghis Khan wasnt born for another 500 years
- The Koran had not been written yet
I say, "Hang in there!" or if its a particularly loud sneeze, or even worse, its a sneezing attack, I offer them the helpful encouragement to, "Cling to life!"
One thing that accepting atheism has done is fill me with complete terror that this is it. This period of time, whatever we have, is all we get. There is no heaven, no hell, no continuing on in another aspect or going somewhere to find ultimate peace and knowledge. Pretty scary stuff.
However, it has also left me with a deeper passion to get the most out of this life than I ever felt before. Every day is a gift. Some people live their lives preparing to die, hoping theyve built up treasures in heaven and will someday have a big mansion in the sky. Some people believe they will go to heaven and have 72 virgin brides. Some people believe that Xenu is going to...all right, I admit Im not exactly sure what people who believe in Xenu think. Actually, Im not exactly sure that the word "think" can be used appropriately in that context.
Being an atheist has opened my eyes to the majesty of this awesome planet and the universe around it. How can anything be so big, so filled with mystery, and so perfectly ordered? How, out of all the organisms and environments and eons of turmoil, did we get here? And more importantly, what is going to happen next?
The answer to all those questions, for me, for a long period of time, was the simplistic and dull-headed response, "Gods will." That sure is a lot easier to understand than having to go all through the years of scientific study required to grasp astrophysics. Why bother learning all that science-y crap when the answer is "Gods will" to everything, anyway.
And I think thats where the secret really lies as to why I embraced atheism. I finally grew tired of being told to just shut my mouth and believe in something, rather than question it and require it to be proven. People use the word "faith" a lot when speaking about God or their own personal religion, and I respect that. I simply do not have faith. Not in something that offers no greater proof than an ancient book, or books, written by men who made astonishing claims in the pre-scientific age. I dont want to just have faith. I dont want to just believe.
I want to know.
Today, I identify myself as a humanist, or rather, a global secular humanist. It sounds a lot less harsh than atheist, and sadly, most people dont know enough about the terminology to realize what you are saying when you call yourself a humanist. Sadly, their misunderstanding of the word "atheist" is sometimes so polluted and twisted that it invites unwarranted anger. Atheists, theyve been told, are the worst kind of human beings possible.
I think, if we were to stack up the crimes against humanity committed by atheists and the ones committed by religious people, or people who claimed to be acting on Gods behalf, wed see a staggering disparity that would defy argument.
There are some who cannot fathom a moral, loving world unless it is based on the foundation that religion presents. Even someone as cultured and learned as Oprah Winfrey cannot understand how an atheist can feel "wonder" and "awe" unless it is coming from God.
My experience has been that by tossing aside religion, it has opened my mind to a wide universe of possibility, and also deep personal responsibility. If there is no God steering the ship, that just leaves us. If God isnt going to wipe out humanity with any sort of Rapture or Revelations, that means were just going to keep on existing until we either evolve and advance as a race, or we sit here waiting for the sun to collapse. Or we kill ourselves with some sort of bomb, plague, pollution, or war.
The human race can be much, much more than we are now. Well never be that as long as we chain ourselves to concepts and doctrines that benefit some but not all, or force conformity to ancient rules and customs, or excuse the murder of innocent people because they pray to the wrong God.
It takes a certain amount of guts to accept atheism, but I can honestly say, Ive never felt so free.
Available link for download
Friday, March 17, 2017
Okay NOW Im back
Okay NOW Im back
aodueiaieosiehndoweiwnenw!
Sorry for that, it can be difficult to start typing again after a vacation. The fingers stiffen up, you hit the wrong keys, you keep forgatting how too speal stuff... Its sort of like how you have to shake the cobwebs out of your legs when youve been off the bike for awhile--something Ill also have to do in the coming days, since even though I brought a bike with me on my trip I didnt really ride all that much. Mostly I just used it for little subsistence jaunts here and there, which featured mere token stretches of gravel:
Sure, I might have gone longer, but those damn Adirondack mountains were blocking all the cellphone signals and I didnt want to do anything too ambitious without first consulting my tire pressure app:
You cant be too careful.
So instead I spent the bulk of my leisure time enjoying the family, preparing lavish repasts on a barbecue grill, and curating and consuming refreshingly potent seasonally-appropriate cocktails. Nevertheless, bicycles still managed to insinuate themselves into the proceedings, which is what happens when youre a celebrated semi-professional bike blogger. For example, at one point we all hopped into THE CAR THAT THE BANK OWNS UNTIL I FINISH PAYING THEM BACK for a little day trip to Middlebury, Vermont. (Sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation, you know how it is.)
Anyway, our little interstate trip was going swimmingly at first. The ferry didnt sink into Lake Champlain, we marveled at the rolling green hills, I shouted "DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" at my elder son as we passed Middlebury College... Finally we pulled into town, where to my surprise I noticed this:
Yeah, thats right, it was a tiny museum with a bicycle exhibit:
"Hey everybody, look!," I exclaimed in my best Clark W. Grizwold, and a collective groan arose in the car as it soon became clear that not only was I going to check out the exhibit but I was also going to drag everybody else in there with me. On one hand, I couldnt blame them for being apprehensive, because on our last visit to Middlebury wed made the mistake of taking a tour of the UVM Morgan Horse Farm and the boredom very nearly killed us. (Though they were doing a pregnancy check on the animals while we were there, and its not too often we city slickers get to see someone go armpit-deep in a horses vagina.) Yet on the other hand, my familys aversion to tedium seemed a bit unreasonable. After all, we were in Vermont for chrissakes. What were they expecting? Excitement?!?
Yeah, right.
So in we went, and as it turned out the exhibit was all that I hoped for and more:
You never truly realize how badly you needed to see a stuffed kangaroo lounging on a settee in front of a recumbent until you actually encounter one.
You also never know the fear of impending disaster until you release a toddler into a room filled with old-timey velocipedes:
See, as the child of a semi-professional bike blogger my younger son is extremely comfortable around bicycles--so much so that whenever he sees one he figures his job is to get on it so I can schlep him to the playground:
This meant I couldnt examine the bicycles as closely as Id have liked, because I had to devote the majority of my mental acuity to preventing him from climbing them:
I dont know which would be worse: having to explain to the curator that your kid just destroyed one of the exhibits, or having to admit to people that your childs injury was the result of being crushed by a falling pennyfarthing. The former is obviously bad because that stupid high-wheeler is probably worth more than like ten Specialized McLaren Venge-Schmenges and Id be paying it off for the rest of my life. However, the latter would be unbearably humiliating and quite difficult to live down, except for maybe in Brooklyn and Portland where such injuries are probably commonplace--but even there youd have to deal with people asking why your child wasnt wearing a helmet.
Nevertheless, Im pleased to report that thanks to our expert parenting no harm came to any of the bicycles (or to my kid, though I realize most of you probably dont give a shit), and that includes this stunning example of one of the earliest (if not the earliest, I was too busy playing defense to read everything as closely as Id have liked) safety bicycles:
As I admired its medieval-looking drivetrain I wished I could take it for a spin:
After all, this is where it all began--right here, with this machine that liberated us from the ridiculous pennyfarthing and is the basis for the bikes were still riding today (recumbent-riding freaks notwithstanding).
Yet even then, at the very dawn of cycling civilization, there were already retrogrouches. Consider for example that while everyone was flocking to the safety bicycle there were still those who "enjoyed the thrill of riding the grand old ordinary." So in 1893 the Crypto Cycle Company introduced the "Crypto Geared Front Driver:"
Though I suppose one could argue that a geared pennyfarthing is a retrogrouchical oxymoron--kind of like a Rivendell with electronic shifting. Heres that sweet geared pennyfarthing hub, by the way:
Put that baby on your singlespeed for some serious street cred. (Though I suppose youd have to retrofit a chain drive somehow.)
Meanwhile, if you were a late 19th Century Frederick living on the bleeding edge of velocipedal technology, in that very same year you could have bought this baby from William Reed and Sons which was hot enough to fog up your monocle:
Its got all the latest features, including what I can only assume was the equivalent of Boost 148:
Whatever the cutting-edge bottom bracket standard was back then:
Some sort of brake or shifter or oil pump or butter churner, who the hell knows:
And of course this baroque suspension saddle setup, which was probably the dropper seatpost of its day:
There was also a racing bike:
And a wooden bike made from what I can only assume are broom handles:
With ornate (though not exactly confidence-inspiring) lugs:
And a newer road racer:
And an even newer Hetchins:
And then, amid my revery, I was slapped in the face by the titanium hand of the present in the form of this Budnitz fat bike:
What a huge disappointment. Thats like ending a retrospective of the greatest films in history with the "Entourage" movie.
And there was more than just bikes. There were also photos, like this one of a proto-hipster with his dog:
And this one of "comical men with ordinary bicycles:"
("What, no helmets?!?")
Though whos to say theyre not early road rage victims whose heads have been nailed to a tree?
Then there was a truing stand:
Its accurate to within tenths of a foot.
And of course there were the accessories:
Like this water gun for warding off dogs:
Or this actual gun for when the squirt gun aint cutting it:
And with my head swimming in the past I finally left the museum and headed into Middlebury, where I undertook the search for my family, whod gotten fed up with the exhibit like nine pennyfarthings ago:
Available link for download
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