Hi all,
I’ve been a follower of The Dope for a while now, and a (rare) poster for about a year. With slightly more time on my hands, I have recently started reading and posting a bit more, so I thought it was about time that I introduced myself.
As I am writing this, I am 31 years old and engaged to be married for the first time in my life. I am a rational humanist and an atheist. Most of my life has been a peculiar mix of positive outlook combined with cynicism about the nature of humankind. I feel as though I have been reborn recently. Based only on mundane facts and a better understanding of history and of people, I have recently found true hope and optimism for the future. The revelations that have given me my hope and positive energy only came to me in their explicit incarnation about a year ago and I have been contemplating their consequences ever since.
I grew up as a computer geek, starting to learn computer programming when I was about 8 years old. Most of my life so far has been connected with the computer and technology industries. Over a number of years I started and eventually parted ways from three successful software businesses. One of these companies was my own while the other two were shared with partners. Towards the end of my last venture, I recognized that my lifelong depression was continuing to rear its head, and I decided to try a “normal” job to see if that would work better for me. For the past three years I had been working at a major video game production studio, originally as a game programmer, and finally as a manager.
In the past six months or more, a slow realization was rising to the surface in my head, and I knew that I was not satisfied with what I was doing. With my revelation and new-found hope based on only truth and understanding, I could no longer pretend that cynicism was a valid excuse for inaction. I am, as with most people, incredibly disturbed by the injustice that still exists in this world. However, understanding the inevitable global enlightenment ahead and knowing what needs to be done to rectify the situation, I feel that I can no longer remain on the sidelines to watch ‘the show’ and still sleep soundly at night.
Despite a mortgage that needs to be paid and a wedding and honeymoon (I get the feeling that my fiancee expects one) coming up, I decided that I had no choice but to quit my solid job to pursue what I believe to be a greater purpose. In November I was finally free and I have been writing a book to plead my case with those who are interested in listening. I have always enjoyed writing, but have had little to no practice since… high school. I know that the likelihood of making money from my book is slim-to-none, but I feel that it is something I need to do nonetheless. I have many ideas for spreading my message of hope. Although I know that I may be deluding myself thinking that I can make enough money to live in this way, I feel that I at least have to try. I know that there are like-minded rational thinkers out there who simply need to realize what I’ve recently realized, before they can see how hopeful our position is, and what it means with respect to how we live our lives.
So that, in a nutshell, is who I am today. Even as a staunch atheist before I was 10 years old, my outlook has evolved in so many ways as I have made my way to where I am right now. I have been continuously learning and growing, and I don’t expect that to stop; I certainly hope it won’t, and that’s one of the reasons that I enjoy The Dope.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for the great discussion. I wish peace and happiness for all of you.
