Hindu Lord Vishnu (the Preserver), Narayana, Hari, the Supreme god of Vaishnavism. [This is a beautiful avatar so much so that the Buddha, the Christ, and the dark Lord Krishna (whose name means "black" Kānha, Sanskrit कान्हा, "The dark-complexioned beloved one" 108 Names of Shri Krishna) are said to be avatars and incarnations or emanations of this god. Of course, in the case of the historical Buddha, this can't be quite right. It is a beautiful sentiment, indeed, but the Buddha is not reborn here or elsewhere, is not a "god," and rises beyond the gods.
As for a historical Jesus, maybe, but surely most Christians (or perhaps they should more rightly be labelled Jesuits or Jesevites) would not like to think that their all-powerful, supreme controller, creator of the entire universe were an avatar of a neighboring faith, in spite of the fact that Jesus practiced Hinduism to some extent or was exposed to it in his 18 years of travel in Tibet and India (Nicolas Notovitch). However, the title avatar may well apply to Lord Krishna, the central object of veneration and faith in popular Hinduism today, sometimes rivaling Lord Shiva and the great Goddesses Lakshmi, Sarawati, Parvati, Kali, Ma Durga, and his consort Radha.]
Ishtadeva or Ishtadevata (Sanskrit इष्ट देव(ता), iṣṭa-deva(tā), literally the "cherished divinity" from iṣṭa, "personal, liked, preferred, cherished" and devatā, "deity, divinity, godhead, tutelary deity" or deva, "deity"), is a term used in Hinduism denoting a worshipper's favorite deity [1, 2] or favorite form of the deity if approached from a monotheistic or henotheistic point of view. More
[They sure have been treated as such by sexist and patriarchal monks trying to enhance and preserve their worldly power as abuse-prone clergyman. But these additional rules are NOT historical, as revealed by the scholarship of Ayya Tathālokā Bhikkhunī of California looking into the Theravada BhikkhuniVinaya, were not laid down or approved by the Buddha, and have been shown to be later additions. For instance, on one occasion, the Buddha's mother, the first Buddhist nun in history, comes to the Buddha seeking clarification on some matter or other, which would never have happened IF such additional rules had been laid down by him. The fact that she asks what she does, as documented in a vinaya backstory preserved among the ancient Buddhist texts, proves the Buddha didn't do it. And the fact that monks at later Buddhist councils added such sexist and oppressive stipulations is tantamount to crimes against humanity and the Sangha, maybe even a "defeat" (parajika) offense of a schism between monk and nun communities. Wisdom Quarterly stands firmly on the side of nuns, Natasha, and all future female-embodied persons (because we can all be reborn any gender whether we like it or not) seeking enlightenment and liberation. We have covered this topic many times in the past.]
What I found in the Himalayas that the West couldn’t give me
(Increasing Frequency) Sept. 30, 2025: ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT TREK. On my journey through the Annapurna Circuit in the Himalayas, I went searching for what was missing in my life — a deeper sense of meaning, peace, and connection.
Along the way, I encountered wise old babas, mystics who live in solitude high in the mountains, carrying with them timeless wisdom passed down through generations.
These mystical encounters opened my eyes to lessons that the modern world, especially the West, often overlooks. From simple moments of silence to profound conversations about life, purpose, and spirit, the Himalayas revealed truths I didn’t know I was seeking.
Join me on this journey into the heart of the mountains — where the air is thinner, but the wisdom is infinite. 🌄✨
#Nepal#AnnapurnaCircuitTrek#Himalayas
(Red Bull) Nov. 7, 2025: MOUNT EVEREST. Ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel becomes the first person to climb Mt. Everest and ski back to Everest Base Camp without supplementary oxygen. After nearly 16 hours climbing in the high altitude “Death Zone” (above 26250 feet or 8,000 meters, where oxygen levels are dangerously low), Bargiel clipped into his skis on the summit of allegedly the tallest mountain on earth [which may in fact be Mt. Sumeru or K2] and started his descent via the South Col Route. He reached Camp II that night and rested. The summit ridge and Hillary Step had taken longer than planned, meaning darkness made it dangerous and difficult to navigate further that day. The next morning, he skied through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall guided by a drone flown by his brother, Bartek, before safely arriving at Everest Base Camp to become the first person to ascend and descend Mt. Everest on skis with no supplementary oxygen.
The Ramayana (Sanskrit रामायणम्, Romanized Rāmāyaṇam [3]), also known as Valmiki Ramayana, as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (Sanskrit epic) from ancient proto-India (Bharata), one of the two important epics of modern Hinduism known as the Itihasas, the other being the Mahabharata [4], the story of "Great Bharata." The epic narrates the life of the god Rama, the seventh avatar of the [extraterrestrial] Hindu deity Vishnu, who is a prince of Ayodhya in the Kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his 14-year exile
to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi;
his travels across the forests on the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana;
the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana, the king of [Sri] Lanka, which resulted in a bloodbath; and
Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya along with Sita to be crowned as a king amidst jubilation and celebration. More
How two years of advanced lucid dreaming changed my life (forever)
(Zach Highley) Aug. 1, 2025: What if there were the possibility of something else other than blackness during sleep? What if there were something like chatting with brilliant Einstein or, more importantly, discovering something about ourselves? Interacting with our subconscious? Discovering life’s purpose? Or eliminating nightmares forever? One day, one of my friends introduced me to lucid dreaming. She told me she controls her dreams, and I was amazed!
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Dr. Zach Highley; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Mahavatar Babaji (Maha = "Great," avatar = "appearance," "vehicle," Baba = "Father," -ji = honorific suffix (Mahāvatāra Bābājī, lit. "Great Avatar (Revered) Father") is the Himalayan Hindu yogi and transcendent guru who taught Kriya Yoga to Lahiri Mahasaya (1828–1895) [2, 3, a], who was the teacher of Paramahansa Yogananda's teacher.
Babaji first became recognized through the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, who devoted a chapter of his Autobiography of a Yogi to Babaji and founded the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), a modern yoga movement with which Babaji is associated [3].
The cave where Babaji met Lahiri Mahasaya, located near Ranikhet, India, is now a tourist attraction and place of pilgrimage [4]: 170.
Mahavatar Babaji was on the cover of The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [5, 1, 6]. He can also be seen on the cover of George Harrison's 1974 album Dark Horse.
Songwriter Roger Hodgson of English rock band Supertramp composed a song called "Babaji" in reference to Mahavatar Babaji. This song was recorded and released on their 1977 album Even in the Quietest Moments [7]...
In Book 3 of Conversations with God (1998) by Neale Donald Walsch, it is mentioned that Babaji may at one time have resurrected himself from the dead, like the Jesus (St. Issa) legend [8].
The 2002 film Baba featured a fictional encounter with Mahavatar Babaji [4]: 235, 314. The film was produced by Rajinikanth, a devotee of Babaji [9]. See also this List of Hindu gurus and saints. More
(MorgueOfficial) Premiered May 17, 2025: What if the true Messiah was a woman who’s been erased from history on purpose by the patriarchy named Barbelo? And what if we proved that there's an ancient gospel that was deliberately banned by the early Christian Church that says exactly this? What is Gnosticism?
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Morgue, MorgueOfficial on YouTube, May 17, 2025; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
(BuddhaVerse) Some Buddhists perceive Jesus as a bodhisattva— a being trying to become fully spiritually enlightened to "save" others by guiding them to spiritual enlightenment, as all beings at some time or other are striving for liberation from suffering and rebirth.
[The Ayutthaya Kingdom was in ancient Siam (modern Thailand), which resisted Christian missionaries and their Catholic (Vatican) hegemony.]
Why do swamis wear pajama robes rather than real robes?
[Who is Devadatta? He was once a great monk who made the mistake of pursuing magical powers rather than liberation, squandering his great fortune to know and be close to the Buddha. Devadatta is the Judas Iscariot figure in Buddhism who, rather than practicing for awakening, grew an ego so big he tried to usurp the Buddha and take over the Sangha ("spiritual community" the Buddha had built, which may have had 80,000 or more members since many of those members were members because of their attainment of the paths-and-fruits, and the majority of them would have been devas (angelic light beings visiting or living on the human plane) rather than humans on Earth. Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin, the brother of his former wife (Bimba Devi, known as Princess Yasodhara, with a long history of envy and rivalry with the buddha-to-be or the Bodhisatta, as the Buddha referred to himself when talking about times and events before his great enlightenment). Devadatta held a grudge, and though he did much good in becoming a monk and practicing for 40 years or so, he was rotten and one of the very worst people in the history of Buddhism, almost on par with Mara Namuci. He was not the Buddha's brother, whose name was Nanda, the sibling of their sister Sundari Nanda, who became enlightened monastics like so many of the Scythians/Sakas/Shakyians did, even Devadatta's sister Ven. Yasodhara (who is obscured in Buddhism as badly as "Mary" is in Christianity, hidden by the use of many names to refer to her: Rahulamata or "Rahula's Mother"), Bhadda, Bhadda Kaccana Theri, Bhaddakacca, Bhadda Sundari, Bimba Devi, and Subhadakka, who after the Buddha's return home became a nun, a knowledgeable disciple of the Dharma, an unbeatable debater, and a respected and beloved fully enlightened elder (theri) Buddhist nun, along with the Buddha's mother and many Scythian/Saka princesses and family members, including their son Ven. Rahula, "foremost in doing quiet good."]
Some beings commit to striving not only for full awakening (arahantship) but also supreme or perfect awakening (samma-sam-buddhahood, Sanskrit samyak-sam-buddha) to be able to effectively help others gain realization or bodhi and achieve liberation or nirvana, which is the extinction of ignorance because only an illusion came into and goes out of being.
[One can argue that there are three types of buddhas: (1) the fully supremely enlightened, (2) the fully enlightened nonteaching or "silent" (pacceka) buddha, and (3) the fully enlightened personal buddha (arahant). All three experience the exact same awakening to the truth, but the first two have special knowledge, and the first has special abilities (the ten powers) beyond. What makes a buddha so extraordinary is that he (as there seems to be no shes because any being bent on supreme enlightenment, a bodhisatta, needs two things to succeed, at least according to Theravada Buddhism, and in doing so will repeatedly be reborn as a male, as the Dalai Lama and Vajrayana Buddhism agree with the ancient Theravada commentaries. Those two are a vow of strong determination to achieve self-awakening at a time when the Dharma no longer exists and no one is being liberated and a sure prediction of success by a current buddha. When the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, aka "Shakyamuni" or the "Sage of the Scythians/Sakas," determined to become a buddha, he did so in the presence of Dipankara Buddha aeons ago, or at least many generations ago as kappa/kalpa may also refer to an ordinary human lifespan at the time, and this span is very variable, going from less than 100 years up to 80,000 years, Dipankara Buddha knew his determination and gave him a prediction of eventual success. How long it takes to eventually succeed is hard to fathom and/or calculate. If a kappa/kalpa is translated as it normally is, it can be millions or hundreds of millions or hundreds of billions of years, astronomical time, archeological time, epochs, ages, which does not make sense since in that deep past there were Vedas ("Knowledge Books") and Sanskrit language texts and Brahmins (brahmanas) and wandering ascetics (shramanas) and things that seem like much more recent developments on the human plane, which would not seem to have existed millions and billions of years ago. But that is the official Theravada line. We prefer to think that buddhas and tirthankaras like Mahavira, the Nigantha Nataputta (aka Vardhamana), the founder of Jainism, arise much more frequently than that, something more in the range of being separated by thousands or tens of thousands of years rather than aeons. The historical Buddha Gautama named 24 or so previous buddhas and many pacceka buddhas, never suggesting to anyone they pursue those careers but constantly, daily, encouraging and helping countless human and deva beings to become arhats or fully enlightened disciples as quickly as possible. Why? Everything can wait, but our pursuit of wisdom and compassion cannot wait. The opportunity to ever hear and practice the Dharma/Dhamma is so incredibly rare that we have to seize the day and practice, learn, hear, and ask teachers NOW. There's only now.]
His selfless actions and willingness to sacrifice himself for others align with the ideals of a Buddhist bodhisattva [and his training in ancient Tibet/ now India at Hemis Buddhist Monastery in Ladakhin the Himalayas, where Vajrayana (a form of Mahayana) Buddhist lamas are taught to strive for bodhisattva careers rather than personal enlightenment and liberation.
See the work of Nicolas Notovitch, Swami Abhedananda, Holger Kersten, American cult leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet (The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evidence of Jesus' 17-Year Journey to the East), and many others for documentation concerning the "lost years" of Jesus of Nazareth or Saint Issa as he was known in the East or Isa as he is referred to in Islam].
The Dalai Lama has repeatedly expressed admiration for Jesus Christ [who is explained with shocking clarity as a mystery school leader by Ancient Greek biblical scholar Dr. Ammon Hillman], calling him a great teacher of love and compassion. He emphasizes that Christianity and [Mahayana] Buddhism can learn from each other despite doctrinal differences.
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BuddhaVerse (video), Jan. 8, 2025; most of text and all commentary by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
MIT Scientist: “Aliens are simulating our reality”
(Jesse Michels) 11-22-24: In today's episode of American Alchemy, Jesse Michels sits down with MIT Professor Riz Virk to explore the provocative idea that our reality might be a simulation, blending cutting-edge physics, ancient mysticism, and gaming theory.
They dive into topics like quantum mechanics, free will, and the Mandela Effect, offering a fresh perspective on the nature of existence.
Riz Virk's book The Simulated Multiverse: tinyurl.com/rizvirkamazon.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
03:32 - Are We Living in a Simulation?
07:10 - The Physics of Simulation Theory
12:08 - Evidence from Fine-Tuned Constants
18:14 - The Mandela Effect and Changing Realities
20:40 - Information Theory
30:42 - The Role of the Mind
35:57 - Free Will
37:17 - Time
39:50 - Parapsychology
48:32 - Donald Hoffman's Theory
50:38 - Breaking Out of the Simulation
01:07:33 - Reality is Maya
01:12:00 - UFOs
01:18:40 - How to Play the Game
01:22:54 - NPCs
01:27:04 - Outro
ABOUT: AMERICAN ALCHEMY is an original series hosted by Jesse Michels that explores the frontier of science and tech. Each week brings exclusive interviews with some of the leading thinkers of our time. #podcast #simulation #aliens #uap #technology #quantum #physics #timetravel #computercode
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Produced by
Jesse Michels and Bryan Felber. Written by
Jesse Michels. Editing and animation by Bryan Felber. Additional animation by Ross
@FlatPackFX. Featuring
Jesse Michels and Prof. Rizwan Virk. Cinematography by Isaac Rodriguez. Additional cinematography by Mario Kidd. Appearances from
Jacques Vallée
Garry Nolan
Rob Rinehart
Brian Muraresku
Graham Hancock
Paul Schatzkin. Special thanks to Roger Penrose
The PEAR Lab
Philip K. Dick
The Simulated Multiverse and The Simulation Hypothesis
by Rizwan Virk are available in print, eBook, and audiobook now. Original music: open.spotify.com/artist/6LlLR...
"We exist somewhere OUTSIDE of the Simulation" - Gregg Braden
(Gaia) Premiered Nov. 8, 2024: In this final episode of Season 2, we explore who or what exists on the other side of our virtual reality, this Simulation. Whether the proverbial heaven or a catastrophic reality, Gregg Braden examines the cycles of humanity to shed light on our creation and purpose and the tools needed to prepare us for life on the other side.
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What the cartoonist (Dan Piraro) doesn't realize is that the Buddha did set down such a rule.
Great teachers of world's religions (Where's Mo?)
Christianity (particularly imperialist universalist Catholicism and hegemonical American Protestant Evangelism) is closer to Hinduism than Buddhism is, for all of their apparent similarities. The historical Buddha did not teach what Jesus or Krishna (avatars of a God like Vishnu), Brahma or Shiva taught.
All of these, we are told promoted devotional practices as the best that could be done by most humans during the Dark Age or Kali Yuga. Hinduism, to be more popular and tolerant, accepts other religions enough to swallow them and call them part of its own Eternal Teaching or Sanatan Dharma.
Hindu holy man, sadhu,sannyasin, ganja smoker
If Brahmin priests could not rid themselves of pesky wandering ascetic or shramanic traditions like Buddhism and Jainism, it simply dealt with them by incorporating them into its own structure and pantheon just as it did the ancient Vedas ("Knowledge Books") of proto-India and the Indus Valley Civilization, extending Hinduism (which was systematized and established by Adi Shankara a few centuries ago by coordinating and getting major points of agreement for many and diverse "religions" around the Indus River, thus resulting in the name of one conglomerate religion of Indus-ism where previously people did not live with the modern idea of being in a "religion" or doing anything more than practicing spiritual things as part and parcel of daily life).
The British imposed the idea that one must name "spiritual" practices and/or superstitions and beliefs a "religion" and that those practicing in accordance or adhering to such beliefs must be "members" of that religion. The ancients in India, proto-India, Egypt, and elsewhere simply did not have this belief but simply went along when told by the dominant and oppressive colonizing culture. One has to imagine that pre-Christian pagans in Europe did not think they had a "religion" but were just living their cultural life and holding popular beliefs about how the world (with its spirits and mysteries) works.
Amitabha Cosmic Buddha
While Early Buddhism, just like Jainism, rejected the Vedas and gods as ultimate sources of wisdom or liberation, later (Mahayana) Buddhism was co-opted by the Brahmin priests and turned into a kind of Hinduism by other names. While there are certainly many devotional practices in modern Theravada Buddhism, a back-to-basics movement to preserve the historical Buddha's Teachings, many Mahayana traditions and practices went overboard to devote themselves to anyone but the historical Buddha.
Kwan Yin (female Avalokiteshvara)
That Buddha is respected but then quickly disregarded, forgotten, or shunned for "better" Mahayana Buddhist figures like the Cosmic Buddhas Amitabha (and His promise of praying to Him to be reborn in His heavenly Western Paradise, the Pure Land, where one can make efforts to reach enlightenment and liberation without bothering to do anything toward that here other than praying and devoting oneself to Him here and now) and Vairocana, or the ever-popular Virgin Mary figure Kwan Yin (Guanyin, Kwannon, Chenrézik, or Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Compassion, who like many other Mahayana figures is actually a bodhisattva, a person striving for Buddhahood, not a buddha at all) and Kṣitigarbha, who saves beings from the hells, which they fall into on account of their own deeds and views.
Pals Jesus, Budai, and Krishna with a cow
This devotional bent of Mahayana Buddhism has gotten so severe that who "the Buddha" is is often blurred, with most of the world mistaking him for the Mahayana figure Budai/Putai/Hotei the "Fat Happy Bodhisattva," the obese guy revered in Chinese restaurants around the world. Moreover, a distinction at one point had to be made between what Western elucidator of Buddhism Alan Watts points out in the Japanese Buddhist terms jiriki versus tariki-- enlightenment by one's own efforts or by outside help.
Jiriki (自力, "one's own strength" [1]) is the Japanese Buddhist term for "self-power," the ability to achieve enlightenment and liberation (in other words, to reach bodhi and nirvana) through one's own efforts, whereas tariki (他力, "other power," "outside help") is the belief that it cannot be done on one's own. These two terms in Japanese Buddhist schools classify how one becomes spiritually awakened [2]. The first is commonly practiced in Zen Buddhism, whereas the much more popular Pure Land Buddhism refers to the power of Amitābha Buddha to "save" beings who merely have faith, believe, and worship an outside force like the mythological Amitabha [3].
Does Christianity teach Christians and Catholics that they can save themselves, awaken themselves, enlighten themselves, or even get into heaven (which is viewed as final salvation) by their own efforts? Certainly not. Most modern Christian schools teach that it is ONLY by "grace" (God's underserved gift or His whimsical feeling like it) and never by "works" (one's own efforts) that anyone can be saved.
All three religions (Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism) believe in karma (the power of deeds to bring about a result, but Christians insist everything is either God's will or not and nothing we can do can change that, other than perhaps groveling, begging, bargaining, self-abnegation, and absolute devotion and throwing ourselves on His mercy can save us.
For Christians killing isn't so bad compared to not loving the God enough because that God can erase that karmic debt and sin, wipe it away in an instant of devotion, obedience, adherence, and voluntary slavery, whereas not killing in the first, who cares? That's not a big deal to most Christians or apologists. Of course, Hinduism now talks about karma a lot, but it is said that the Buddha was the first sage to go around telling ordinary people about the importance of their deeds.
Up until then it was more or less a secret among Brahmin priests and preservers of the Vedas, who were not keen on telling anyone other than Brahmins. The Buddha, who was regarded as a Karmavadin (Teacher of the efficacy of actions) not as a Buddhist (which came later with the Western idea that things have to be a "religion"), went around telling everyone, emphasizing karma to everyone as a principle, a fixed law, an orderliness to the universe we live in, be it a simulation or a real place.
One has to eventually put forward the endeavor and effort to awaken oneself; it simply cannot be "given" or gained by devotion. It does not belong to anyone to give, not even "God," who Himself, Herself, Itself is not enlightened nor liberated but rapt in this samsara.
So while it is beautiful that we can all be Hindus now, all go back to a time when there was just one universal religion everyone had to follow, a worldwide belief system with an all-attractive cult figure like Krishna, Christ, Thor, Zeus, Sophia, Aphrodite, Brahma, Mithras, Ahura Mazda, Allah (or His Prophet), the Great Spaghetti Monster, Odin, or countless other astrotheological figures, Buddhism does not need the Buddha to be an "incarnation of Vishnu."
The great thing is, of course, that "Hinduism" is not really a religion even now when it is treated like one because it has always meant a collection of disparate views, practices, belief, and preferred central gods (one choice in picking any incarnation of an essential Brahman, or "reality behind all illusion") presenting itself as an avatar or aspect of the One True God(hood). The yogis have their way, as do the Shaivites and Vaishnavites, agnostics, atheists, Kali worshippers, devotees of the Goddess Saraswati, Ma Durga, Radha (Krishna's partner), Krishna, or 100,000 others.
In fact, it is insulting as it shows a severe lack of understanding by Brahmins and Hindus that such things could even happen. A buddha is an arhat (fully enlightened being), who therefore by that supreme enlightenment is never again reborn, does not incarnate, does not reappear or rearise. Of course, there will be other buddhas, like Mahayana Buddhism's second favorite buddha of all time, the Buddha-to-come, the Future Buddha, Maitreya.
But that being will not be the last one (Siddhartha Gautama Buddha) coming again. It will be a new one, just as there have been ones in the ancient past and in the distant future. It is never the same being returning to teach beings how to make an end of all suffering and all rebirth after realizing the too-subtle unique teachings of Dependent Origination and anatta (the impersonal nature of all existence) or egolessness.
The Lord's Prayer (Medieval English)
Text by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly
Matt Baker (Useful Charts, 2/23/24); Religion for Breakfast;Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Atheist "denominations" explained
Is there freedom from religion in America?
(UsefulCharts) Feb. 23, 2024: There are no "denominations" of any religion or nonreligion other than Christians, who have over 200 in the U.S. alone, with many more sects and offshoots ("splitters"). But for the purposes here, the term is being used to signify schools and groups in general. So there are the Humanist Atheists and the megachurch of the Scientist Atheists, Nontheists (aka some Buddhists) and Anti-Theists (Secularists but not Satanists, who all believe in God or else what's the point of opposing and following the prophesized Antichrist?), Materialist Atheists and Nihilist Atheists (who believe we exist by chance and will all cease to exist and enter oblivion at death), those darn Snarky Standup Comedian Atheists and the lowly Spiritual Atheists who don't believe in God because they heard the XTC song "Dear God" and really liked it.
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CREDITS:
Chart and narration by Matt Baker. Guest narration by @ReligionForBreakfast
Animation by Syawish Rehman. Audio editing by Ali Shahwaiz
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