You understand some things better than others
The problem with religion is that people who need something like religion don’t actually want religion, as weird as that sounds.
My brother and I are intuitive thinkers. We are feeling people, so to speak. This means a lot of emotions, fast judgment, and a lot of unrest — but also a lot of skills. It is very hard to verbalize that you see layers of reality that not everybody sees. It feels like, when you think, you play the piano; you think with your whole body. Both of us can be knocked out for weeks by things we can’t explain. It’s not that we think we are better than other people; it’s more that we experience reality differently.
I was listening to podcasts by religious people — specific religions, of course, but that’s not the point here — and I was shocked by how recognizable their stories were. It is as if you are looking for something, but you don’t know what it is. And you are also looking for a form of inner peace.
Why Freethinkers Can’t Stand Buddhism
Buddhism is the opposite of what you want. You want to think about negative and positive things. You want to think all the time. You don’t want to meditate and focus on your breathing. There is no point.
Buddhists are scared of leaving the here and now. But you can’t leave the here and now. If I relive a horrible thing that happened to me in my imagination, that actually helps me recover from it. It’s not that I am hurting myself by doing that. Our bodies work fine.
Sometimes Buddhists say, “Wise men are always full of wisdom and compassion, no matter what the situation.” Well, Buddhists, the whole point is that you lose your mind sometimes, because sometimes the only right action is actually to lose your mind and lose control. If wisdom and compassion were the answer to every question, we would already have all the answers — which we don’t. Because there are questions that have different answers.
That is what living in freedom means. I can sit the whole evening thinking about something horrible — maybe something I have experienced, or something that only lives in my imagination. I learn from those experiences. It is flat-out dangerous to avoid everything through breathing or other meditation techniques.
Try to see it like this: I never have to run anywhere. I never have to do anything. That is freedom. If I had to focus on my breathing all evening, I would have no freedom.