rational awe

“It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion.” -Bertrand Russell

a non-believer in the great fictions,

the ridiculous notions of the organized

religions of the world

does not walk around

without the ability to experience the

wonder of this world

this only world

in which we exist for an extremely brief

moment---

the ability to be rational &

to appreciate the wonder

does not come in some kind of

perverted package deal

with a belief in something outside yourself

which will back you up when you are all set to

murder someone

(always ready to forgive you if you swear allegiance to

it)

or when the choices that you’ve made in your life

just don’t pan out

(no matter how much you get down on your knees

and squint your eyes tight, mumbling to yourself).

 

in fact, to use the word

“wonder,”

without having to pay some kind of

homage to

a deity whose very existence

(totalitarian 24hr surveillance of all actions within &

outside said human)

depends upon the instilled fears

the outright child abuse

which stems from days & nights of

caretakers pounding absurdity after

absurdity into the mind of a

a defenseless child

during the most formative years of

their lives---

we who do not wallow in the excrement with the

rest of you faithful,

need not ask your permission to use the word,

or to have to do so only when accompanied by a

“spiritual reason.”

 

rational people still fall in love &

they do not need to attribute it to anything else but

a mutual feeling between two people

 

rational people are still flabbergasted by the vast menagerie of

beauty which our world displays---

one can see three flowing waterfalls & NOT

feel that they reveal some kind of secrets of jesus---

one can climb a mountain,

standing atop, looking down on everything,

breathing in the air & letting all the grandiose details of the

surrounding environment

swallow one up,

leaving us with a greater respect for the non-human characteristics

of this place---

in fact, this realization can make one go back down the mountain

determined to want to improve the world for the very sake

of the world and its people,

without the want for gold stars or

a better seat in some kind of afterlife.

 

how amazing it is to feel a genuine interest in the art, the music,

the science, the philosophy & the literature of

us humans!

to realize that this world is so rich with intrigue

whose evidence is here already &

that no matter how long you have to live,

you may never actually consume all that you want to

because more enthralling products of our rational hearts & minds

are being pumped out every single day!