I can’t say that ’07 was a particularly good year for me. I don’t think it was a great year for the world either. But there were a few bright spots and one of them was making the virtual acquaintance of many members of the Atheosphere.
Having lived most of my life open about my atheism but with very few people to share my thoughts on it, this has been a liberating experience and I want to thank everyone who has visited this blog or kindly responded to my comments at theirs.
A few have any become more than virtual acquaintances, having exchanged emails and, in some cases, phone conversations. I include you among my rather small group that I call "friends".
I look forward to exchanging ideas with all of you in the coming year, as well as with others we will meet. I know that our contributions to the ideal of living as free-thinkers, unrestrained by dogma and superstition are meager. But all we can do is carry on. It’s another year in paradise.
I think one way that we can make a larger impact on the world, while blogging, is to make our thoughts more personal. I have a tendency to intellectualize without bringing home the point of how it impacts me personally or the individual experiences I have had in my life that brings me to my philosophies. I struggle with this, and I've noticed I'm not the only one. I'm going to try to focus on this a bit more next year. There are things that I prefer not to talk about, but I think I can contribute more by doing so - and I'll probably be helping myself as well. I think most of us would agree that blogging is therapeutic, even if we never convince another person that belief in gods is a waste of ones life.
Hopefully 2008 will be see a tiny bit more enlightened world. Happy New Year and thanks to every one of you.
John Evo
Saturday, December 29, 2007
An Enlightened ‘08
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10 comments:
Well Happy New Year -- and thanks for blogging -- to you, Evo.
Evo,
I appreciate your company as well and greatly enjoy your thoughts
...have a happy/safe one.
Evo,
Thank you for the posts once again, I check your blog frequently and I am truly amazed at all the fantastic items you post. I have considered myself an atheist for only about a year, and although it has been liberating for me in so many ways, I find that it is something I keep to myself. My father is a deeply religious man and I dare not express my views openly with my family. Your blog has been a jumping off point for all the other sites I have visited and enjoyed..all thanks to you. It sounds like you are about ready to take this mother to the next level. I say GO MAN GO! At this stage in my life, all that interests me is the truth, I would find it enriching to read what is in your heart, along with all the other intellectual musings. You and the others who have posted, help me a lot getting through a day when it seems I am such an outsider. Keep up the good work, 2008 shall be a very interesting year to say the least. Love to all who need it.
Evo,
Thank you for the posts once again, I check your blog frequently and I am truly amazed at all the fantastic items you post. I have considered myself an atheist for only about a year, and although it has been liberating for me in so many ways, I find that it is something I keep to myself. My father is a deeply religious man and I dare not express my views openly with my family. Your blog has been a jumping off point for all the other sites I have visited and enjoyed..all thanks to you. It sounds like you are about ready to take this mother to the next level. I say GO MAN GO! At this stage in my life, all that interests me is the truth, I would find it enriching to read what is in your heart, along with all the other intellectual musings. You and the others who have posted, help me a lot getting through a day when it seems I am such an outsider. Keep up the good work, 2008 shall be a very interesting year to say the least. Love to all who need it.
And a happy new year to you (Modern Calendar, of course). I echo sillysighbean above. Your blog is on my check daily (or at least when I have internet (long story)) list and I thoroughly enjoy it (though it does occasionally disturb me (not your writing, but the subjects you bring up) in a positive way.
Keep up the good.
Well, John, I'm sorry that you can't put 07 up there among the best, but on the other hand, you have started a damn fine blog, and that's no small feat, and you should be very proud of it.
When I started blogging this year, I mentioned that I felt that blogging was, in many ways, an "exercise in egocentricity". I've come to agree with you that the ego part of the writing is actually necessary to the effective communication of the ideas we have here in the atheosphere. We are, after all, humans trying to get along with fellow humans, and what better way than to relate these ideas in a personal, human way.
On that personal level, I've had good experiences and bad experiences, but on the whole, it's been a good year. My intellectual commitment to an atheistic worldview has decidedly made it better. For that I have to thank you, and all the other bloggers that seem to have become so interconnected this past year.
I hope we can continue this into the next, and beyond, and hopefully, in our small way, shine a light into our lives and those of our readers.
Thanks and Happy New Year.
John,
I hope 2008 will be a better year for you. Also, keep blogging about the things that matter the most to you and do it in the ways that work best for you. I enjoy your unique atheospheric voice just as it is and want to see it continue its natural development (or, should I say, evolution?).
Well I wouldn't come here so often if I thought the blog sucked. Being more personal might be more interesting as long as you don't go all Oprah on us. ;)
I consider you a friend as well. Hopefully in 2008 we'll get to know one another even better.
I hope that next year is a better year for you with lots of good things happening in your life.
Reasons Greetings!
John Evo, you and the rest of the Literati have provided fantastic encouragement to me on my blog. While I don't comment as much as I'd like, I can't seem to get that damn Google Reader count below 200, I do keep you and the rest within the single digits ;) I look forward to the next year of excellent blogging and a firm resolution (doomed to the fate of all resolutions) of keeping more involved in the conversation.
Have a Rational New Year, but only after one more night of irrational drinking.
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