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Thank you for sending this ask! This blog is a collection of things that fit into my atheist journey. I’d also like to just say first that my views on things do not represent the atheist community as a whole! I’m glad to highlight a few things I have realized in my deconstruction out of xtianity.

1. The first is Self-Autonomy: meaning freedom and moral independence.

+ Much of learning autonomy for newly deconverted atheists is unlearning the idea that you belong to someone else before you belong to yourself. And by extension, others belong to themselves, which means you also have to respect others’ autonomy.

+ Autonomy leads to things like healthy boundaries in relationships, owning up to your own mistakes instead of blaming it on things like the devil, lessens anxiety because thought crimes are not real and nobody can read your mind or ‘see in your heart’, strengthens self-esteem because you are allowed to acknowledge your own accomplishments without giving your credit to someone else or a god, building a version of yourself that you love without anyone else telling you what you must be, and more!

+ A subpoint to autonomy is anti-authoritarianism. After being an atheist for a few years I’ve become very critical of the idea of an unquestionable authority- whether it be supernatural or human.

2. The next point is Existentialism: meaning the universe and life has no inherent meaning, but we possess the ability to create and give the universe meaning.

+ Some deconstructing peoples’ initial reaction to there being no inherent meaning is to feel despair. But when there is no meaning, create some! When there is no kindness, create some! When there is no hope, create some! You may be bad at creating your own meanings at first, but creating meaning is a learned skill. Even if you’re bad at it at first, you will get better with practice!

+ We are a part of the universe, therefore if I care about another person, the idea that the universe doesn’t care cannot be true.

+ Having no inherent meaning also means nobody is inherently more valuable than another person. Nobody is born with a meaning better than yours or anyone else.

+ Meaning is like a giant canvas that everyone is sitting on and doodling with crayons and glitter glue. You do not have to be good at it, you can just create! There are also countless drawings from those before us. And sometimes others may not like your meaning. That’s okay, it’s not for them.

+ “The universe is an open ended sandbox rpg. There’s no end goal. You can only get achievements. Some of them include making other people happy” – @ nihilistgirlfriend

3. The last point I’ll make here is enjoying and learning about Nature & the growing fractal of life!

+ We carry the story of those before us right in our bodies- in our DNA!

+ If I could pick a single atom on my body and open it up like a book to read its history of how many lives and things it’s been part of, I’d be reading that book all my life. This atom on my knee was once part of a vegetable. And before that it was nutrients in the soil that was pooped out by a decomposer under the ground. And before that it was apart of an unknown tuber. And much much further back it was in a star. Now think about how many atoms you have in your body- and they each have a unique story in them. They’ve all seen countless lifetimes and perspectives. The history of your body is the history of the universe itself!

+ Everything we do matters to an extreme down to an atomic scale. Simply tossing a rock off a hiking trail will one day give shelter to a bug that was being chased by a lizard. That bug will go on to make another generation, which might not have been possible if it weren’t for something you had done while only thinking about it for a moment. A similar thing happens when we make a small but nice comment to a stranger. We may not know it, but it inspires them to keep going. You are a part of nature, apart of this earth! Not separate from it. Your actions (and sometimes inaction) show it even when you don’t think about it.

+ A subpoint to nature is that perfection does not exist. If the universe had perfection in it, there would be no change or time. The universe would be forever frozen and uniform, because why would something perfect change? Imperfection is diversity, and diversity requires change. Our differences are proof evolution is alive in us all, and these differences make us unique and beautiful.

abuse in caregiving professions (like teaching or nursing) is not solely a result of power dynamics. it's also because people who go into those professions often have a idea of themselves as Good People, and are consequently incapable of recognising or acknowledging when they've hurt someone else. instead, they mentally put 'people who have inconvenienced me' into the Bad People box so they can freely abuse them while maintaining their moral high ground.

i read ross greene a lot when i was working with "difficult" or "behaviourally challenged" children. his refrain is "kids do well if they can" - meaning, in short, that most kids act out only when the demands of a situation exceed their capabilities. punishing them for this is not only cruel but also completely pointless, because they also don't want to be doing what they are doing.

It sounds simple enough, but so many people struggle with it. We’re forgetting how to be comfortable in nature. I only know a handful of people who wouldn’t mind coming into contact with mud, falling in the autumn leaves or getting sand in their hair. When have you last touched grass with your bare skin?

If we wait until the world is perfect before allowing ourselves to smile, we'll be waiting forever.

That horizon will continue to be out of reach even if we skip lunch to walk toward it.

Meaning does not ripen in the fields.

It doesn't swell to sweetness beneath the sun.

You won’t pluck it from a branch,

won't find it tumbled whole and waiting in the grass.

It ripens inside your skull,

in the light of your intention.

What you crave is uniquely yours.

Hello! I'm an atheist children's librarian, and I have a picture book to recommend!

It's a book that’s not overtly atheist, but I have seen on various recommended lists for atheist literature for children. And, having read it myself, I understand why: the way it approaches big questions will be very familiar to anyone raised secular.

I Wonder by Annaka Harris

It tells the story of a girl who’s out on a walk with her mother, and they begin to discuss big questions, some of which the mom admits no one has a clear answer for.