The Problem with Atheism

There is a saying,"There are no atheists in foxholes". This simply put means if you think or know you are going to die you need God whether you want to believe in Him, Her, It or not.

For me, this is the main problem with Atheism and agnosticism. Though one can logically make all the arguments they want for either of these states of belief they are leaving out one important fact. Humans need a concept of God and eternity to move into passing on in a healthy way.

Yes. People all the time go out angry in an atheistic state of mind and I can understand that. However, pragmatically speaking I find that self-deceptive. It is self deceptive because even though atheism might be perfectly logical and even rational, it is not ultimately pragmatic and functional.

Right now I'm dealing with a friend that is old(almost 90) and has outdone even Frank Sinatra with the ladies. But there is one flaw he is now dealing with.

What happens when Didactic materialism meets with Atheism and wealth when the end is near? It is relatively horrific for the person going through this as the senses begin to fail. It is just not a pretty picture at all.

Many spiritual teachers from the East and West have talked about this problem. The problem is that you cannot take physical wealth or possessions with you to the next world. You can only take the abilities you have developed here in mind, spirit,and consciousness. While it is true that "As a Man thinks so is He" and "a rich man will usually get rich again even if his wealth disappears temporarily" the second statement doesn't work when one passes on.

Even if you believe in reincarnation one who is rich now might not be rich the next incarnation which is one reason many Gurus say to meditate upon the impermanence of life and of being as compassionate as possible to oneself and all other beings.

Being as kind as possible to other beings in whatever way one is gifted works well in the here and now whether one is an atheistic humanist or spiritual or religious so that when your time comes for giving up your physical life and physical possessions and all your friends and relatives at death it is less painful. Like one of my grandmothers used to say, "Ahh. It's that letting go that is the thing". At some point we will all have to let go of all our friends, our body and all we own or think we own. It is all temporary. So that it is not too awful when it happens maybe we should begin to practice at least in our minds letting go now. I think this is why Gurus say, "meditate on impermanence".

My son lost several members of his mother's family one year recently. His response to this was to say, "I'm tired of working on computers I want to be a nurse. I want to save people not computers. So now he is in medical school. I thought this to be a very astute meditation on impermanence. His response was to help prolong others visit here on earth before the inevitable happens as a way to heal his own loss of relatives and friends in the here and now.