Atheism

There is a renewed interest in atheist thought after the domination and disastrous involvement of fundamentalist theism in world affairs over the past twenty years. Running to atheism from fanaticism may be seen as a polar reactionary step away from personal evolution. However, I would prefer to face a room full of angry atheists than a room full of religious fanatics of any stripe. I think my odds of leaving a room of atheists alive are much better. The key to atheism's eventual development into secular humanism is the individual person's acceptance that he/she has only this life to live for better or worse. This places the betterment of the human race on human, not divine, shoulders. My daily practice entails looking at each day as potentially my last chance to be the kind of human being I aspire to be in each moment as it comes.

Work

The value of work is the work itself. My practice entails routine and planned work. Usually this work involves simple and routine maintenance of my environment. Weeding the garden, painting the fence, sweeping the stairs. Absorption in simple and regular tasks is meditative and curative. The idle mind, when not engaged in tasks, meditation or learning, is prone to negative influences and worthless obsessions. Too often, work is equated with the earning of money. The work of living well is more fulfilling than working for money.

Birth

I recently saw a female celebrity on television speaking about giving birth. Her perspective was centered on HER experience of giving birth to HER babies. Birthing these eventually independent human lives held more significance for her than considering her responsibility for bringing two separate human beings onto a planet which is rapidly deteriorating from the overpopulation of our species. This is primitive and childish. Yet it is an epidemic among our species. Senseless procreation, procreation for its own sake or the sake of ego gratification, will someday be seen as a mental illness on this planet. That time will come sooner than later. If it does not, then our species itself will fail with its destroyed ecology.