I am a Pagan, and it makes me happy. But I do find myself envying Atheists at times. What's wrong with me?

Question

I admire them because they are non-conformists and they are usually very intelligent. I spend at least an hour every day on Witchcraft, and while Witchcraft does make me happy and spiritually at peace, I sometimes wonder: "If I was an atheist and not a devout Pagan, I would spend my time improving my brain than being a Witch."

What can I do about this? I love being a Pagan, please don't get me wrong. Paganism brought meaning to my life. I just wish I were as smart as I am spiritual.

Whoa, now, WAIT A MINUTE! I do not want to convert, let me make that very clear right now. All I am saying is that while I am NOT an atheist, I do admire some things they have, and that's all. Okay?

Answer 1

For what it’s worth:

In my opinion all activities can be considered spiritual if you make them spiritual. For me mowing the lawn is meditative. Wrestling with my kids is helping to teach them about love. I stir loving thoughts for my family into every meal I cook (working magic there).

What one is seeking is balance.

For instance: I know a fellow who has a phenomenal intellect and can almost burn holes through walls when he meditates/focuses. We get together once a month for coffee. A while back he told me that he was not really happy with his spiritual life. He felt restless much of the time. I asked him what he did for physical exercise and he admitted that he did next to nothing. I suggested that he reprioritize his day to get at least 30 minutes of physical activity in each day. He took up walking in the morning.

Well, I saw him last week and the guy is a ball of fire. He has dropped 20 pounds and his blood pressure is back in a normal range. He is also doing better at work and finding more time to do other things that interested him. Finding balance improved every other area of his life.

So where is your balance at? Sounds like you’re doing some spiritual work. Great!!! Keep it up! How about diet, exercise and sleep? Are those going okay? What about mental? When was the last time you read something that took some work?

From what you’re saying you’d like to put more effort into the mental thing. Great!!! What subjects interests you? How about ancient history, the human body (anatomy, physiology), philosophy maybe logic, or maybe even weather? There are lots of good reference books at the library or that can be purchased at Amazon. Maybe you’d like to take 30 minutes every other day and just start reading through an encyclopedia at the library. That can be almost meditative and a real refresher. Bonus!!!! Most libraries have air conditioning and are quiet. If you want help picking a book give me a shout. I’m a book nerd.

Okay maybe reading is not your bag. How about watching The Science Channel or the History Channel on TV? Don’t have cable? Okay, PBS has lots of good stuff too. Nova is a great show and they also have travel shows where you can learn geography and local customs.

Think outside the box and find a way to devote a chunk of time (20 or 30 minutes) to expanding your knowledge everyday and you’ll be amazed at how fast you can learn stuff.

I’ll shut up now. ;-)

Bright Blessings,

Pabs

Oh Jeez: I just saw that you're a college student. Okay you're stretching the old brain... You can disregard all that I've said... :-&

Answer 2

You sound like a very cool person, very open minded. I think you can do a little of both, although I must admit I'm not that well versed in Pagan culture. I don't recall ever hearing of Pagans worshiping any supreme type being, my take on it is it has more to do with nature, good and bad vibes, energies etc. I can accept that much easier than some guy in the sky, If it makes you happy and at peace by all means keep with it.

If you're curious, take a look into science and how world operates. That's what I did and the end effect was I became an Atheist.

Answer 3

Atheists tend to be more logical in thought than spiritual. Science, reason, and scientific principle often guide their beliefs. It's not that Atheists hate God as some believe. It's usually that they simply can't rationalize the existence or God. But then, faith doesn't leave room for logical, rational thought.

Paganism also requires a faith but it's a bit different. From the point of view of an atheist, meaning is found through careful examination and close scrutiny. Nothing can be left up to faith. Faith isn't logical. If you can't see the meaning behind why something is the way it is, you don't just throw your hands up and say, "Well, that's just how the powers that be made it."

As far as having a conflict between being spiritual and logical, I really don't see why there has to be one. Who is to say that you can't accept something like evolution from a scientific standpoint and still believe that maybe some higher power (God, the Gods, the Goddess, whatever) didn't direct it?

Why can't religious people accept that maybe science is right and a higher power made it that way? Why can't pure scientists concede that, maybe, just maybe, science only uncovers what the higher powers have created or orchestrated?

I guess i'm more of an agnostic. I do see room in the universe for a higher, unseen power to direct everything. But I don't subscribe to any organized religion.

Maybe the big bang did happen and a higher power made it happen. Maybe evolution is right but was directed by that higher power.

There is no reason why you can't believe that higher powers or forces direct things in nature and still seek a deeper, more scientific understanding of how things work.

Answer 4

I think the best thing for you to do would be to convert to Christianity. Obviously you are not finding the satisfaction in Paganism. Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If you will truly give your life to Him and seek His wisdom then you can become smarter and have a better spiritual walk.

It also seems to me that being a Pagan and converting to atheism is a huge jump. Do you not worship a goddess? All of creation testifies to a creator.

If you are an atheist then you are denying that there is a God. If there is no God then where did a concept of God come from?

Answer 5

I've gotta say that I think you can spend an equal amount of time on your brain and your spirituality. For one I obviously don't know exactly what you do while you spend time on witchcraft....but you don't HAVE to spend an hour every day on it. Even if you continue, you can probably also spend an hour on "improving you brain". Or you could alternate days. I'm pagan and I've got to say, I don't spend an hour every day on witchcraft. For one witchcraft doesn't even have to be related to pagan spirituality...but you know that. I guess I spend more time on intellectual things. But that doesn't mean that I can't split my time more evenly. Religion doesn't have to over power intellect. They can co-exist....

Also, I noticed you are a college student. Speaking as a fellow college student I know you are at least working on intellectual things once a week. School does have a tendency to improve your brain. :-P

Answer 6

We all develop at different paces and in different ways. Maybe through your studying of witchcraft you will come to an enlightment. But obviously not all atheists are intelligent.

I'm more agnostic than atheist but it was not an overnight enlightment. It took me years of studying several religions (about the only one I haven't yet is scientology) to realize that I do not fit into any religion and that religions are one of the main reasons with what is wrong in the world.

If only more people were like you and happy with themselves. But I can tell you are already on your way to becoming very intelligent. The one thing about being intelligent is to keep an open mind and consider every "what if" angle. A closed mind doesn't allow you to examine things from every angle and come up with your own conclusions.

Blessed Be

Answer 7

You can still be a Pagan, just don't spend so much time on Witchcraft and read more books instead.. You can do both, don't give up something you like just because you don't feel smart. I'm sure you're very smart.

Answer 8

Well I am a Christian and I spend much time improving my brain too. I do not wonder about being something else. It seems to me that you are still a Seeker you haven't found the right answers yet and are wondering if the correct answers are to be found elsewhere. That is a Good Start. Follow that and eventually you should find REAL truth. (Remember Happiness is always subjective)

Answer 9

Part of being a Witch is improving your mind. It's one of the basic tenets of Witchcraft, to seek knowledge. That includes all sorts of knowledge, from the arcane to the mundane. Most Witches I know have advanced degrees. Our gatherings include University Professors (Math and English), high school teachers (History and English), an evolutionary psychologist, an evolutionary anthropologist (Nothing gets done when those two get together) two automobile designers, several engineers, a graphic designer, several musicians and a veterinarian. These are all people who spend alot of time improving our brains and our discussions range from ancient culture to quantum physics, we was philosophical on literature from many ages and genres and we even have one guy who can translate our rituals into Greek, Latin or Gaelic, depending on the deities we're addressing. (We are an eclectic group, we've all got our own deities.) We have classes all the time. I personally teach plant identification, mostly stuff I learned in Botany classes at the University, but also plant lore, including medicinal, magical and culinary uses for plants. The guy who teaches Shamanic Dreaming learned much of his stuff from University as well, and incorporates alot of Anthropology, Psychology and human evolution into his courses. Our English professor does marvolous guided meditations and our engineers are fantastic drummers (so are the musicians, of course, but that goes without saying.) When we meet at Borders (which happens quite frequently) we take over the whole store and leave with armloads of books, not just on the Occult, but also on literature, history, quantum physics and biology, and of course cooking and gardening because many of us are obsessed with those.

What I'm saying is, and you can hate me for it, but it's true, if you don't spend your time improving your brain, you simply aren't a very good Witch. The most famous Witches in history spent years studying, travelling, learning about different cultures. Learning is our purpose for existing on this planet, that and experiencing all we can of life (which learning itself is a part of). Learning glorifies the Goddess. Besides, if you don't know how to body works, if you don't have basic understanding of how the energies of the world works, your spells will only be half as effective as those of ours that do know.

Answer 10

you envy them because they have more freedom. atheists live based on Nihilism, which is the philosophical position which argues that the world, and especially human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. so basically it rejects all moral and religious principles, based on the fact that there is nothing common with the ways and world and religion, the world is run by humans who rob, kill, and control other humans (Government) for their own gratification and to establish a sense of imperialism that America puts onto other countries. so you envy them because they are not bound by anything but their own physical limits, not their own moral and religious limits. we humans use god as a reason to add meaning to our lives, and when something good and bad happens, we thank and blame god. what you can do is try to choose which parts of your religion you like and believe in those parts, such as the part where it give your life meaning and order, but do not envy atheists. do not envy anybody, because pain is a part of life that we all feel, no matter how religious, brave, rich, smart you are. we all breathe and bleed the same air and blood, look at it like that and you will see that we are all equal, no matter what differences we humans have