Atheism is “hopeless,” “ugly” . . . These words resound amongst the religious community. This is what they tell their children, their fellow followers of their religion. “How can you live without a God? How do you get up in the morning? WHY do you get up in the morning?” These questions and assertions are rather silly in my mind. I used to wonder these things: they exemplify the fear that entrapped me in deism after my break with Christianity: the fear of nihilism, the fear of hopelessness, of a bleak world and existence. But there is an untold, unrealized beauty in atheism: one that far surpasses any comfort found in religious delusions.

Now, I am not a scientist. I am not an expert on cosmology or abiogenesis or anything I am about to talk about. I do, however have a curious mind and I have some understanding of the universe. If you do notice anything incorrect about what I say, then please correct me.

Our universe is natural. It is not poofed into existence by an eternal supernatural being through magic, but rather it is the result of natural processes. We all were once energy. Energy is, as far as we know, eternal, and everything in our universe is from this energy–energy compressed into a tiny point at the origin of all existence. It is rather silly to talk about what happened “before” the universe, for time came to being with the universe–there literally is no “before” the universe in any way we understand.



At genesis, the energy expanded outward at some point being converted to matter–but not just matter. Antimatter was also generated as well. These particles annihilate each other in a burst of energy when they come into contact. Statistically there should be no matter, but through sheer luck or chance matter was produced in a slightly greater proportion than antimatter and after the incendiary warfare between these subsided, all of the matter in our universe remained.

Origin is complex, and theories abound; it is impossible for a layman like myself to explain precisely how all this occurred, but the information is out there if you wish to know. In essence, due to differences in the fabric of the universe, this matter slowed their expansion, coalescing into points and forming atoms: helium and hydrogen to be exact. The building blocks of stars.

Over time unimaginable by our finite limited minds, the stars were born: the progenitors of everything we know to exist. Inside these stars was a nuclear furnace; the great bakers oven of all heavier materials in our universe. Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Iron–everything necessary for the existence of planets and life were baked in these furnaces. But stars, like us are mortal and finite. They too die. And when they die, these elements burst outward, and this stardust gives the material for planets and life. This simple fact: we are all stardust. You and I, the trees, the grass, even the air we breathe is stardust, the remnants of stars who died so we could live. As Neil DeGrasse Tyson once said, not only are we in the universe, but the universe is in us.

At some point about 4.5 billion years ago, our own “pale blue dot” came to being from these ancient elements. We do not know precisely how life came to be, but our bodies are merely complex chemical processes and hypothetically arose from chemical processes on the primordial earth.

This is what is important: every atom in our bodies is stardust. We were all formed in the furnaces of stars that existed billions of years before there was thought in our universe. For a relatively short period of time, an eye blink in the lifetime of the universe, these atoms have coalesced into a brilliant chemical and biological machine that is capable of becoming self aware, having thoughts, feelings, and ideas. If you desire spirituality, connection with the universe then you have it here, without any God.

I do not believe there is a soul. There is no evidence for it or reason to believe in one. “Soul” is simply the term pre-science cultures used for “consciousness.” The simple fact that I do not have a soul means I do not exist after death; this drives me to leave my mark, to accomplish great things before my short life is over. We all want to live forever, for death is unknown. This is possibly the origin of religion itself and the concept of the eternal “soul.” I cannot be truly immortal, but I can live on after I die. For, our accomplishments, ideas, and thoughts echo down the halls of eternity and carry small pieces of us. our life is finite–but we desire immortality. We are but a brief spark in existence, but the spark that flares brightly shines light into the darkness of our murky future. The spark that fizzles away after a dream of life after death fades away as though it had never flared at all. (I owe Thunderf00t for the language in the past few sentences)

Be a torch. Flare brightly. Live in this life, the only one we have. Savor it. Love it. Take pleasure in the fact that we are the lucky jackpot winners of an ancient cosmic lottery that gave us the chance to live–to truly live, not waste away fantasizing after the nonexistent. Live well. Love ferociously. Leave a legacy. This is the true immortal soul: what we leave behind when all we are has been brought to an end.