Not quite sure how you can say that since the vast majority of people believe in a deity. You cannot say most people do not imagine a reality that does not exist.

This quote spoke to me because it was the way I moved from being a Catholic and theist to an atheist. A crumbling away of the façade of a false reality created by brainwashing in my upbringing.

@bobhoff59 I’m all about getting rid of untruth. Not sure how that “has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier” If it doesn’t make you better or happier… what’s the point? Also “complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true”? Sounds extreme, maybe absolutist. And I suspect untruth doesn’t just crumble away. I think it has to be quite laboriously chiseled away. Just my perspective.

@skado Well I can tell you from my experience, and I suspect many people, it was definitely not about making things better or me happier. I had to deal with family and friends whose opinions I valued and do to this day that took time to accept and stop asking me why and trying to convince me I was wrong. It was immediately very scary and for an extended time cumbersome in my familial relations. The point was not to make me happier or better, I told people all the time that it would have been much easier to be a believer and be accepted, but the point is once you have come out of the fog into clarity, you cannot go back. And it was absolutely a complete eradication of everything I had imagined was true. On day I had absolute certainty that there was a God and Jesus was his Son and life after death existed in some supernatural realm and the next I had the same certainty that none of that was real. Understand that was and is my experience, I know it isn't everyone's. So your original comment depends is true. It depends an awful lot on your personal experiences. If you were indoctrinated into any belief system and relied upon friends and family who were fellow believers in that system, to reject all that they believe and face potential ostracism your experience your experience would likely be similar. If you were race by a skeptic/free thinker/agnostic/atheist, your experience would be much different. Like I said the quote spoke to me.

@bobhoff59 That’s what I love about this site. I hear from people who have had experiences different from mine, and that’s good for me. Thanks for sharing.
If I may inquire further... would you say that you’re less happy now? I realize people have different understandings of the word happy. I’m just talking about contentment, or peace of mind.

@skado 38 years later and I am more happy. But it was a process to get to a place where I could say that.

@bobhoff59 I know what you mean. I spent some time there too. Glad to hear things are better now.