Someone here

A video on the nature of boredom and why we feel it and long term solutions.

To be able to relate to him (it) and have a relationship with him (it). Like someone said.. I can pray to God but knowing at a higher level that I am simply talking to my higher self. Or is it that God is in fact separated from me. In that case I'm not just talking to myself. So prayer, I've gradually come to realize, just isn't for atheists like me. And that’s fine. There are other ways I connect to the sublime and the sacred, but without a belief in God, prayer can’t really be one of them. At least not the traditional way. I have to become like a new prophet and create my own relationship with god in a unique way.

@mandyjw it all depends on how you Define "God". There is not a God until you believe there is. In that way (form) or the other. I do think that each person is the God of his own existence. You are the main character in your life. My belief in a separate God in the heavens have pretty much disappeared years ago. And that's what creates now, a struggle to pray.

Agreed. I still don't pray on my own, my spiritual practices don't involve talking when no one but me is there to hear. But I no longer run from prayer. I am learning something. Can an atheist pray, and why would he want to? today, I will let the answers to these questions be a little more clear

Well not all prayer is the same. I know it’s not the same! There are many who will see what I am calling “prayer” as a ridiculous heresy. And plenty of believers do pray in the sincere belief that God will reach down and alter the world in their favor. Not all prayer is the same. And I think that might be more true than I first realized. Not all prayer is the same. The person who says, "I pray every day," versus the person who says, “my prayers are with you,” or the one who mouths along with memorized prayers in church—they all mean different things but they are all doing something slightly different. And Christian prayer is different from Muslim prayer, is different from Buddhist prayer, is different from Jewish prayer. And I hadn’t thought atheist prayer was a thing that could exist. But why not.. There can be atheist prayer. I guess I will have to invent a prayer technique specifically for myself.

We can have this hair splitting tennis match back and forth endlessly but I tend to prefer deep inquiry experience and higher lines of reasoning instead of buying into things regarding this topic.

Basically the twisted irony is, you are forever deprived of happiness once you form an image or idea of happiness. Exactly like how you lose yourself and devolve into a finite , fickle being the moment an idea or image of you is formed (aka the birth of an ego) The imaginary birth of this ego marks the start of this impossible dream of irresistable chasing of infinity and happiness while never actually tasting it. The ego wants to devolve infinity and happiness into a form, just like it views itself as a form. A fool's errand. And thus the nigga cries out "Why can't I get no satisfaction???" ?

A video on how to Deal with an existential crisis and existential fears. Like fear of death

@BlackPhil do you even know what this life is before you go asking about death? Lmao

No one knows. It's a mystery.

@The0SelfBut, with no God, what’s the difference between prayer and just reflecting on a concept in the privacy of your own head? And when I need help, or want to express gratitude, it would feel silly to turn to a listening ear I don’t believe actually exists. Why pray when no one’s there to hear me?

Am I aware? yes. What is it that I am aware of? The sound surrounding me. The feelings in the body. The shapes and colors of objects around me. But what is it that is aware? Can a monitor see itself? Can a sound hear itself? Obviously not. I I I I..where is it pointed towards when I say I? Some subtle feelings in the head and chest deep inside. But what is that is aware of these sensations? Can the sensation in the head feel itself? No that sounds silly. Is that what I really am? A sensation? My entire life revolves around these subtle ephemeral sensations? They were born in 1994 and now have an age, history, plans for future, desire and preferences? It sounds so ridiculous when I frame it like that. I'm obviously not these sensations. Then what am I? I am that which knows all these sensations. Is there a location where the source of this knowingness is located? No whatever direction is pointed towards is always more experience. What is direction? up down left right..are these directions absolute? No directions are always in relation to a presumed point or location. With respect to this knowingness, is there any direction like up down left right? Does this knowingness have any center? I can't find one. So does this mean that this Awareness is without location? Even it is not located, there is the sense that I undoubtedly exist. I'm present witnessing all these changes in phenomena. But does that knowingness itself undergo change? no all the changes are in phenomena. According to Vedanta, real or abosolute is defined by having three characteristics. whatever is real must be 1) eternal or ever present 2) unchanging 3) must stand on it's own right. That means it does not need another thing to exist. So what is it in my present experience that yields all three of these points? If something is real it must be ever present and so it must exist right now in my experience, whatever I may be experiencing? Okay what are the things on my experience that does not conform these points? All sounds. All sights. How about sensations? is there a particular sensation that is taking place eternally, unchanging and knowing itself. No that sounds silly. During sleep, there is no sensation. What remains in deep sleep? The sentience and thinking stops. But there really is no feeling of non-existence. So the absolute exists in deep sleep. What is it's nature?

In daily life, we have infinite possibilities to take any route any time. But we aren't actually going anywhere as it is always the formless here and now no matter which direction we take, so the term 'free will' collapses on itself. Nor our true Self ever does or becomes anything permanently or even intermittently(). It's like you can go any place in a boundless ocean, but all you are surrounded with all the time is water.

@mandyjw @The0Self I never intended to be an atheist. I never decided. Growing up as a hindu.. I was encouraged to experiment with prayer, meditation, and spirituality of all stripes. Something might be worth mentioning.. I did go to church, to mass, to Hindu temple, to synagogue, and to my mid-Missouri town’s lone mosque. And ... I loved it. I loved religion wherever I found it. I coughed through the incense, fumbled the right-to-left prayer books, and soaked in the powerful peace that can happen when faith communities come together. The problem was, when I looked honestly into my own heart, there just wasn’t any “religion” there, in the way I had been taught to think about it. When it comes down to it, I lack, quite simply and sincerely, any belief in God, an afterlife, or anything not earthly, observable. Not because I ever decided those other beliefs were wrong, or unreasonable, or even a bad fit for me, but simply because I don’t believe them. I never intended to be an atheist, but here I am. My love of religion, my commitment to religious community, and my personal atheism exist side by side, deep and unforced, beliefs that I find written into my very bones. Given my non-belief, prayer has never meant a lot to me. Can an atheist pray? Or perhaps more importantly, why would an atheist want to? I don’t know how you would define “prayer,” but I think for most people it includes something like, “talking to God,” or some kind of communicating with the Holy outside of yourself. It’s a question not just for me, but for our entire, theologically diverse, faith community.

@The0Self do you practice any kind of 'prayer' aside from meditation practice? If so what techniques do you recommend?

I Love Inna ?

I will give it a shot and try to pray tonight and will see how it goes.

If you haven’t had depression, anxiety etc .. You also don’t get the idea of will paralysis . ‘Just do it, you’ll feel better!’ It’s true, but when the emptiness descends, the doing of the thing is overwhelming, and then I feel like sh*t for not trying. It’s easier said than done for people with mental health issues to just accept and let go and be unconditionally comfortable with the uncomfortable and the crap we have to deal with every day.. . Anxiety can set in by just being out in public, feeling exposed or vulnerable while jogging outdoors. It takes a lot of practice and courage to do that. Anyways thanks everyone for the advice and I hope I will be able to follow up.

Easier said than done.

Because I have struggles in my life.

@m0hsen I remember the first time I heard my dad praying.. There was a sense of urgency in his voice. What started making me skeptical around my teenage years is.. “I pray and nothing happens. I don’t feel anything. I thought if I prayed I would feel a connection to God.” . The young me died —a struggle of wanting desperately to feel a connection to God. , there was little small talk. I could feel the pain, the anxiety, and the urgency to get to the issue at hand: Why do my prayers leave me feeling more alone and if God is more absent than present? Then I stopped praying. This is why it's difficult for me to believe once again. Is that deep down I have doubt whether there is actually some universal force (higher self) that can answer my prayers.

@Nahm When you speak about goodness and "good feeling" in relation to truth or God it makes me confused. Because in my experience Truth is all encompassing. It includes the good AND the bad. Pain and pleasure. Beautiful and ugly etc Do you (like Leo) distinguish between goodness with lower case as the opposite of bad, suffering, evil etc.. And Goodness with upper case which is an absolute and all encompassing?

You make a good point. But it smells like a pragmatism. Just because it feels good doesn't necessarily mean it's true? (I mean it doesn't mean that there is really God). Given that different people from different religions all pray to different gods and they all feel Good about it.

Very beautiful. It's even good to use for a prayer lol.

The problem is that I'm not sure if such a thing exists.