Different people have different needs and many people need definite answers while some can accept life without definite answers. I'm sure that's for many different reasons but I sometimes wonder if I'd rather not know than be wrong.

Atheism is not meant as a replacement for theism, or at least it shouldn’t be seen that way. Atheism is the empty whiteboard, the blank slate, the tv turned off (which by the way is not a channel).

@p-nullifidian Society sees philosophical dominance as either 1: The thing we all know, or 2: The new thing which replaces the old. Therefore, while technically correct (as other ideas dot the landscape so the current philosophy is not the only one) one will become dominant. After 20 years as an Atheist, with a fondness for meditation during that time, I learned that the resistance to nothingness is too extreme (even for me). Something which gives terminology to the Universal system is enjoyed and implied by consciousness. My NN explains consciousness as a bi-product of a parasite which exists eternally (because it's made of electromagnetic star stuff) within a system governed by Zen. Taoism is merely a series of doctrines which seem to identify natural truths for humanity. Especially the first 10 teachings (which are thought to have been written by Lao Tzu himself). Further, Zen can easily replace Islam and Hinduism if those believers realize that Theism is killing them.

@rainmanjr There is much to appreciate in Eastern philosophical traditions, so long as they don’t devolve into Chopraesque woo woo! I have dabbled in Buddhism, picking and choosing favorites, such as the Eight fold path and other proverbs to live by. In this way I wasn’t too much different from my Christian self, as all Christians pick and choose what to follow and what to discard.

But having decided that Christianity held more negatives than positives, what took the place for me was not Eastern philosophy, but positivism and science. As YouTuber Phil Hellenes says, “Science saved my soul.”

Nature provides all the awe, inspiration and wonder anyone needs, IMO. And as for “meaning,” each one of us is free to fill in that blank for themselves. If there’s one thing I’ve come to learn as a secular humanist and non-believer, it’s that the human species doesn’t need a singular philosophical tradition or new religion in order to thrive.

@p-nullifidian I completely agree about Chopraesque woo woo and also discarded Buddhism. While it shares much in common with Taoism it is not environmentally based. I think reverence for a "thing" turns out to be important for how valued it is.Taoism reveres nature as being equal. All nature. It seems to me that might be well received in a quick way and cause a tsunami of demand to act accordingly. What humans need, now, is speed. Maybe some Ecstasy, too? That's the only reason I come back to it as a strategic unifier, though. With no dogma, or punitive, it can be easily forgotten afterward if desired.
As for what to follow and discard; we do that for law and all things. It is human. We will damned well do as we choose and choose not to. That's why the current political argument can't be solved without a referee. Apparently that won't be law so we need something else to call the pitch.

@rainmanjr Picking and choosing is a good thing, otherwise Christians and Jews would still be stoning adulterers, blasphemers and Sabbath breakers. There is much in their so called holy books that is worthy of revision if not redaction, but the texts are left alone while the people ignore them and rethink certain passages on their own.

The umpire we need is unlikely to come from ourselves. Despite my high regard for Gene Roddenberry and his vision of the future, at present I don’t see a one world government or ‘united Earth’ anytime soon.

@p-nullifidian Me either but one can make suggestions. You never know. LMAO.