The Believing Agnostic: Articles of Timeless Interest

Comments on Life by Shane Hayes (SH) and Others

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. – William James

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes the best way to “overcome” a thing is to duck round it as deviously as you can, and then forget it. (Grudges, for example.) -- SH

Grudges are heavy things. It wearies one to bear them. -- SH

Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. -- Thomas Carlyle

Well done is better than well said. -- Benjamin Franklin

Of all the useful habits men can form I think the most widely neglected is the habit of growing. -- SH

The beginning is the most important part of the work. -- Plato

A man is strong as long as he represents a strong idea. He is helpless when he opposes it. -- Sigmund Freud

When you talk about a person, whether critically or otherwise, speak always as if that person could hear you -- candidly, yet with charity. -- SH

Today's challenge is the only one that need concern you. Meet it well. -- SH

One person seeks a midwife for his thoughts; the other, someone he can assist. Here is the origin of a good conversation. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

In the peace of God there is room also for what the world calls unbelief: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is the onslaught of death and hell. -- Karl Barth

Everyone, without exception, is searching for happiness. -- Blaise Pascal

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for. -- Joseph Addison

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. -- George Santayana

View all vicissitudes as a challenge to your good nature. -- SH

There is no duty so much underrated as the duty of being happy. -- Robert Louis Stevenson

Don't worry too much about how you feel. A man is under no obligation to be happy at all times. As long as he behaves decently to his fellows he may be as miserable as he wants. -- SH

The joyfulness of a man prolongeth his days. -- Psalms

Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures. -- Voltaire

Learn how to feel joy. -- Seneca

Keep a cool head, a benevolent heart, and a determined will. -- SH

The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. -- Benjamin Franklin

Some pursue happiness, others create it. -- Anon

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. -- Abraham Lincoln

One emotion consumes as much energy as ten thoughts. So if you feel less and think more you will go farther with less effort. -- SH

Do your work; don't feel it. -- SH

William James paraphrased: "Pay primary attention to what you do and express, and don't care too much for what you feel."

Nothing is quite so futile as our mental efforts to undo the past. -- SH

You must continually unfasten yourself from the past. And that is not something you can do once: you must do it daily. For there is always a new past behind you. -- SH

If a man has important work, and enough leisure and income to do it properly, he is in possession of as much happiness as is good for any of the children of Adam. -- R. H. Tawney

The worst thing about cliches is that they make us disdainful of the profoundest truths. -- SH

We need others to make us critical of ourselves. -- Peter G. Federico

It is a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it. -- William Somerset Maugham

It is a good rule always to behave as though you were a better man than you are. -- SH

Don't worry about having courage. Simply do the courageous thing. -- SH

The best philosophy is to do one's duty, to take the world as it comes, submit respectfully to one's lot, and bless the goodness that has given us so much happiness, whatever it is. -- Horace Walpole

"My whole strength is in this," he said, "that I know exactly who I am." SH

One of the surest marks of maturity in a man or an artist is that he doesn't overreach himself. -- SH

Work and love -- these are the basics. Without them there is neurosis. -- Theodore Reik

Since most of what I write on this blog is not news but thoughts and arguments about the existence of God (I'm pro, most of my readers are con), they are timeless, and the older posts are as relevant and cogent as the new. Nothing grows stale. So you needn't wait for new articles; time doesn't permit me to post as often as I want to. Those posted months ago are as likely to interest you (perhaps even help you) as those just posted or those I'll post tomorrow. So scroll down and read at random.

When you get to the end of the a series, click "older posts" and there's a second series; at the end of that click "older posts" and there's a third. I'm slowly organizing these into a book, probably titled "The Believing Agnostic: A Creed for the Skeptical." The titles that will definitely be included in a certain order are designated by a chapter number. Those not so designated may also be included, but I'm not sure where. Here's a list of what's available on the home page or under "older posts." The order occasionally changes, and the list isn't always updated, but if you can't find a title that sounds interesting, feel free to email me (shanehayes@comcast.net) and I'll help you locate it or send it to you. The list:

Chapter 7. Empirical Theism: A Thought Experiment by Shane Hayes

Chapter 6. Pure Theism: Ponder It by Shane Hayes

Chapter 5. Why People Become Atheists by Shane Hayes

"New Atheist" Challenge, Believer Response

Do Billions Who Never Heard of God Prove There Is None?

Chapter 3. How the Inprobable God Probably Works by Shane Hayes

Chapter 2. Believing Without Proof by Shane Hayes

Admitting Our Uncertainty by Shane Hayes

More Plausible than God? by Shane Hayes

Is God an Explanation? by Shane Hayes

Magic: Divine and Human by Shane Hayes

What’s Left for God to Do? by Shane Hayes

The “Third-Rail” of Church Policy Making by Shane Hayes

Does Atheism Break Down Here? by Shane Hayes

The Greatest Scientific Mind by Shane Hayes

Chapter 4. Is God’s Existence Improbable? by Shane Hayes

Fear and Faith (An Exchange of Letters)

Of Love and Fear by Shane Hayes

My Theological Eccentricity by Shane Hayes

Darkness and Light by Shane Hayes

Chapter 1. An Agnostic Argues for Faith by Shane Hayes

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Comments on Life by Shane Hayes (SH) and Others

Articles of Timeless Interest