Atheist INFJs?
- Thread starter cercatricedesogni
- Start date
You couldn't call me an atheist because I don't deny the possibility of the existence of anything someone could call a 'god' but I have very narrow definitions for that. I am non-religious. If something that could be called a god existed, I would choose not to worship it.
I didn't find my motivation, or as you call it, faith, until I graduated high school. All the years before then were spent depressed and I contemplated suicide many times..
I don't know how I found my motivation...and I'm not sure what it was that snapped me out of depression but I'm inclined to believe that...as ridiculous as it sounds: it was marijuana.
I'm not sure what your stance on drugs are and I consider both the words marijuana and drugs derogatory. I see the plant as a medicinal herb because it is natural unlike over the counter drugs. However, it does have the quality of a drug in the sense that it alters your mind. So if your stance on drugs, particularly weed, is negative, hear out how it has changed me before you judge it.
Pre-weed, I was:
-Skinny
-Depressed
-Unmotivated
-Tired
Post-weed, I was (IN A SOBER STATE):
-Gaining 20 pounds
-Happier
The cause? I think it was the munchies from the weed. I actually had an appetite for once and ate a lot more. However, that doesn't mean eating anything will lead to a happier state, you have to have a balanced diet that supplies you with nutrition of all sorts, MAINLY vitamin D, as that is responsible for happiness and you can look that up on google and get many results.
So, I don't think I ever had any motivation that snapped me out of my depressed state. However, my motivation for being happy today is found in itself, being happy. I am happy being happy so I will take the steps to be happy, it's a weird mindset but that's how I work.
I don't exactly expect you to go down the same route I did to be happier but your motivation, like I said earlier should be your son, as it seems you love him. So try to use whatever little motivation you have to do research or experiment until you find what can motivate you even more. Research those pills you're taking and find out how it affects your brain. To me, it's half physiological and half emotional.
Speaking of infinity, the mathematician Georg Cantor, who introduced set theory and the implication of an 'infinity of infinities' (which in turn lead to Bertrand Russell's famous paradox), is supposedly believed to have thought his ideas communicated to him by God and which met with much theoretical, philosophical, and religious criticism.
Agnostic INFJ here. Believing absolutely in either direction, for or against a or many gods seems short sighted. I'm a mere human, there is plenty about this universe and reality that I do not and will not ever comprehend. And that's fine with me. Sometimes I feel like I have a pretty good idea, and then I think it over and end up thinking it could just as easily have been anything else. Death is exciting, in a way, to me. I would not seek it out, but I'll welcome it when it comes to me on it's own.
Monotheist here. But I think theology is irrelevant. I'm concerned with the BEHAVIOR of people, which usually correlates with values, but not with theology. If an Atheist ran for president who shared my values, I'd vote for him. Or as Dennis Prager says, "If a candidate believed the earth rested on the back of a Turtle, and that this Turtle informed him of his values, and those value were in line with the values I get from the Torah, I would have no problem voting for him."
No. You probably didn't. And that's the reason why you are here now in this one.
You chose to come back to learn something you missed the last time. You knew you were strong enough.
Life on this planet is hard and painful. I mean look at it - really look at it. We are born in fear and pain. It's our very first moment as stand alone human beings. We no longer feel our mother's emotions, intrain our mother's thoughts, and we don't free float or fly in the protective womb anymore. We are human beings and we feel fear at being alone and pain because we're no longer protected. It's natural. It's normal.
We are here to learn about Fear and Pain - feel it - experience it - accept it as part of our reality as best as we can.
The lesson is to learn there is no reason to fear because consciousness never dies. We are here to learn about pain because.....our other existence ...the spiritual energy ...has no pain.
Think YinYang symbol.
There are many saying this earth - full of pain and fear - is a life lesson for us to learn because we go on - eventually - to create other worlds - perhaps universes. Some of the Eastern traditions teach about Bodhisatvas - who can create worlds. Mythology is filled with stories of Gods creating their own worlds. Even the bible says - the Kingdom of God is within you - meaning you are already OF God.
I'm not sure what to make of the reasoning behind the lessons of Fear and Pain. I don't worry about the end results or did I learn all that I'm supposed to. I'm concentrating on practicing accepting these concepts as they come to me in the form of my life lessons. I try not to run from them - or avoid them - or cover them over with diversions and my desires. It's difficult to do at times - but I've seen healing in my life come from the genuine effort of practice.
Suggestions:
Read the book "Many Lives Many Masters" by Brian Weiss.
Look for ways of contemplative practice to learn acceptance of your self and your current state of being. http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/
Find a therapist/counselor to help you with those past traumas in your life you have lodged like a knife within you. [i sense a terrible burden in you
]Just a note on something a monk once said: "When asked what is it that reincarnates with us from a past life - Ajahn Chah replied - I'm sorry to say it's your bad habits." Greed. Aversion. Delusion.
My hope for you is that you:
Learn about your self, Skarekrow.
Learn to have compassion for your life's difficulties.
Learn to love your wounded self.
I wish you peace.
Namaste'
I am largely indifferent to religion. I do not oppose it because of my beliefs, nor do I support it. Technically, you could qualify me as an atheist simply because I don't care about religion itself; I care about how it is used and the impact it has on our race. Everyone has their vices and virtues, and most struggle enough with daily life without needing to be railed against for something as personal as their beliefs.
It doesn't sound ridiculous to me at all.
I've never felt that way with weed but I definitely felt that way about LSD… that's when I realized just how huge everything can be and how connected things can get… and that there are all kinds of hidden dimensions to every thought and what we process is only the beginning… well, not really, because obviously there is no beginning or end, I'm just saying that because relative to where you are, it's the beginning.
I know LSD is kind of seen as a silly hippie thing and a lot of people tend to write such things off as recreational, but I'm a big believer that there aren't any set rules about religious or spiritual experiences and it all depends on you. Every time I get depressed I think back to that experience and my spirits are always lifted… I only did it 4 times and that was over a decade ago but the first 3 trips have stayed with me my entire life and it's definitely one of my top 5 non-regrets.
I think the reason I don't think of myself as religious is that I don't think being connected to the universe or to God or whatever is in any way related to the intellect, or language, or behavior or morality-- that part of religion is basically just social control. If anything, your brain gets in the way and makes everything more complicated than it has to be… you can learn a lot more by clearing your mind and really concentrating on where you are and what's happening all around you-- it's when you let your mind endlessly ramble on about nothing that you're confused. So yeah, I'm big on the visceral phenomena and experience over theory, even though there are still certain ideas that can make you think 'wow'… it's really something you have to feel in order to understand.
I am an atheist INFJ.
I consider myself both agnostic and atheist. Some think this is impossible, but I think it makes perfect sense. I do not believe in god. In that way, I am an atheist. I will never believe in a god in the way that we humans imagine god. In that way, I am an atheist. However, I do not think I am 100% correct. I am open to the idea of there being a power that is greater than we. But, if it exists, I do not think it is something we can or will ever know. Nor do I think it is an intelligent being. For me, if there is a "god" it is simply the beauty of nature or the mystery of the universe. "God," being a manmade idea as well as a manmade word is restricted by our limited knowledge and by the boundaries of our consciousness. I believe there are universes, realms, times and dimensions tangent or parallel to our own, and my atheism simply comes from the fact that I feel comfortable knowing that I will never know what is out there.
I found my atheism through years of studying world religions. I read The Bible, The Koran (which is just a better quality version of The Bible), parts of The Torah, The Book of Mormon, The Avesta, the sayings of Confucius, the Tao Te Ching, and so on. I went to church services all over the place, talked to all sorts of people, soaked up everything people told me....and I came out as an atheist. And DAMN, am I happy for that! I can honestly say, just as so many people do about their faith, that the base of my happiness comes from having found myself an atheist. I went through "the search" (sounds so cheesy) at the malleable age of 11-14. Throughout my looking around, I considered myself a "none." After all my reading and exploring, I became convinced that anyone who went through the same search would also come out as an atheist. I still believe that. It's not just a coincidence that atheists and agnostics are the most educated on matters of worldly religions...
The worst thing people say to atheists is: "So...you just believe in nothing?" If anyone wants to say that to me, let's start a private discussion, because it will take a couple of days to list the things that I believe in.
I consider myself both agnostic and atheist. Some think this is impossible, but I think it makes perfect sense. I do not believe in god. In that way, I am an atheist. I will never believe in a god in the way that we humans imagine god. In that way, I am an atheist. However, I do not think I am 100% correct. I am open to the idea of there being a power that is greater than we. But, if it exists, I do not think it is something we can or will ever know. Nor do I think it is an intelligent being. For me, if there is a "god" it is simply the beauty of nature or the mystery of the universe. "God," being a manmade idea as well as a manmade word is restricted by our limited knowledge and by the boundaries of our consciousness. I believe there are universes, realms, times and dimensions tangent or parallel to our own, and my atheism simply comes from the fact that I feel comfortable knowing that I will never know what is out there.
I found my atheism through years of studying world religions. I read The Bible, The Koran (which is just a better quality version of The Bible), parts of The Torah, The Book of Mormon, The Avesta, the sayings of Confucius, the Tao Te Ching, and so on. I went to church services all over the place, talked to all sorts of people, soaked up everything people told me....and I came out as an atheist. And DAMN, am I happy for that! I can honestly say, just as so many people do about their faith, that the base of my happiness comes from having found myself an atheist. I went through "the search" (sounds so cheesy) at the malleable age of 11-14. Throughout my looking around, I considered myself a "none." After all my reading and exploring, I became convinced that anyone who went through the same search would also come out as an atheist. I still believe that. It's not just a coincidence that atheists and agnostics are the most educated on matters of worldly religions...
The worst thing people say to atheists is: "So...you just believe in nothing?" If anyone wants to say that to me, let's start a private discussion, because it will take a couple of days to list the things that I believe in.
I'm at a base level a humanist. Flitting back and forth between atheism and agnosticism not because god matters to me. But because other peoples beliefs interferes with my happiness and the happiness of others when it should not.
And I tend to struggle with just doing my own thing (Agnostic) and trying to make others see that blind faith is damaging to others (atheism).
And I tend to struggle with just doing my own thing (Agnostic) and trying to make others see that blind faith is damaging to others (atheism).
I have some atheist/agnostic friends.
One guy likes to believe that this existence is essentially insignificant.
The other guy believes that this existence makes no sense.
To be an atheist is to have faith that nothing we do is of any consequence.
An agnostic is hesitant to believe anything absolutely.
The afterlife is the main point of contention.
One guy likes to believe that this existence is essentially insignificant.
The other guy believes that this existence makes no sense.
To be an atheist is to have faith that nothing we do is of any consequence.
An agnostic is hesitant to believe anything absolutely.
The afterlife is the main point of contention.
Not true at all. I believe that plenty of things we do have consequences, just not in the sense of relating to an afterlife. Just look at how we treat our planet. *shrugs*