Good info for Ex-believers

[mrCide]

I started visiting athiest forums (the .org one is good), doing light research on theology (there's a good series on youtube by some kid done in layman that was posted here awhile back, think its 2 or 3 hours total).

Get very familiar with science. Evolution to begin and move into astrophysics. Layman lectures also posted on youtube.

Names to get familiar with are Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss (I guess typical atheist recommendations).

 

[OlafSicky]

I started visiting athiest forums (the .org one is good), doing light research on theology (there's a good series on youtube by some kid done in layman that was posted here awhile back, think its 2 or 3 hours total).

Get very familiar with science. Evolution to begin and move into astrophysics. Layman lectures also posted on youtube.

Names to get familiar with are Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss (I guess typical atheist recommendations).

The problem with the names you posted is that to these guys atheism is a religion. I believe it's more logical to stay in the undecided camp since there is no proof either way.

 

[pelov]

The problem with the names you posted is that to these guys atheism is a religion. I believe it's more logical to stay in the undecided camp since there is no proof either way.

I think that's more of a case of coming off that way for public perception rather than being strong atheists. Those guys are all what I'd call Bertrand Russell atheists despite their "militant" stance of the subject (militant atheism being a branding of atheism with an agenda coined by Dawkins). They're no more or less atheist than other atheists, they just happen to be vocal about it and have made a living of it.

Speaking of Dawkins, his book The Greatest Show on Earth is a great defense of evolutionary Darwinism through the subject of Biology with very clear and precise examples and numerous anti-religious quips -- though you can ignore those if they piss you off, the book itself is a great read for factual information. For anyone who claims that the theory of evolution is just a theory seriously needs to read that book or get their head checked.

 

[zinfamous]

I started visiting athiest forums (the .org one is good), doing light research on theology (there's a good series on youtube by some kid done in layman that was posted here awhile back, think its 2 or 3 hours total).

Get very familiar with science. Evolution to begin and move into astrophysics. Layman lectures also posted on youtube.

Names to get familiar with are Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss (I guess typical atheist recommendations).

These guys are mostly assholes, though. Smart folks and all, and I like them intellectually (except for Dawkins--he's a pathetic evolutionary scientist, on top of everything else! ).

But still...avoid these guys when it comes to anti-deism. They're just big assholes that more than anything, outright ignore the anthropological component when it comes to the progression of religion and human history. They treat it as a pathology, rather than a defining characteristic of humanity, which is very much is.

Though, I like Hitch most of the time. He's arguments were spot on and not completely dickish some times...when he was only mildly intoxicated (which was rare).

 

[crashtestdummy]

I've recently (as in less than a year) come out of the closet and am looking for info to help purge as much of the mythology of God and Jeeeeeesus from my mind. Was raised a believer and now that I'm awake from the 'Religious Matrix'. I still feel lost at times, still find myself getting ready to pray to nothing then catching myself wondering WTH am I doing? Some habits die hard.

Any info to help relieve the madness would be helpful. Of course I could pray to the Atheist God...naaah.

Ask yourself why it is that you still get ready to pray. My guess is that it's no longer a sense of the belief in the divine (since you seem so outwardly dismissive of the idea, at least), but a sense that prayer provided a sense of stability and belonging that was not there otherwise. Perhaps you should try to find that benefit without the deistic connotations that make you feel uncomfortable. Meditation is often a good one, or long walks at night. I've found it personally important to have some part of my life that I am able to separate from my normal grind. Religious services can provide that, while also contributing a social environment, but you may be able to find it elsewhere, too.

You could also find a more liberal religious environment (Unitarians, for example) where you get many of the benefits of religion without feeling uncomfortable not believing in a God (there's a surprisingly long historical tradition of this). A old Jewish joke:

An atheist Jewish man is heading to synagogue with his son.
Son: "Father, if you don't believe in God, why are we we going to shul?"
Father: "I go to talk to Mr. Rosenberg, and Mr. Rosenberg goes to talk to God."
​

Being an Atheist is very impractical:

1. If you're a Christian and you die.
-If Atheists were right, you're just dead.
-If Christians were right, you will go to either Heaven or Hell depending on how you live as a Christian

2. If you're an atheist and you die.
-If atheists were right, you just die
-If Christians were right, you just go straight to hell for being wrong.

By that logic, I'm staying a Christian, it's a win/win.

Your argument implies that if there is a God, it would be a Christian one, and that it would want you to believe in it. In fact, since we are able to know nothing about any possible God or what it would want from us, there are an infinite number of possible permutations of what God is and what it would want. In fact, it is entirely possible that this God does not suffer fools, and would punish anyone silly enough to assume it's existence.

 

[Mxylplyx]

I have sworn off all tenets of organized religion, but I cant accept the notion that we simply cease to exist when we die. When I reflect on just how unique and special a consciousness is, I just know there is some kind of higher truth, which could mean any number of things, god or no god. We are merely fish in a fish bowl, with no means of seeing beyond the boundaries of our existence. I have been at peace since finally mustering the courage to admit to myself that it is OK to not have an answer for everything.

Religions were created when man had no answers to many questions, and have been dragged kicking and screaming into the modern age as many of their bullsh!t explanations for things have been exposed by science. They simply make up answers to impossible questions, because to admit they dont know would remove their whole purpose for existing. It's been exposed as a fraud countless times on so many matters, yet people will still cling feverishly to it's remaining tenets that have not been decisively debunked. I mean....Adam and Eve....seriously? Look at parts of the middle east to see an example of the intellectual environment where modern Christianity was nurtured. People in general were dumb as a sack of bricks. People cling to these ancient fairy tales because they are terrified to believe anything else. When you are told as a child that you will spend eternity burning in a fire if you dont believe something, you tend to get in line, even if there is a little voice inside screaming "THIS IS BULLSHIT!!".

 

[Miramonti]

Be gay and pray.

Fvck those who say you're too stray to have faith and be that way.

God, for those who have faith, is bigger than evangelical and bible thumping retards who try to bring shame on any non-comformists to their self-serving definitions.

Or you could just purge everything like you suggested.

 

[HeavyD]

As far as prayer is concerned, didn't know how much I prayed until I stopped and took a good hard look at it. It's like muscle memory where it's done without thinking about it. Get up in the morning and pray, pray or talk to my imaginary deity during the day, pray before you eat and at night pray you get laid then pray before you sleep. Now when I look at it it seems so ridiculous.

If someone wants to believe in supernatural beings with magical powers that's fine with me I simply choose not to.

 

[Childs]

Just watch lots of Ancient Aliens. Once you realize people are praying to aliens, it puts things in perspective.

 

[Jeff7]

I have sworn off all tenets of organized religion, but I cant accept the notion that we simply cease to exist when we die. When I reflect on just how unique and special a consciousness is, I just know there is some kind of higher truth, which could mean any number of things, god or no god. We are merely fish in a fish bowl, with no means of seeing beyond the boundaries of our existence. I have been at peace since finally mustering the courage to admit to myself that it is OK to not have an answer for everything.

Religions were created when man had no answers to many questions, and have been dragged kicking and screaming into the modern age as many of their bullsh!t explanations for things have been exposed by science. They simply make up answers to impossible questions, because to admit they dont know would remove their whole purpose for existing. It's been exposed as a fraud countless times on so many matters, yet people will still cling feverishly to it's remaining tenets that have not been decisively debunked. I mean....Adam and Eve....seriously? Look at parts of the middle east to see an example of the intellectual environment where modern Christianity was nurtured. People in general were dumb as a sack of bricks. People cling to these ancient fairy tales because they are terrified to believe anything else. When you are told as a child that you will spend eternity burning in a fire if you dont believe something, you tend to get in line, even if there is a little voice inside screaming "THIS IS BULLSHIT!!".

I suppose we've all got our own views of it.

Consciousness as anything special? I guess? Kind of. Maybe.
Your brain is sufficiently complex and capable that it can recognize itself as a thing that exists, and it can do so repeatedly, in a (somewhat) continuous process. Congratulations, you have the ingredients for consciousness, at least as we define it.
And of course that consciousness falls utterly apart every night, when you're asleep. Sure there are portions of your brain that are still active, and some of them are trying to make sense of the random memories that are rustled up as your brain does its thing while you sleep. And then in the morning, normal consciousness resumes. No big deal.

We just happen to be a primate species that's got a freakisly-large brain that's made us really good at using some fairly sophisticated tools. (What's a computer chip but a very intricately painted and carved rock?)

 

[Pray To Jesus]

God bless you. I pray that you will discover the light again my homosexual brother.

 

[HeavyD]

God bless you. I pray that you will discover the light again my homosexual brother.

How does a closet Atheist who comes out of the closet become a homosexual? Is this more of the supernatural magic that saves all again?

 

[sigurros81]

How does a closet Atheist who comes out of the closet become a homosexual? Is this more of the supernatural magic that saves all again?

Have you talked to your parents about your homosexuality? It's important the family knows and support your lifestyle as well.

 

[zerocool84]

How does a closet Atheist who comes out of the closet become a homosexual? Is this more of the supernatural magic that saves all again?

Don't mind him. People like him are part of the reason why you're atheist now.

 

[HeavyD]

Don't mind him. People like him are part of the reason why you're atheist now.

Was expecting this which is normal for ATOT.

Thanks again for the info, some really good stuff.

 

[jmarti445]

How about just keep to yourself and respect others as if they had no religion whatsoever, it helps cut down on fighting.

I'm sick of Religious wingnuts and I'm sick of New Age Atheists. You have a belief in something that you cannot prove. Why don't you do a show and tell on it...oh wait it cannot be proved so just keep to yourself. I'm sick of Jesus freaks, I'm sick of Richard Dawkins lackies and I'm sick of how they all push their beliefs and condemn others who do not believe. New Age Atheists, you give Humanists, old school atheists, agnostics and the secular community a bad name. You are the reason why you are hated because you open your mouths and start talking at times where it isn't appropriate(and have turned off the old school atheists in the process, yes atheists hate you). And religion warps the truth so much who is to know what the truth is by their book.

I'm SPIRITUAL but not religious for the record. I strongly dislike religion but not enough to make it my goal in life to bash it at every opportunity.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

How about just keep to yourself and respect others as if they had no religion whatsoever, it helps cut down on fighting.

I'm sick of Religious wingnuts and I'm sick of New Age Atheists. You have a belief in something that you cannot prove. Why don't you do a show and tell on it...oh wait it cannot be proved so just keep to yourself. I'm sick of Jesus freaks, I'm sick of Richard Dawkins lackies and I'm sick of how they all push their beliefs and condemn others who do not believe. New Age Atheists, you give Humanists, old school atheists, agnostics and the secular community a bad name. You are the reason why you are hated because you open your mouths and start talking at times where it isn't appropriate(and have turned off the old school atheists in the process, yes atheists hate you). And religion warps the truth so much who is to know what the truth is by their book.

I'm SPIRITUAL but not religious for the record. I strongly dislike religion but not enough to make it my goal in life to bash it at every opportunity.

+1

 

[thejunglegod]

Ask yourself why it is that you still get ready to pray. My guess is that it's no longer a sense of the belief in the divine (since you seem so outwardly dismissive of the idea, at least), but a sense that prayer provided a sense of stability and belonging that was not there otherwise. Perhaps you should try to find that benefit without the deistic connotations that make you feel uncomfortable. Meditation is often a good one, or long walks at night. I've found it personally important to have some part of my life that I am able to separate from my normal grind. Religious services can provide that, while also contributing a social environment, but you may be able to find it elsewhere, too.

+1
Wonderful stuff

 

[jmarti445]

Ask yourself why it is that you still get ready to pray. My guess is that it's no longer a sense of the belief in the divine (since you seem so outwardly dismissive of the idea, at least), but a sense that prayer provided a sense of stability and belonging that was not there otherwise. Perhaps you should try to find that benefit without the deistic connotations that make you feel uncomfortable. Meditation is often a good one, or long walks at night. I've found it personally important to have some part of my life that I am able to separate from my normal grind. Religious services can provide that, while also contributing a social environment, but you may be able to find it elsewhere, too.

You could also find a more liberal religious environment (Unitarians, for example) where you get many of the benefits of religion without feeling uncomfortable not believing in a God (there's a surprisingly long historical tradition of this). A old Jewish joke:

An atheist Jewish man is heading to synagogue with his son.
Son: "Father, if you don't believe in God, why are we we going to shul?"
Father: "I go to talk to Mr. Rosenberg, and Mr. Rosenberg goes to talk to God."
​

Your argument implies that if there is a God, it would be a Christian one, and that it would want you to believe in it. In fact, since we are able to know nothing about any possible God or what it would want from us, there are an infinite number of possible permutations of what God is and what it would want. In fact, it is entirely possible that this God does not suffer fools, and would punish anyone silly enough to assume it's existence.

Religious society of friends(Quakers) allows atheists also. You bring up many good points my friend that I share. Here is the point, some people need religion, others don't. I don't like religion but who the hell am I to say that someone else is wrong for what they do. Perhaps I am the wrong one. Respecting each other is a powerful thing and if more people showed respect it wouldn't matter if we had religion or not. Religion went really wrong when it tried to convert non believers rather having the people come to them.

 

[HeavyD]

How about just keep to yourself and respect others as if they had no religion whatsoever, it helps cut down on fighting.

I'm sick of Religious wingnuts and I'm sick of New Age Atheists. You have a belief in something that you cannot prove. Why don't you do a show and tell on it...oh wait it cannot be proved so just keep to yourself. I'm sick of Jesus freaks, I'm sick of Richard Dawkins lackies and I'm sick of how they all push their beliefs and condemn others who do not believe. New Age Atheists, you give Humanists, old school atheists, agnostics and the secular community a bad name. You are the reason why you are hated because you open your mouths and start talking at times where it isn't appropriate(and have turned off the old school atheists in the process, yes atheists hate you). And religion warps the truth so much who is to know what the truth is by their book.

I'm SPIRITUAL but not religious for the record. I strongly dislike religion but not enough to make it my goal in life to bash it at every opportunity.

Didn't know there were old school and new age atheist. Please share links of both this is very interesting. Please define "Spiritual" I've heard different definitions with some sounding very religious. I'm new to the Secular community and it seems I'm making mistakes along the way. I live with and support two devout Jehovah's Witness and the only time we have issues is when they try to bring me back into the fold and the way they pity me sometimes because they say I don't understand and should return to being a JW. So excuses me if I sound a little agitated at times. I do not try to convert them to Atheism or non-belief or whatever you call it because I don't like it when they try to convert me. Sometimes they won't take no for an answer but they do love me and I love them so it all works out in the end. Besides you can't convert someone to being a non-believer, they have to find this out themselves.

 

[crashtestdummy]

Didn't know there were old school and new age atheist. Please share links of both this is very interesting. Please define "Spiritual" I've heard different definitions with some sounding very religious. I'm new to the Secular community and it seems I'm making mistakes along the way. I live with and support two devout Jehovah's Witness and the only time we have issues is when they try to bring me back into the fold and the way they pity me sometimes because they say I don't understand and should return to being a JW. So excuses me if I sound a little agitated at times. I do not try to convert them to Atheism or non-belief or whatever you call it because I don't like it when they try to convert me. Sometimes they won't take no for an answer but they do love me and I love them so it all works out in the end. Besides you can't convert someone to being a non-believer, they have to find this out themselves.

I'm not sure I'd classify it so much as "old" and "new" so much as a spectrum that has always existed, but the anti-religious segment has become more popular and socially acceptable in the last couple decades. (Remember that "under God" was added to the pledge of allegiance in part to separated us from those awful, godless communists.) I view it as a good sign that such conversations can now happen in the mainstream.

For a spectrum of atheist views, look at (from most accepting of the idea of religion to the least):

• Unitarian Universalist movement, Quakers (religious groups that don't particularly expect a belief in God). These folks are often deists, but since they're accepting of atheists I'll put them on this spectrum.
• Mordechai Kaplan. Jewish Rabbi, created a Jewish construct that essentially rejects supernaturalism. I would say that the Reconstructionist movement is today more like the categories above, but Kaplan's own arguments were quite atheist.
• Secular Humanists, the Ethical Movement. A system of ethics and (with the ethical movement) an attempt to create a ritualistic community without any reference to divine involvement.
• The independent (unorganized) atheists. Bertrand Russell, Douglas Adams, Penn Jillette Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and many more. These folks are the "radical atheists" (to use Adams' own words). They aggressively reject the notion of a God and feel that religion has been a destructive force throughout history that must be dismantled. They are the the atheist equivalents of the evangelical right. As Jillette has said, if you aren't evangelizing, trying to enlighten those around you, then you don't care about them.

This is just a sampling, but should give you some idea of where to look for a dialog.


You're allowed your frustrations at your religious friends, but remember that they are responding to you with love, and that is at least better than ostracism. They are only trying to pull you back into the fold because they are afraid that you have run away from God. Don't fault them too much for not yet coming to the conclusions that you have. (Oh, and yes you absolutely can convert someone to a non-believer in the same way you can convert someone to a believer: by steadily convincing them of an argument.)

 

[TraumaRN]

I'm in a similar spot as the OP. I recently became a non believer in God. I had kind of doubted the existence for years and even though I was baptized as an adult I never really felt God as it were.

My final straw was my divorce. Why would a supposed benevolent god allow me to suffer so much, why would he allow me to be abused... although I'm just scratching the surface needless to say it was enough to make me step back really analyze the situation and understand that there never was anything there.

I experienced a lot of push back from my family and friends initially but now they are accepting of it. And interestingly enough despite all my suffering through my divorce, which is still isn't final, I'm much happier and more at peace with my life.

And I've quietly made it my creedo that I'm going to help mankind as much as I can. I'm already a nurse so I help people everyday. But I just tried to do even more random acts of kindness...I've made it a point to enroll in medical research studies and not really for the money... more with the knowledge that I might assistance and cancer breakthrough or some other major medical advance and thats a legacy I would love to leave behind.

 

[Aikouka]

I have sworn off all tenets of organized religion, but I cant accept the notion that we simply cease to exist when we die. When I reflect on just how unique and special a consciousness is, I just know there is some kind of higher truth, which could mean any number of things, god or no god.

Whenever I hear someone say this, it makes me cringe a bit. I think it's because of my interest in human artificial intelligence that simply does not allow me to accept it. I certainly agree that our minds are very complex overall; however, we can't forget that they've grown over thousands of years. I believe that given the proper logical statements along with the right sensory data, you can simulate human thought. The problem is that both of those requirements are very difficult to attain. We gain sensory data that creates memories during each moment of our life. How could we ever hope to simulate such a thing? What logical statements are basic concepts to a human? These could simply be what we consider our instincts. How exactly do humans apply new logical statements? How exactly do we judge the output from these statements?

This is going to sound odd, but sometimes I just like to think about how I think. It's just rather interesting how we create logical connections between one object and another through possibly many other objects/properties. For example, I could think of my friend's softball game, they use balls in softball, a ball is round, an orange is round, oranges are sweet, chocolate is sweet, I want chocolate. Then again, does my state affect the way I think as well? Was it hunger that made me switch to thinking of a food rather than say a planet (which is also spherical). What's also interesting is that I considered an orange and a ball in their 2D representation (round) rather than their 3D representation (spherical).

My final straw was my divorce. Why would a supposed benevolent god allow me to suffer so much, why would he allow me to be abused... although I'm just scratching the surface needless to say it was enough to make me step back really analyze the situation and understand that there never was anything there.

I used to be religious as well, but I honestly never really cared for it. I was forced to go to church, but I was more or less just going through the motions. Now, I'm very much against the idea of forced indoctrination, and it makes me rather ill that people cannot allow their children to choose for themselves.

Although, religious people actually have answers for your quandry. You would probably get something along the lines of "God is testing you." They may talk to you about Biblical figures such as Jonah, Abraham or any of the other people in the Bible that went through trials/tribulations.

Essentially, religion is designed to always provide an answer that you cannot disprove. The weak-minded/indoctrinated love to lap this up like a dog given a fresh bowl of water, because it's nothing more than fuel to fire their belief.

 

[crashtestdummy]

I'm in a similar spot as the OP. I recently became a non believer in God. I had kind of doubted the existence for years and even though I was baptized as an adult I never really felt God as it were.

My final straw was my divorce. Why would a supposed benevolent god allow me to suffer so much, why would he allow me to be abused... although I'm just scratching the surface needless to say it was enough to make me step back really analyze the situation and understand that there never was anything there.

I experienced a lot of push back from my family and friends initially but now they are accepting of it. And interestingly enough despite all my suffering through my divorce, which is still isn't final, I'm much happier and more at peace with my life.

And I've quietly made it my creedo that I'm going to help mankind as much as I can. I'm already a nurse so I help people everyday. But I just tried to do even more random acts of kindness...I've made it a point to enroll in medical research studies and not really for the money... more with the knowledge that I might assistance and cancer breakthrough or some other major medical advance and thats a legacy I would love to leave behind.

Traumatic events often serve as a defibrillator for philosophy and religious views (in both directions), but remember that being angry with the God you thought was there is not the same as not believing in one. Such a temperament is more akin to giving God the silent treatment than breaking up with it, and which side you're on tends to vacillate with your life. As an atheist, I find the idea of believing in God only if good things are happening to me to be a bit narcissistic.

Try to understand both your former belief and current non-belief in more objective terms. Why, as a child, did you believe in a God? What kept you in the faith as you doubted for a long time? When you say that there is no God, do you mean that you know that for a fact, that you don't have any idea, or that without evidence, there is simply no reason to believe in one? Now that you have discarded theism, how do you plan to construct your ethics (you've already started this one, but what is the philosophical basis)? Is that ethical structure any different than when you believed in God?

These may be questions you already know the answer to, or it may take you years to find responses that satisfy you, but framing your exploration in this way allows you to come to a personal philosophy that is more intellectually satisfying and stable.

 

[TraumaRN]

Traumatic events often serve as a defibrillator for philosophy and religious views (in both directions), but remember that being angry with the God you thought was there is not the same as not believing in one. Such a temperament is more akin to giving God the silent treatment than breaking up with it, and which side you're on tends to vacillate with your life. As an atheist, I find the idea of believing in God only if good things are happening to me to be a bit narcissistic.

Try to understand both your former belief and current non-belief in more objective terms. Why, as a child, did you believe in a God? What kept you in the faith as you doubted for a long time? When you say that there is no God, do you mean that you know that for a fact, that you don't have any idea, or that without evidence, there is simply no reason to believe in one? Now that you have discarded theism, how do you plan to construct your ethics (you've already started this one, but what is the philosophical basis)? Is that ethical structure any different than when you believed in God?

These may be questions you already know the answer to, or it may take you years to find responses that satisfy you, but framing your exploration in this way allows you to come to a personal philosophy that is more intellectually satisfying and stable.

Well to be honest I had lost faith sometime a year or so ago. Which was when my marriage started to fail. I'm not angry with any God...really only angry at my ex-wife.

And as a child I believed in God because it is how I was raised. My parents are not bible thumpers by any means, in fact they are quite the opposite. I rarely went to church but my mom and dad made sure I read and learned about the bible, jesus, etc etc. I certainly wasn't indoctrinated like some children but at the same time Christianity was all that I knew about.

When I got to college was the first time I REALLY had a chance to learn about other religions and cultures. And we actually get fairly in depth in nursing school about religious beliefs whether it was Judaism, Christian(and its many sects/offshoots), Islam, Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, Animism, etc etc. That was the point at which the seed of doubt was planted as I learned about all the different cultures etc. It was also when I was baptized because I still felt strong ties to Christianity.

Then I entered the workforce as a ER nurse. And what I saw started me down the path that I'm at right now. I saw death, suffering, violence, hatred, pain, I saw the worst and best of humanity. And I also saw the worst and best in people of vastly different cultures, religions etc. That REALLY put the doubt in my mind and finally divorce snapped it. What I saw was that mankind is inherently good and inherently evil. The amount varies in everyone and it doesn't matter what you believe, what you were taught... it's just there and, I think at least, our life experiences bring it out of us. So when I say I don't believe...it's more like I see a clear lack of evidence. I see people using their faith and beliefs as a crutch to their lives, ESPECIALLY when doing evil, and to a lesser extent doing good. I don't need that crutch.

How many times did I see people take the moral LOW ground in the name of religion so they could shed the personal responsibility and just blame God or say, God will forgive me for my sins. That is crap to me

And regarding my ethics I will continue to build upon those, but first and foremost I want to do good to my fellow man. First as a nurse and secondly as a volunteer. Like I said, donate my time and body to medical research while I'm alive and dead. Make the world around me beautiful if I can. While this will sound narcissistic, I easily have the best landscaping in my block. I have loads of beautiful and unique flowers, my house is extremely well kept inside and outside. To watch people walk by my house and compliment my flowers, my yard and my house gives me joy but I also see it gives that person joy and at least a fleeting moment of happiness. Even when they don't say anything I notice they walk by my house everyday and turn their head and usually smile.

Back on topic though about my ethics. I probably won't make a vast change I was raised on certain Christian values and those still resonate with me but in a non-theist way. Treat people with kindness and respect. Don't steal, don't deceive, etc etc. I'm well aware I'll meet people who will tell me I'm the devil or I need to be converted and I'll just tell them thanks but no thanks I'm happy. I'm not the sort to preach or push my beliefs on others. They will find their path in life. Mostly I'm going to really live my life how I want. Free will but with a bent towards doing good with one exception, I will NOT compromise my happiness just to make someone else happy. Perhaps that sounds naive but it is my choice.

I will say this much these last few months have been utterly enlightening.