We are all supposed to be equal humans. So it should go that we should all be able to determine what is real. This comes from a conversation with my younger boy, 10. He is a kind and thoughtful boy, he wants to believe in Santa and all those characters, but his classmates started a year ago saying all that was fake. I told him "well be cool like the other kids and Santa stops bringing you toys". That was enough to stop the interrogation, he put away his fedora hat, notepad and spotlight. From a kids viewpoint, in the morning Santa will have delivered a cornucopia of assorted gifts, they will not go through a parent's credit card or even notice the Toys R Us price tags. To them, Santa delivers, at least in our house. So does the tooth fairy, and even the Easter Bunny (I know). This ultimately is fun for my wife, so I go along with it. My big ego would like to take credit, but it wouldn't be fun that way.
I myself am concrete in thought, If I can't see it, I have a hard time believing it. I started saying I might be atheist in high school and my mom would get nervous. Her point was at least say agnostic, leave yourself open to the idea. I would go along with her, not that it required much, we weren't church fanatics, back in the day. Both my parents worked and Saturday and Sunday were days to rest and sleep late, not get dressed and go socialize with other like minded folks. As a grown up, now I do say I'm atheist, my mom wrings her hands with nervousness when I do. She does not like that about me. The only concession I gave into was baptizing the boys. Her point being "what if you're wrong, they are innocent, if something should happen in their youth, do you want them stuck in Purgatory?" To me, that sentence feels like fiction novel writing, but I do love and respect my mom. It was a one and done thing. If I'm wrong, they are technically protected, If I am right, it was one afternoon, family got together, we ate at Olive Garden, why complain?
We also have the extreme limit, people that hear voices, talk to the other side of life, and these folks don't need to be told what the whispers might be (neighbors, fan in another room...), they know what they see is real. We label them as crazy, lock them away if they are troublesome, avoid them as best we can.
Although I am atheist, who am I to say what you're doing is worthy or based in reality? If believing in a higher power helps get you through the day, I say good. If believing helps get you to volunteer or donate to more unfortunate people, awesome. I wish we lived in a world of powers and magic, personally I would love to be a Jedi, but the closest I'll get is battling my 10 year old with plastic swords and using the remote control to change the TV channels. I would love to get up on my soap box and declare my point of view is absolute and you all are wrong if you don't think like me, but I don't think we are all living the same life. Everyone gets a different path, shaped by the people and circumstances in their own life. If you are living it, that is your reality.
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