The Lazy Brain

Qualifications for atheism are going to get much more strict, because there are too many self-proclaimed atheists out there who have not gained control over their own operant conditioning. Atheism requires a complete adoption of the scientific method of inquiry. You must question your own first impressions of everything around you. Learn the fallacies of argumentation and the effects of groupthink.

The denial of a deity is only the first step. You must cleanse your mind of lazy brain habits associated with countless generations of religious cultural influence. Question everything, not just the supernatural because everything we understand today has been developed in the presence of religion, even if it appears to be secular.

The lazy brain slips under the spell of culturally conditioned assumptions, foregone conclusions, first impressions, the false impression of being correct because one is among many like-minded individuals, and many commercially engineered cognitive dysfunctions.

There is a phase of transition to atheism where we discuss how our feelings changed from belief to non-belief. There are some of us who never really believed at all, like myself who lacks the brain chemistry to feel anything "spiritual" because of chronic anxiety.

There are many people who are susceptible to high levels of dopamine in their brains which trigger "spirituality." I call it euphoria. If the feeling is attributed to an icon, a statue, a prayer, or some other ritual, the feeling becomes inexorably linked with the imagery. This is the basics of operant conditioning and is called superstition.

Any stimulus associated with a specific thing or situation can trigger your brain to jump to conclusions. Welcome to the world of mass marketing.