How big a chunk of your intellectual life have you spent exploring the superstitious belief that reality consists of matter moving through space and time—that the everyday world of our perceptions is IT and there is no more? The superstition of scientism is very very prevalent.

I don't think I can imagine a history of civilization without religion. I don't think exploring superstitious beliefs is a waste of time if what people believe constitutes their behavior. It also gives many people something deeply ingrained in society to rebel against, and we all need something to rebel against

The irony is that even twenty years plus since I left theism behind it still looms large in my thinking, if only the sense that I need to undo some of the damage I did by participating in it, by helping people like myself who are ready, reason their way out of it.

I don't know though, if I'm honest with myself, I was just as much an arrogant little shit as anyone in their 20s, if it hadn't been religion it would have been something else. I don't know that a past in religion is that much of an unambiguous boat anchor over the rest of my life that it's some kind of special case. Aside from religion there is romantic love, acquisitiveness, substance abuse, and any number of other wastes of time. How do I know that religion wasn't the least of the harms I could have got myself into?

I think philosophy is a good replacement for religion.

Education and exploration doesn't stop. You can carry on learning and growing forever.