A drive-by posting.

I have 100% confidence that none of the depictions or ideas of:

• god(s);
• an afterlife;
• angels;
• demons;
• spirits;
• spirituality;
• soul(s);
• heaven;
• hell

represent anything which could be called "true" or the "truth".

I do not make such statements and assertions as a mechanism to "reassure" or convince myself of these things which i accept as fact.    I've arrived at these conclusions, not as an afterthought to an emotional experience, but rather through careful thought, application, immersion in and study of those ideologies which promote the idea of the existence of these things.   The fact that there are negative events within my collective experience which have left me with a visceral reaction to the institutions which support these ideas does not detract from the obvious truth that I and others have arrived at with regard to this.

I confront these issues frequently because i know, firsthand, how damaging the indoctrination into these belief sets is to the mind of any person.  I've seen it firsthand in the eyes of my own sons, when i realized i could no longer make excuses for the parables and stories and their justification of bloodshed and perversion of the human condition.   When the response to the question from my youngest, "How could a father condemn his son to be tortured and to die so horribly" could no longer be satisfied by the weak, canned response of "because GOD so LOVED us that he gave his............blah blah blah".    When those circumstances and that response evokes a reaction of utter disbelief and repulsion in the eyes of an otherwise innocent child, it's time to end the charade, it's time to end the lying.   So now, when he asks me "did all this REALLY happen??".   My answer is "no, it almost certainly did not".    And yes, it puts him in the position of having to reform a new paradigm for certain things, perhaps even up to his own existence.   But that can be done in the context of the world around him and the whole of the human experience.   There is much more to be gained from living this life knowing that it is a one-shot deal.  That you have but ONE opportunity to do that which is right, good, and true, and that the reward or consequences for your choices are to be experienced, endured, and appreciated in THIS lifetime.   

That, in a nutshell is entirely worthwhile.