why doesn't god give me a real job?

where do i stand on god today? if god were a doormat i still wouldn't be able to say definitively. but i do like to mull those thoughts around. mmm, mulling. some people frown on it, preferring to decide and whatnot, but a prolonged bout of mulling is SO much better, like tantra!

let me -ahem- clarify. i'm solidly atheist with christian nuances. i believe in 'god' but i believe that god does not exist. rather i do not think the question "does god exist?" is that valid a philosophical question; it's just a reflex response to (the major theistic) religions' fundamental axiom, where religion it would seem is predicated more on a human need to feel purpose than engage intellect.

some see god as creating man in his own image. i see 'god' as having been created in the image of man. this is my main problem with religion. man is arrogant and self-righteous and has very cleverly deified himself through the notion of being the offspring of the divine. i mean, assuming time tested species dominance or propagation is some indicator of divinity then there may as well be a supreme bacterium or virus giving purpose to those things. the average theist's repugnance to that idea is all i need to rest my case for his arrogance.

some see god as an origin. i see 'god' as an end. i don't feel the need to come from somewhere; my concept of self in time, my self-time continuum if you will, is admittedly comical. but i do want to plot a course for the future that involves the optimum solution to that question of universal happiness. you know, the one involving billions of individual agents of hedonistic sentient thought sharing the same space. god as a state of mind will be very useful toward this goal.

some see god as a distinct supreme being. i see 'god' as a supreme moral reference point. with my limited understanding of human psychology i think that submission to some sort of universal concept is essential for constructing a moral code that unifies and sustains human civilization. the difference between supreme being and supreme moral reference is that the former encourages moral behavior through promise of reward, essentially advocating man's selfish nature,"god loves me!"; whereas the latter requires a mindful effort of conscience for its own sake "god is love!". i believe that man should become good by virtue of his own character rather than through stimulus-response behavior premised on admittedly untenable concepts like eternal bliss.

interestingly enough, given that the god concept will almost always have religious connotations one might ask what is the point of using it as a placeholder for the intellectual state of mind described above. i think the conceptual transmutation is natural; the very same neural phenomena and emotional or mental states associated with religious/spiritual feelings -oneness, compassion et al- is what provides moral impetus regardless of belief structure. it is not nearly as much of a paradigm shift as one would think; it's divine semantics. and it would cost nothing to try it out except maybe that "soul" of yours, which at current rates of depreciation probably costs nothing anyway! ha.

and that's the word.

yours truly,
satan.