ATHEISTS: explain to me your higher power?

Question

you do not believe in god, i understand that.

you must have a higher power:
science
literature
music
nature
the universe

anything



PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR HIGHER POWER

Answer 1

The universe we are all part of it

Answer 2

There is no higher power, and as an atheist, I am content that there isn't. For any human being, it is normal to turn to a higher power for help, comfort, and relief; this is what we learn from childhood. But in the process of growing up, every human being needs to rely more and more on himself, to take responsibility for his own life and his conduct, and to accept reality as it is. Therefore childish yearning for a higher power should more and more disappear, even though it might hurt sometimes.

Answer 3

I don't think atheists believe in a higher power. A higher power is just a god under a different title, like saying, "I'm not ruled by a king. I'm ruled by an emperor." I guess the principals which govern the universe for atheists would be cause and effect, and entropy.

Answer 4

I reject your premise. No one "has" to have a higher power.

The concept of higher power used in 12-step programs says that "a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity." However, as an atheist, I assert that there is nothing greater than ourselves.

Instead, I encourage all of us to turn exactly TO ourselves. The greatest power is us. Not one individual, but groups of individuals. Others are not greater than ourselves, they are just exactly on the same plain as ourselves. When we connect with together, we become better selves. This is not handing over our will to a higher power, but acknowledging the deep interconnection that is inevitable. We are a part of it, not separate from it. We are not victims, but participants.

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Answer 5

Oh, don't feel sorry that we don't have a higher power and that we are in total control of our lives and free to do the things that your so-called "free will" allows us to do... unbelievable. just because we don't believe in something greater than us doesn't mean that we are the greatest. do you believe in dolphins? Aren't dolphins great? Wouldn't you love to befriend a dolphin and go on all sorts of zany adventures under the sea with him? Of course you would; so why bother devoting your life to something that MAY or MAY NOT exist? That's the way I see it. Maybe you're not a risk-taker. Then again, maybe by believing in God so much, you stop living your own life and start doing what you think HE would want you to do... But here's a question: if God knows everything, then why would he waste his days looking at your pathetic and feeble life? Do you think you amuse him? If he knows everything already (omniscience), then doesn't that cancel out the free will He gave to us? I mean, this is manifest destiny. If you say your God is not omniscient, then what is he? Just another guy scrounging for quarters on the back of the bus? No; your Judeo-Christian view of God is omniscient and omnipotent, right? Well, if God knows everything and can do everything, why would He create us, or let us continue to live? I'm sure if he were real, he wouldn't be watching my life... So why did he create us? HE DIDN'T! It was coincidence and chemicals, not fire and brimstone. And that's another thing; why doesn't he "smote" people anymore? Is he afraid of what we've become? Or is it because he never smoted anyone to begin with? Perhaps Christianity is based so much upon propaganda to keep the masses at bay that you lost the true value and meaning of what it is to worship something. Do you wake up and praise God all day, until you go to sleep? No! You don't, and don't tell me you do because if you did, you wouldn't be on Y!A asking this garbage. You don't believe in God anymore than I do; you just say you do just in case. Because what if He is real? We're all screwed. Because all are borne unto the world in sin, and all die in sin. So go ahead and believe in this crap; me? I'm going to live life. Peace.

Answer 6

the clarification i'm an atheist is I discovered elementary good judgment & formed the thought that the path of freethinking became the final one, in essence i could somewhat be suited than chuffed. So right here is my reasoning The null place is the default one. The reasoning at the back of it is that collectively as there are an uncountable type of issues that are (water is moist the earth is a sphere etc..) there are a limiteless type of issues that could desire to be (the earth could be a trapezoid ,flat disk, or pyramid etc) so given no reason to have faith something is authentic that's maximum probable no longer authentic. there are a number of proofs for the existence of a deity maximum are arguments from lack of know-how, like "the place did each little thing come from if no longer God" surprisingly plenty this argument is invalid because of the fact it supplies an answer based on the actuality that we don't be responsive to the respond. "i've got faith gods presence" is yet another elementary argument,it type of feels that maximum people who experience this psych themselves into it, a competent occasion of it is the hand gentle bulb fable, there is fable that in case you carry a lightbulb in you hand & concentration on it you could make it gentle up, many human beings have performed this & many have viewed others do this, yet while one have been to observe a video recording of it they does not see the sunshine, because of the fact the human beings who do see it psyched themselves into believing it. The complexity argument is yet another one, It falls aside because it calls for around good judgment, the reasoning is each little thing complicated had to be created, god could have been the writer, because of the fact each little thing complicated desires a writer, the subject is the common public of issues (atoms, electrodes, area-time itself) have not been shown to have a writer,. so as to apply this argument to tutor a god exist you could first tutor a god exists.

Answer 7

The term "higher power" usually refers to supernatural being, but as you have pointed out, if taken in the literal sense, it means only something with more power than I myself have.

There are many things that are more powerful than I am. There are some people more powerful, the laws of nature are more powerful. Sometimes love is more powerful, emotions can be more powerful. Art, music, beauty - all these things can take my breath away.

However, none of these things excuse me from the personal responsibility of guiding my own life and controlling my own actions.

I can see and appreciate the beauty of the garden without imagining fairies at the bottom of it... and that is my relationship with the world around me in a nutshell.

Answer 8

I don't have a higher power. I don't feel the need for my life to have to have something above it or dictating it. I am just myself, living with others, whom I share my life with.

Answer 9

Why assume there is a higher power? I don't. It's the same as admitting that you think there's a god, only by another name.

Answer 10

Wow!

The people of faith that have answered for the atheists are freaking crazy!

You do not understand that atheists don't believe in God. If you did, you wouldn't have to try and relate their beliefs to yours; you would just get it.

The things you list are important to ALL people, believers and nonbelievers alike. That doesn't mean you elevate it to godlike status. You don't have to have a "relationship" with it.

Things can just be. That's all to it.

Answer 11

There is no higher power. Human beings must stand up, face this reality, and take responsibility for ourselves and our future. We don't "worship ourselves" or anything else. We're not all-powerful or all-wise, but we're here, and we're not helpless to live good lives, help one another through trials and tribulations, and build a better future for our descendants.

We are it. There's no higher power to bail us out, so we must show courage and use our intelligence and wisdom to do the best we can.