Trimming the Fat: From Christian, to Anti-Theist, to Who I Am

Do you practice religion?

The short answer is no, although I consider myself spiritual. However, I think whoever actually bothers to click on this may be more interested in the long answer. So if that is you, hello! Thank you for joining me.

Religion and I are very well-acquainted. I grew up going to church at least twice a week, often more frequently than that due to my mom’s involvement in praise and worship. That is, the praise band, in case anyone is unfamiliar.

As I entered into my teen years, I found my involvement in Christianity felt increasingly farcical. I wanted to believe, but it just felt so wrong. Eventually, I shed my Christian identity and went in the complete opposite direction as a hard-core, anti-theist atheist. I was young, and passionate about the new life I had discovered. One free from nonsensical moral constraints and threats of a torturous oblivion for those unfortunate enough to not believe. Being immature and passionate, I was also a little bit of an asshole about it.

In my early 20s, during an extremely dark period of my life, I left everything behind except what I could fit in my car and started traveling the country. Living in such a state of flow, I saw the universe unfold in fantastical ways I never thought possible. So many cases of synchronicity and manifestation that were difficult to wrap my head around.

After experiencing such things, and taking more than a few acid trips that altered my perspective forever, I now believe in what I call “the Is.” Courtesy of Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. Favorite book, by the way. Highly recommend.

“The Is” is. It is you, it is me. It is Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam. It is the Earth, the solar system, the Sun and the stars. It is everything. It is the universe.

I believe that all religions are trying to describe the same experience, with extra ego-driven stuff thrown in because humans are flawed and tribal by nature.

I’ve learned how to trim the fat of religious dogma, leaving only the substance; the universal concepts that humans have been attempting to explain for millenia.

I don’t believe in the big man in the sky. I believe that I am not separate from the universe, the “Is,” and so I am as much a god as you or any other thing in the universe. We are all different facets of the same gem.