C:

My mother is an atheist, has been for all her life. She meditates twice

a day, and has done so for four decades. Despite a rough upbringing,
she
is a very tranquil person who sees the world with very few illusions.

V:

Thanks you for the testimonial. As I wrote meditation helps quirt our
"sticky brain" that seems to hold onto everything. If you can get to a
half hour meditation time, that is great. It just takes time and
practice. Morning works better for me than mid day...there are less
things distracting me earlier in the day usually. The important point
is to just do it and do it regularly and do not make demands on your
meditation practice or have expectations.

From:cactus - view profile
Date:Thurs, Dec 7 2006 12:09 am

V wrote:

While doing my pool laps at the gym today, I was able to get into a
Zen like rhythm and relax my brain. Computer addiction does wonders for
'over stimulating' the brain and putting a kink in your neck, so I am
glad to get moving with sport and movent based actives whenever I can.
In discussing this topic of 'can a Buddhist also be an atheist', one
component that needs addressing is; 'a constantly busy mind cannot heal
itself'. So check out a meditation practice as a means of healing your

C:> brain.


C:

My mother is an atheist, has been for all her life. She meditates twice

a day, and has done so for four decades. Despite a rough upbringing,
she
is a very tranquil person who sees the world with very few illusions.

V:

Thanks you for the testimonial. As I wrote meditation helps quirt our
"sticky brain" that seems to hold onto everything. If you can get to a
half hour meditation time, that is great. It just takes time and
practice. Morning works better for me than mid day...there are less
things distracting me earlier in the day usually. The important point
is to just do it and do it regularly and do not make demands on your
meditation practice or have expectations.



The problem with a 'spiritually sick atheist' is such atheist

are characterized not by sound judgment, rationality and wisdom, but by
a prejudiced insobriety of opinion that roots itself of egoistic pride
masquerading as logic.

C:

Some atheists are spiritually sick, some are not. Some theists are
spiritually sick, some are not.


V:

Yes, all true.

Through a life based in condemnation prior to investigation, they do
not see that as they go to extreme measures to have no connection with
spirituality, their actions also causes a lose of connection with any
humanity.

C:
You are making a number of assumptions based on your own biases and
inability to see clearly. Your theism obviously blinds you to reality.

V:
If I have the wrong view, then please give me the right view and I will
look it over.

If the 'spiritually sick atheist' can think outside

themselves for once, and test concepts, then they will have a chance to
break free from their 'mind manacled' prisons these ego based people
have created for themselves.

C:

You create a straw person to build yourself up. Why do you have to make

yourself feel spiritually superior? Why the insecurity?


V:

I don't create a straw person to build up. You have already agreed
there are spiritually sick individuals of all sorts in the world. The
mere act of my trying to discuss this topic shows my interest in this
subject. But I make no claims of where I am on the ladder of success.

And for those atheists of a more open

minded nature and are authentic 'freethinking atheists', they can think
for themselves and test things, they will enjoy the many tools Buddhism
offers for life at peace.

C:

Do you know anything at all about Buddhism?

V:

I am an Agnostic Freethinker and write from that point of view. All the
tools discussed within my posts are available for any person to use
irrespective of religious belief or lack thereof. I make no other
claims.

Of course when the subject turns to 'atheists at peace,' I always
recall a classic quote of how the spiritually sick atheist views inner
peace.

C:

We are about the see the eructations of a spiritually sick theist. Hold

on to your gorge.


V:


There are 3 components necessary to live a happy life: CONTENTMENT,
LOVE or COMPASSION and GRATITUDE.

there for the taking and it is independent from our circumstances it
someday may sink in that there is nothing stopping us from being
content and happy RIGHT NOW! The choice is your if you have had enough
pain. Examine which of these components is missing in your life. An
important thing to remember is the 3-D's: Desire, Determination and
Diligence.

Desire:

Desire is the foundation for all recovery quests. You cannot help
someone without the desire in them to be helped. Desire is what gets us
taking that first step in the right direction when all seems hopeless.
Have you every tried to give advice or help someone in need and they
respond: "I don't care." They lack the desire or at least this is what
they say. Desire must come from within, you cannot force someone to
change, they must change themselves.

To develop a desire to change, we must first recognize there is a
problem or sickness in us. Recognition or awareness is the first step
leading to desire. After we recognize we are sick or an area of our
lives is out of balance, we can start accepting the fact that we need
to take action in this area. When we label addicts or people as "in
denial," we are saying the person is not able to recognize there is a
problem in their lives that needs addressing.

Now some people recognize there is a problem in their life, but still
don't develop a burning desire for change, but at least they have a
somewhat true picture of things and just haven't made the crossover to
developing the desire to change bad enough. Whether their block is out
of fear, laziness or staying in a comfortable place, they will have to
figure out what is blocking them before they can take the next step. As
I said, we cannot force someone to change, they must change themselves
and it must be from the inside out.

Determination:

Determination serves two purposes here. When something is "determined"
it is accepted as fact. We have determined that we are powerless over
our addiction and our lives are unmanageable. We have determined we
must abstain from certain people, places or things that we cannot
comfortably have in our lives. We are in the process of determining a
new set of rules on how to live. We have also determined what injuries
we have caused and what needs to be repaired through taking personal
inventory.

Determination serves a second purpose and that is it keeps us on the
long road to recovery. We cannot keep on this long road without being
determined to change our lives day in day out. Whether it is debt
recovery, clutter, restructuring our complex lives or losing weight it
all takes time and determination to stay on the path of recovery. Many
distractions, detours and set backs along the way, but we should always
be determined to keep pointed in the direction of recovery.

Diligence:

Diligence keeps us from going backwards once we finally arrive at the
recovery place we are aiming for. It takes diligence once we get to
where we want to be to maintain that serene spot, otherwise we fall
back on our old "natural" ways of living. Once you lose the fat, once
you pay off your debts, once you lose the clutter, once you get sober
and abstinent from your drug of choice it takes diligence to keep you
that way. James Allen calls this watchfulness.

"Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by
watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured and rapidly fall
back into failure."

As A Man Thinketh by James Allen.



Good Luck,


V (Male)

Agnostic Freethinker