Marco's blog

Christmas came and went, so let’s conclude our Atheist Advent 2023. Today we will talk about values and about the misguided argument that you can’t have strong values if you are an Atheist.

Humans tend to capture their core values in writing, and religious books are a notable example of this, which leads some to the conclusion I mentioned above.

The thing is: religious texts are just one of many ways humans record their thoughts about values and morals. The history of secular moral and philosophical texts is just as rich and varied.

In fact, religious doctrines are often inspired by secular texts. Both in the West and in the East, organised religions have assimilated non-religious philosophical traditions that preceded them.

Two examples are the way that Greek philosopy served as the foundation for Christian Theology, and the Chinese theory of the Three Teachings, which considers Confucianist and Taoist philosophies, together with the Buddhist religion, as a harmonious aggregate.

My mother is a retired Classical Literature teacher, so growing up I got to hear many Greek tales before sleep, such as the Aesop fables, and, despite what Christian Epistles claim about pagan texts being immoral, they often have a strong ethical message.

Later on, as an adult, I’ve enjoyed reading Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. It contains moral and philosophical thoughts that you can act upon to better yourself. This is not a text written by some self-professed self-help guru who is trying to sell you a course. Its main purpose was recording Marcus’ thoughts; that’s what makes it so powerful in my opinion.

It’s not perfect and it’s not for everyone, but that’s fine, we are under no obligation to select a common set of sources and different people can resonate with different authors.

Which brings me to my main criticism of organised religion: the fact that it tries to estabilish a fixed canon, imposing shared values in a fragmented world, which inevitably leads to dogmatic thinking.

Your own guide values, are only going to be strong if they are rooted in your own life. Not in some book that someone else wrote. There are specific experiences your life that gave you wisdom, those will always stay with you in a way that no book ever will.

I just want to conclude this Atheist Advent with one more thought: I might disagree with their book, but I don’t hate anyone, never ever. I genuinely love to hear other people’s perspectives about life. I hope you can say the same about yourself!

At some point 70.000 years ago, the first humans arrived to Oceania.

There were no maps, no previous knowledge of these lands, they literally had to sail towards the unknown. They could have easily died during that journey. But they didn’t, and they discovered a new land.

As humans, we all have this natural curiosity, we want to explore the unknown. Ulysses wanted to go beyond. So did all the pioneers who went to previously unexplored lands. Or the scientists who look into the far universe. Or migrants like me, who one day decided they needed to restart their life somewhere else.

And what is the common trait that all these people have? They threw away the playbook. They weren’t satisfied with common wisdom, because they were looking for something different.

Throwing away the playbook is a very important element of human evolution. If we only ever relied on what we already know, we would still be living in caves.

Most religions, however, give us a sacred text to follow. That’s the playbook. Following a religion, for this reason, often causes people to think in a dogmatic way.

We can say no to this. We can throw away the playbook, just like Giordano Bruno. With one important difference: many of us no longer need to fear that we will get burned alive for doing that. Giordano Bruno didn’t have that privilege.

Today, I would like to talk about the fact that the things that are really important in life, like the people you love for example, are completely free and not transactional. Think about those that you love the most: you don’t love them because you have some vested interest, or expecting something in return. You just love them unconditionally.

Atheism works in exactly the same way: you want to become a better person and do some good in the world, not because of something you will obtain in the afterlife, some type of Paradise or some sort of Nirvana. You are not a toddler or a domesticated animal, you don’t need someone giving you treats to learn something or reach an objective. You just want to better yourself for the simple fact that being a better human is ontologically superior to not being one.

See you in the next post!

I was raised as a catholic.

Growing up and until my early twenties, I was very active, as a volunteer, in an association of Catholic scouts and guides.

During high school, I became familiar with the topic of inter-religious dialogue so I started studying texts from other religions; I read the entirety of the Quran, the Tao Te Ching and the Dhammapada.

In my late twenties, I participated to Bible study sessions and camps organised by a Catholic prelature.

So, take it from someone who knows what they’re talking about: the best way to live life to the fullest, as an independent, strong and committed adult, is to be an Atheist.

I was feeling Christmasy earlier today, so I decided to start a new series of blog posts that I will call “Atheist Advent 2023”.

In each post, I will try to share with you a thought, something that hopefully will stimulate your curiosity.

See you in the next post!