How to Live a #Happy #Life, From a Leading #Atheist
source (creepy URI but necessary to unlock the article): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/27/magazine/daniel-dennett-interview.html?unlocked_article_code=Kls0o5nOU51VZagEVYyheWljLvP7hEGaN8WRT_nejJ9jDcsiZEqSsoiNHDyRCPQNS3c2Rmmo02HjTZjqfWCEorFSCi4ymfBbV2od8nsnjKkTdiy4dR87sOcAFsaRV4A-Sl5duqLScTCI1xHqzypvIF1vYFlsG3trnzX16JUKoibrHhllHTRGLRGb4ZCdKryTBfFNFvbjTVBaQdvm19f02ONesSNHDTaqVejiG-P94DtbItgR2w1ziF5WA9INZH67toS2HTuypPfMgbGh-yMyxWqLF-HGd8r-02ew5POHNJVuaiAa9mFa_pGlQPWZG3Yar3hSWEzBmKvY-4MMDPp8vUG76CAkKgKxANlQfw26qLAyY8Hp
Some people don’t want #magic tricks explained to them. I’m not that person. When I see a magic trick, I want to see how it’s done. People want free will or consciousness, life itself, to be real magic. What I want to show people is, look, the magic of life as evolved, the magic of brains as evolving in between our own ears, that’s thrilling! It’s affirming. You don’t need #miracles. You just need to understand the world the way it really is, and it’s unbelievably wonderful. We’re so lucky to be alive! The anxiety that people feel about giving up the traditional magical options, I take that very seriously. I can feel that anxiety. But the more I understood about the things I didn’t understand, the more the anxiety ebbed. The more the joy, the wondrousness came back. At the end of “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea,” I have my little hymn to life and the #universe. That’s my #God — more wonderful than anything I could imagine in detail, but not magical.
