My response to religion: "So what?"

The way I feel about religion now is similar to how I feel about my ex-wife. Not much. Meaning, most of the time I don't think about religion, or her. I've got some pleasant memories of each, along with some unpleasant memories.

But neither occupies much space in my brain these days. This wasn't the case soon after my marital and spiritual divorces. Splitting up after a lengthy attachment, it takes some time to get the other party out of your mind.

For twenty-one years I've been married to another woman. However, I've had no inclination to get married to another religious belief system.

The reason? It's easy for me to explain, and more importantly, experience, the benefits of having an intimate relationship with my wife. When it comes to religion, though, I no longer feel any desire for hooking up with an organized form of spirituality.

A few days ago I culled through a bookcase that held many of my once-cherished mystical, spiritual, and religious books. I had no problem filling up four boxes with books that either will be sold or donated.

Picking up a book that I could remember reading avidly years or decades ago, often my immediate intuitive reaction would be "So what?"

Meaning, from my present churchless perspective I couldn't see any point to what the author had written about. As with my general reaction to religion now, I wasn't so much opposed to the book's theme as apathetic.

So what if we humans supposedly have, or are, a soul that lives on after our body dies? There's no way for me to know if this is true. And there's nothing I can do about it.

So what if this or that mystic, master, or sage supposedly is enlightened or god-realized? There's no way for me to know if this is true. And there's nothing I can do about it.

So what if ultimate reality is supposedly one, non-dual, dualistic, chaotic, none of the above, or something else? There's! no way for me to know which is true. And there's nothing I can do about it.

So what if God or a higher power supposedly wants me to act a certain way? There's no way for me to know if this is true. And there's nothing I can do about it.

So what if consciousness is separable from the human brain? There's no way for me to know if this is true. And there's nothing I can do about it.

I could offer up other so what's. But most likely you can sense my apathetic attitude toward religion, supernaturalism, and spiritual hypothesizing from the five "who cares?" examples I've given.

There's simply no connection anymore between the satisfaction, meaning, and happiness I enjoy from everyday life, and what purveyors of a supposed divinity have to offer.

I can't see any benefit to me from believing in something which doesn't have any influence on the world in which I live and breathe.

Soul. Enlightenment. Ultimate reality. God's will. Nature of consciousness.

Whatever can be said about these things are abstractions, concepts, hypotheses, conjectures. Typing on my laptop, sipping coffee, thinking the thoughts I'm sharing in this post -- now this feels real, immediate, important, meaningful.

By comparison, the fanciful imaginings of religion are yawn-inducing. So what?

If people want to believe in that stuff, fine. It's no big deal to me, unless their dogmatic viewpoints interfere with the ability of other people to live life as they want to.