Hi All … I’m happy to find more women who share my philosophical leanings … Thanks for the add and I’m looking forward to meeting you all.
My short story… I’ve just turned 65 and I have had most of a lifetime of experiences with and without religion. Unlike many people, I didn’t give up religion when young. It took me almost five decades to arrive at the conclusion that the big questions are better answered using scientific methods; and that ancient knowledge wasn’t going to be very helpful in the 21st century.
Even though my ex-father’s crazy, raging, catholic family had been left, far behind in another city when I was a baby, by age six I was wanting to be a nun. That desire didn’t finally go away until well into my twenties. Even after my first marriage failed (where the e from catherine was dropped because of religious kabalarian in-laws) I wondered about the possibility of leading a contemplative religious life; in an order, doing good work, in the italian alps maybe. 😉
However, back in Toronto, when I was seven years old, my feminist, atheist, socialist mother (and grandmother) enrolled me at First Unitarian Church and my horizons expanded beyond The Saints and The Rites … I eventually joined LRY (liberal religious youth) and suddenly it was the 60’s and 70’s. But those decades of counter-weight culture didn’t change my mind about religion and I remember a flirt with Campus Crusade for Christ. Fast forward to the 80’s, when the christian alt-right had started their ugly pushback and people were buying it all. Who could ever forget the madness that was Jim and Tammy.
After a short-lived episode with more religious goings-on, yes even in UU, I went to live in a section of remote Western Canadian coast. My back-to-nature years were awesome, in the mountains, on the sea, and with whales. However, I began to have questions. My women friends seemed to be witch wannabee’s, with odd cultish behaviors and obsessions for the supernatural, who danced in the woods, naked under the moonlight. Casting spells with tea tree oil would apparently cure all the negative energy. I even bought a book. Even in the small-town anglican church where I lived, on a Sunday morning my palms would sweat and my mind would start with the questions “why are you buying into any of this?”
In the late 80’s I developed a dangerous hyperthyroid issue. But, after moving back to the city, the hormone level was eventually brought under control, but the disease caused me to need several eye surgeries, the last major surgery left me almost blind for two years. (Oh the fun of that.) I think this was when my serious philosophy hacking began. It also coincided with the time I got my first 1200 baud modem and started my own BBS (after the surgery i could just make out the glowing orange of the DOS prompt of my 8086.) I spent the 90’s doing research about religion and woo (read Carl Sagan) and trying to discover why I wanted to be a believer. Was it intellectual, economics, history, just something successful people do? Was there really something to the notion that aliens seeded the planet? One day, it was like a light bulb came on for me, or as if someone switched on an anti-gravity machine. It was simple. No gods/aliens required. The big questions had answers. My new found freedom from all the whackadoodle was so freaking wonderful! And bonus, I actually became the lesbian I always secretly thought I was. And, a few days after 911, I let the whole world know about it. Of course, I received a huge shock when I discovered 99% of my new lesbian friends “couldn’t live without magic” and they were still doing the tea tree thing. Oh well, I am still hoping that 21st century enlightenment … will enlighten.
I am currently in the 15th year of a fabulous relationship with E, science teacher, atheist and best friend. We are looking forward to both being retired in a couple of years when we can geocache globally full time. I am retired now but I host and create websites as a hobby. A year ago, frustrated with seeing so much ugly hate in american/world politics, I took up with watercolor painting. It’s now my daily thing. It doesn’t change much, but it keeps my blood pressure/rage from rocketing.
So, now we all know some of the reasons why I have no interest in perpetuating religious woo, and/or the myth that anything is possible. For me, a natural philosophy, as in “it’s the 21st century and the view of Earth, from anywhere in space, is all the philosophy one needs to have empathy for everyone and the planet” … works for me. So, if you have read this far, thank you for letting me be a part of your day. I hope you’re having a good one. cya around the pixel station.