Update: today, July 10, is the deadline for additional submissions (due to additional ideas and discussion on the Facebook group). Please mail to atheopagan@comcast.net. There will be further opportunities to comment and vote after the 10th. For those of you not on our Facebook group, where voting…
New Thoughts on the “Arrival” Phase of Atheopagan Ritual
When I do Atheopagan rituals—particularly with other people—most of the time I follow a simple structure which facilitates passage into the Ritual State, also known sometimes as “trance” or “flow”. That structure and the concepts and principles surrounding it are explored in detail in the Atheopagan Ritual Primer, which can…
What is There to Live for?
In an atheistic world, many ask: what’s the point? What is the purpose of living if there’s no judgment, no afterlife to be attained, no cosmic plan or purpose? I can’t tell you what is meaningful in your life. Perhaps it’s your art, or your family: being the best parent…
Mysterious Impulses
It’s a big subject, what it means to be human. We ask it in science, and in art, in literature. We get some answers. Neuroscience and anthropology have identified many facts about our species. But I’ve been thinking a lot about the mysteries of human nature lately. Like: what’s up…
In a Dream of Incense and Candlelight
My Focus is densely populated, because I like it that way. It is rich with meaning and history: places I have been, things I associate with important principles. In its candlelight, illustrations of cave drawings from 35,000 years ago flicker. A Homo Erectus stone tool rests for a…
Pilgrimage Hiking
Walking in nature is a very healthy thing to do. It’s exercise, it fills your lungs with good air and your eyes with beauty, it reduces stress and blood pressure and depression. It is a sacred activity and, all by itself, constitutes an “informal” Atheopagan ritual. This…