Magical Superpowers

 Sometimes, we have to learn the hard way from life; and sometimes, life teaches us a lesson that blows our minds.
There is nothing like writing down what one has learned to hammer the lesson home. Ever since writing a previous post, "The Movie-Cliche Rapist," I have had the impression of being guided by a force inside myself that knows what's best for me, that always looks out for me, that will never leave me and always guide me to do the right thing and make the right decision, if I only learn to listen to it. It feels like having some kind of secret superpower.
But oddly enough, I still don't believe that this "force" is from God, or is God. I get the distinct impression that "The Force" is inside me--and is me.
I use fanciful language, of course, to describe my "intuition;" my survival instinct.
The instinct is millions of years old (though the rest of me is not), so why wouldn't it know how to sense danger?
I feel grateful both for and to this instinct, for taking care of me. The instinct never abandons me, and I don't even have to pray to it.
Years of religious indoctrination have tried to kill this force within me, but it would not be killed. They tried to train me to distrust my "flesh" and look to ancient, offensive and fanciful texts for guidance. Now I don't have to do that anymore.
This mysterious force, that so many people have attributed to something or someone outside of themselves--maybe it was in them all along. Perhaps, in a way, I actually do know what it's like to have a "religious" or "spiritual" experience.
I think of the millions of years of evolution it took to get to this point in time, and I vaguely wonder if I'm sending gratitude to my hundreds of thousands of predecessors; in other words, if this feeling is some sort of ancestor worship.
Then again, maybe I'm setting myself up as my own goddess. But when you think about it, if it weren't for the threat of hell...why not? Why not be your own "god" or "goddess;" the person who calls the shots?
But while reflecting on all of these things, it made me wonder: Did all of this mean that I'm not an atheist anymore? Maybe this simply makes me "more spiritual than religious?"
I don't know how others would define it, but I'm not entirely sure that I could be called "spiritual" if I believe my intuition resides in my brain.
A friend of mine who has traveled extensively says that in Nepal they have a saying: "I honor the god within you." Do we all have "gods" within us? But if they're not separate entities, then they are us. And if they are us...why call them gods? This doesn't change my awe at the discovery of the incredible power that I believe is in all of us. Life blocks us from this power within us, makes us unaware...until we learn to become more of ourselves, more comfortable in our own skin.
Until we learn to listen to ourselves, instead of what we think God or others want from us.

What do you think of this? Leave a comment below, or send me an email at: atheistjourneysblog@gmail.com
Follow or tweet me here: https://twitter.com/atheistjourneys