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An Atheist Delivered Me a Knock-Out Blow
I have a knack for rude questions
I have a knack for asking rude questions.
I don’t always have the best social awareness. I don’t always know when my questions are rude. But before I asked this question, I knew it was rude.
I was drinking beer with my atheist friend, Kody. We’d been to a talk about poetry as a spiritual practice, and were hanging out in a bar afterward. We chatted about what we’d learned.
Kody was saying how interesting and helpful he found the talk. He told me how he uses poetry to access his spiritual side, and to explore the mystical.
I thought: An atheist finds a talk about spirituality helpful? An atheist has a spiritual side? An atheist explores the mystical?
So, I went straight for what I saw as Kody’s weak spot. I hit hard.
Kody is one of the few people with whom I feel safe enough to let out my inner Socrates. He takes my rude questions because he knows I’ll punch equally hard — if not harder — when I’m questioning religious folk.
I’m perpetually puzzled by Kody’s ability to bridge both atheism and spirituality. Kody knows that. He’s a walking paradox, and I like that about him. But that doesn’t stop me from picking through his belief systems…
