It is totally amazing how many people cannot accept that there are some that don't have a religion, that don't embrace the idea of worshipping a creator god and are not scared of hell and brimfire. Therefore a label has to be attached to 'what you are', and who you are, for the unknown has always been a fearful thought to mankind.
When you have a naturalistic approach which simply accepts and reveres the universe and nature just as they are, and promote an ethic of respect for human and animal rights and for lifestyles that sustain rather than destroy the environment, then you must be a Pantheist. (Scientific or natural pantheism is a modern form of pantheism that deeply reveres the universe and nature and joyfully accepts and embraces life, the body and earth, but does not believe in any supernatural deities, entities or powers.)
If you should per chance quote something, a really lovely thought, from the Bible, because there are a few good ideas in there, then you are a Christian. If you practice meditation, then you must be a Buddhist. If you believe in magic, then you must be a Witch. If you don't believe in god, then you are an Atheist. Et al.
Surely, therefore, if you believe that the devil exists, then you must be a satanist...?
There are many labels mankind has chosen to hang around the necks of "non-believers", segregating humanity into pockets of good, bad and evil. Anyone who has new or valuable ideas to offer stands outside the intellectual status quo. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to agree with others. But the creator is the man who disagrees. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current. But the creator is the man who goes against the current. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But the creator is the man who stands alone.
To know one's own desires, their meaning and their costs requires the highest human virtue: Rationality.
“Because, you see, God—whatever anyone chooses to call God—is one's highest conception of the highest possible. And whoever places his highest conception above his own possibility thinks very little of himself and his life. It's a rare gift to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own. To imagine a heaven and then not to dream of it, but to demand it.”
― Ayn Rand, We the Living
Is it so difficult for anybody to believe that there are people who believe in themselves, trust in themselves, love themselves so much that they are quite at ease with the universe and nature just as they are and promote an ethic of respect for human and animal rights and for lifestyles that sustain rather than destroy the environment?
I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction. And I believe that everyone has the right to make his own decisions, but none has the right to force his decision on others.
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