“I’ll call Dave, he’s an atheist”

Recently on a Sunday, I received a call from one of my coworkers who, jokingly, said “I’ll call Dave, he’s an atheist” because she could not get ahold of our manager and knew that I wouldn’t be at church. While I thought it was hilarious, it did make me pull a Spock because technically speaking I’m not an atheist.

Apparently, the coworker who called me wasn’t the only one who thought I was an atheist. When I relayed this situation to another coworker (again, because it’s hilarious), she asked me, “Well, aren’t you?”

First off, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being an atheist. That should go without saying, but just in case.

Second, I am not religious but I am spiritual and firmly believe that there is something out there that is greater than ourselves. Unfortunately, that’s not always the easiest thing in the world to explain. Especially for someone who tends to over-explain things like me.

In the midst of all of this, I decided to hit up my old friend the Belief-O-Matic Quiz to see where it thinks I stand. I’ve taken this test several times over the years and for a while, my top result was Mahayana Buddhism, but in the last 10 years or so, the results have been pretty consistent. And still are...

Not gonna lie, I have no idea what Liberal Quakerism is. I’ve googled it any number of times but everything I’ve read left me with more questions than answers.

My thoughts on religion and specifically on God/the divine have evolved over the years but at this point, they’re pretty settled. Let me see if I can make this make sense to anyone besides me.

I believe that there is something out there that is beyond our comprehension. Here’s how I see it. Whatever it is, humanity has interpreted it in different ways, which is why we have so many faiths in the world. The thing about these faiths, their stories, and the mythologies of the world, is that despite coming from vastly different times, cultures, and environments, they share many basic principles and archetypes. How is that possible? Enter the collective unconscious.

The collective unconscious is an idea that

…refers to the unconscious mind and shared mental concepts. It is generally associated with idealism and was coined by Carl Jung. According to Jung, the human collective unconscious is populated by instincts, as well as by archetypes: ancient primal symbols such as The Great Mother, the Wise Old Man, the Shadow, the Tower, Water, and the Tree of Life.^[1] Jung considered the collective unconscious to underpin and surround the unconscious mind, distinguishing it from the personal unconscious of Freudian psychoanalysis. He believed that the concept of the collective unconscious helps to explain why similar themes occur in mythologies around the world. He argued that the collective unconscious had a profound influence on the lives of individuals, who lived out its symbols and clothed them in meaning through their experiences.

Back in 2016, I did a presentation at the Oklahoma Library Association’s Annual Conference on Comic Books as Folklore. In that presentation, I argued that superhero comics come from the same place as the mythologies of old, and used Michael Uslan to help illustrate my point.

In that presentation, I discussed underlying patterns in folklore, starting with the collective unconscious, and drew the following conclusion: The collective unconscious, quantum physics’ theory of everything, Hiduism’s Brahman, and Taoism’s the Tao, are all variations of the same thing. The part that I left out but implied was that this also included the ultimate reality, the universal mind/universal consciousness, and God.

I’m not worried about the minutia of religion, it’s not the point. The point of faith is connection. Connection to the greater world and all who dwell upon it.

Recently, I saw a video on YouTube that talked about the universal mind and compassion. The video’s argument, and I really wish I could remember which video it was so I could link to it, was that the connection we feel through the universal consciousness builds and engenders compassion in people.

To me, that’s it. That’s the point of faith and religion and belief. Compassion. If someone’s religion is not helping them become a more compassionate, kind, caring, and better person, then something is wrong.

But what about the afterlife?

That is a good question. Who knows. If there is anything after this world, I think it is our actions that will seal out fates. It’s like Angel said —

All I wanna do is help. I wanna help because, I don't think people should suffer as they do. Because, if there's no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.

We need to worry about the here and now and not what happens to us after we die. Or as Frank Turner once sang —

And I know you're scared of dying, man, and I am, too
But just pretending it's not happening isn't gonna see us through
If we accept that there's an end game and we haven't got much time
Then in the here and now then we can try and do things right
We'll be our own salvation army, and together we believe
In all the wondrous things that mere mortals can achieve

As one can see, my wacky beliefs aren’t super easy to explain. It’s funny…I used to love talking about this stuff, but now, like with music, I don’t enjoy explaining this stuff to people. It’s not that I haven’t had good, thoughtful, and engaging conversations on the topic of faith and religion in recent years, because I have. It’s just… sometimes trying to lay out all of the context around my weird, niche ideas is daunting and exhausting. God that makes me sound like such a douche. Believe me, I don’t mean this is any kind of gatekeeper-y or holier-than-thou kind of way. Quite the opposite actually.

So, yes I do not go to church on Sundays and no I am not an atheist. I hope I’ve cleared that up.

You know, it’s my 50th birthday, and for some reason, I’m sitting here thinking about religion. Weird, huh?