I grew up in the Mormon church, then stopped going at 13, then slowly started looking for my own answers to the questions I had. At 17 I was playing music in a heavy metal band, surrounded by well-meaning "satanists". Then at 19 I came to the conclusion that I was an atheist through and through.

Now, I think the questions that religions and spiritual practices have sought to answer can't be so easily answered (as I've found most religions propose to do), nor can they be so easily dismissed by the understandings of science (as the most vocal of atheists seem to propose).

For convenience sake, I would still consider myself an "atheist" in response to traditional conceptions of God, and I would encourage most people to be the same — if you cannot question ideas that make no sense, you're a prisoner of either your fears or someone else's.

I cannot answer to the question of what faith is or what it requires, but throughout my journey, doubt has always been the guiding light. I have always believed that if I maintain a certain amount of doubt, if I ask the right questions and be doubtful of doubtless certainty, then slowly but surely I will come to a better understanding of reality.

I believe that any claim of absolute certainty is a protest against the nature of reality, and for that it seems heretical.

Doubt, as you so candidly put it this piece, is crucial to our spiritual growth.

Thanks for the read.

My thoughts on what science really is — which in it's truest form I believe embodies the importance of doubt — beyond just facts, if you care to read: https://medium.com/the-thinkery/what-is-science-b86de4901d43