Theists often struggle to understand how I can maintain a deep sense of sacred awe without believing in the supernatural. They seem to assume that a life without God is a dry, artless, wonderless existence. As I discussed with Matt Langston in a recent episode of Sacred Tension, my personal experience is much the opposite. I feel like nontheism has ripped away the veil between me and the fundamental mysteries of reality. The utter inexplicability of being, without a God to rely on as an answer, is the most sacred and mysterious thing I have ever experienced.
I recently stumbled across this quote by Lilith Starr in her book Compassionate Satanism which resonated with my own experience of nontheistic awe:
I liked the idea that everything was holy just as it is ─ that indeed reality itself is sacred, without the need for an external power to make it so. Zen dovetailed easily with science, which formed another pillar of my belief system. I saw the sacred blazoned across the cosmos in the principles of self-organization. Reality held all the spirituality I needed.
I occasionally see discussions in religious circles about a need for a re-enchantment of the world: that atheism, science, and materialism have robbed us of our innate wonder and interconnectedness. The alienation of a godless world, some claim, deprives humanity of its moral code and capacity for fulfillment.
I do not relate. I am more religious and spiritual now than I ever have been, precisely because I have no god. There is nothing more sacred than the conscious experience of the present moment, more awe-inspiring than the vastness of space, or more confounding than the hard problem of consciousness.
Being rid of God is like being born again and again and again, blinking in awe at the utter mysteriousness and sacredness of reality.
But that’s just me. What do you think? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Please share your thoughts in the comments below, or on my discord server. Also, don’t forget to become a patron so I can continue to bring you content every single week.
Stephen Bradford Long 
There’s a way of interacting with Satan that might not have occurred to y’all: it comes out of shamanic Tibetan practice & Western Magicical assumption of “God Forms” They both proceed from the same energetic imagination. A Sun is imagined at the center of your body, radiating light-rays out-wards with the intent of asking for a response, ” I know my very own self to be the mythic Satan, the unhindered valiant tall one who fearlessly & immediately goes into battle against tyranny. There is no other ” ( write your own invocation. This one came of the top of my head. The next will be different, ) If… If there’s a response within your psyche…. from out there…. you might feel a helpful invigorating energy that might possibly enable you to perform something-or-other….a concrete
helpful action in the world. Wow! Sounds bizarre! To me… real Satanism is informed by science, reason and magic.
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Nobody responds? Thass OK. My own brain can easily have a dialog with itself: What is religion? What is magic? One definition of magic is an act of imagination tied to a specific intention. For example: you are in your morning shower. You say in your mind ” let this water wash away all negative & stale used up energy” Is this a real thing to do? Who cares! It’s an act of imagination. That’s what ritual is. You perform it in your mind as you perform a physical action. As-if it was true. Belief isn’t necessary. The action is.
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* if you actually try this exercise. It doesn’t accomplish all that much. All it might do is wash away that gunk in your psyche that is concerned about the thoughts other people have about you. It might leave you not giving a fuck about how people think about you. A clean place to be in, but not terribly mystical. Sorry!*
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Minister. Your silence is deafening
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Who wants transparency, when you can have magic? ( I prefer both )
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Hi there! Help me understand what you are getting at here.
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