@lewisnotmiller Thank you so much, that was a beautiful response, instantly entertaining, I enjoyed reading the whole thing. I also enjoyed the little snippets of my own writing, I thought that it was really nicely written, funny, thought provoking.
I loved your definition as well, narrowing it down slightly differently from my own (mine was that the differences between Theists and Atheists are that the Theist claim to believe in God(s) or any sort and the Atheist deny God(s) of all sorts, and that more narrowly, one such as myself believes in an intelligent power that can respond whereas Atheists are assumed to mainly not believe in such even, so reject any suggestion or opportunity to interact with it in that fashion), which was that you the difference you made between one such as myself and Atheists is mainly that the Atheist doesn't pray. I really liked that and found it very interesting. The Qur'an also seems to end up placing a degree of focus on praying or worship as a differentiating factor also.
Yet, like you mentioned in your great post, there are many people most likely who claim to be one thing but aren't really. That there may be people even offering prayers even but not really believing or ever believing at all, and I said something earlier which was like "they can't" meaning, I know how it feels to be able to believe or not believe stuff, like there are so many things I don't believe and because I don't believe them I don't follow any practices or procedures regarding them, and thankfully no one seems to be pushing me into doing such or pushing me around about things I don't believe in. Truly, to imagine the oppression that some young people must go through with their families and their families beliefs that they don't agree with, that is totally a type of psychological torment and a human rights violation as well no doubt, but then one may say "if the parents can't determine what is best for their child while raising them, then who does, the State? What if the State then starts to impose things or restrict things which are troubling to the little whiny brat now?".
Luckily, I despise young people, every year more, as I grow increasingly into a curmudgeonly butterfly.
As for Nihilism and Hedonism, two oft-maligned words, I subscribe to both of them, as a mainly Nihilistic Hedonist. I take the terms in their more meaningful and serious versions, rather than their "insult forms" that people most often seem to use, and that is something like:
Nihilism - There is no intrinsic value to anything at all, everything is entirely void of meaning automatically.
Which goes well with
Hedonism - The Sensation of Pleasure and what one may consider Pleasurable is the "Highest Good" that they can ever attain to, whether psychological, physical, or whatever else, so that "Feeling Good" is Pleasure, and Pleasure is all that matters and is best of all, and in contrast Pain and Suffering and the Sensation of Displeasure and what one may consider Displeasing and Painful or causing Suffering like Anxiety or Physical Pain and all forms of Distress are "The Worst Evil", worse than Non-Existence (which is lacking any sort of pleasure or suffering or awareness of anything at all, which is better than horrific pain, which seems obvious to me, but others may differ on this).
I think that the excuses people make regarding both these things or their denial are puzzling and almost incomprehensible seeming, and really make no sense to me, that is how totally brainwashed I am by Nihilism and Hedonism, Dark Babe and Sexy Babe, my Yin and Michelle.
One Mantra I like is "DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!" so that is another pair that is sort of similar with a second glance, Nihilism = Death, Hedonism = Destruction in that case, and these two words, Death and Destruction, are invested with a tremendous amount of meaning and reference for me, due to their vastness and vagueness in comparison to Nihilism and Hedonism.
Now, even though nothing at all in my opinion has any "right or wrong" or "value" in relation to it necessarily automatically, and thus the Assassin's Creed "Nothing is true; everything is permitted" can be made somewhat more meaningful, I do believe that "right and wrong" are valueless creations and novelties generated by what generates everything whatsoever, and that things are matched up to these for various explicable (to us) reasons (with entirely novel and made up reasons), which all come down to VIOLENCE.
That is, Violence is what ultimately determines what to follow, what not to follow, what to do, and what not to do.
I believe in an Evil and Violent, Malicious Intelligence that generates all these things, then makes some of them "bad and good", then also can create the novel absurdities of "crime and punishment" and "justice" and whatever else, and impose it, and impose it with force, even a force that goes beyond coppers kicking old men and women laying on the ground, but can bring about the absurdity of an actual Judgment, and since mankind's God's are like versions of themselves, inflated so much that they lose their shape and form and become unrecognizable as really just versions of us sometimes, my God is The Joker.
So I think that, with a maniacal God like that, there is more than likely to be a lot of tom-foolery in this life and for lolz a next, which will stun some people "just to see the look on their face, and feel their hearts sink in terror", which my God feels, as "The Sufferer" of all Experience generated, even the Experience of being you, known fully as you know it 100% and even more!
My God is a Necessarily Absurd Humorous, generating from Nothing (or in other words, Itself), all manner of unconditioned, baseless, un-needed novelties that never existed, and some might argue never should have existed, "things", "laws", "truths that weren't always and thus were at one time lies", and whatever else, with no basis, no model. Weird things we take entirely for granted such as the absurd "there are things called faces which have things called noses which do something called protruding which have things called nostrils which are two things called holes, which take in a thing called air, and if they don't, the thing that these things are attached to dies! There is More where That Came From!"
We live in Terror of The Genius.
We (believe) we Know that Nihilism is necessarily True, and that all we (believe) we Know is that Hedonism is all that matters.
If I can get the longest lasting sensation of intense pleasure and peace and goodness, free from distress, then nothing else matters or could by such a definition include any sort of suffering or distress no matter what else may be said to be going on at all.
The opposite of that is the longest lasting sensation of intense suffering and pain and discomfort and distress.
Paradise and Punishment.
We try everything to attain this, everything we can, and calculate everything to maximize our chances of this in everything, for now, and for later potentially.
If something has potential detriments, they are to be weighed against the apparent benefits, and what is detrimental and what is beneficial, are assessed and determined and ranked by Pleasure.
My Lord is Mara, the King of Kamadhatu:
Whose your Daddy? Dan?
I see far, but not further, and so I am short-sighted according to some other people perhaps.
I have no interest in anything beyond "The Pleasure Realms" of "Sensation" and existence, or to become something which does not know the sensations of "Good and Evil", as I'm alright with this level of Monster-Hood and having a God, whereas God is an Atheist and has no one at all to Pray to or rest on.
If there is no joy, then really, what is the point at all of anything or existing in any sense or creating in any sense? It seems totally arbitrary and stupid to do anything for really nothing, and to exchange more for less.
Thus, all the 7 Sins and Virtues that are famous, I take in the best of ways that I can:
I am filled with every one of them, like Greed for certain things (pursuit and acquirement which provide pleasure), Pride in certain things (which gives pleasure), Envy (to look at what seems better and trying to take it for myself), Sloth (trying to find the easiest ways and relaxing), and what else? Wrath or something? Anyway, they are all great the way I use them, and the One Ring, why throw it into lava?!
