Atheism.........What is the belief?

Absolutely, there should always be unemotional, objective, practice when experimenting. Depending on the patient, depends on my level of emotional connection, however in each, I see the same thing. What's interesting to me is that there is the same look in both the newborn and the dying. That's more interesting to me then the fact that they are being born or dying, if you know what I mean.

What do nurses do? We are trained to assess and report, then carry out the directions of the doctor. It's through objective observation that we are able to effectively communicate the symptoms. If I bought into my emotions everytime a patient had a change in condition I wouldn't be very effective at my job, any given situation, in nursing, calls for a level head, and minutes can make the difference between life and death. Getting emotional during these times would be a waste and potentially cost the patient their life. However, emotional at that moment or not, the look in the eyes of the newborn or dying is the same. lol

Originally posted by enchantress62
However, emotional at that moment or not, the look in the eyes of the newborn or dying is the same. lol

Of course, you understand that the life process doesn't begin at birth. That the biochemistry underpinning life is in place at conception.

I don't want to 'minimise' your experience, but it just appears that you subjectively feel an emotional connection to the person you are spending time with as they are born and die. And that's great, especially for a nurse. I'm sure you find it emotionally draining. That's one reason I never went for the therapeutic side of psychology.

[edit on 2-3-2008 by melatonin]

Originally posted by melatonin

Originally posted by enchantress62

Of course, you understand that the life process doesn't begin at birth. That the biochemistry underpinning life is in place at conception.

I don't want to 'minimise' your experience, but it just appears that you subjectively feel an emotional connection to the person you are spending time with as they are born and die. And that's great, especially for a nurse. I'm sure you find it emotionally draining. That's one reason I never went for the therapeutic side of psychology.
[edit on 2-3-2008 by melatonin]

As for the first statement, yes yes, of course I know that life doesn't start at birth, but I don't get the priviledge of watching the baby as it lies in the womb. lol I have to use what I have access to.

As for the second statement...hhhhmmmm it almost seems like that's what you want me to be doing, watching the eyes with an emotional attachment. The thing is we're not talking about ppl who are family or friends, we're talking about ppl I see for maybe a day or two at most. Do I feel compassion for them, yes of course, but emotionally attached is a bit strong. The other factor in this is that I'm not a new nurse and after awhile seeing births and deaths doesn't affect you the same way it does in the beginning. That said, I will grant you this. I will consider the possibility that I may have an emotional attachment to the quest it's self, and therefore see not what is real but what I want it to be. The next time I look into the eyes of the dying or newly born I'll remember that.

Originally posted by enchantress62
As for the second statement...hhhhmmmm it almost seems like that's what you want me to be doing, watching the eyes with an emotional attachment. The thing is we're not talking about ppl who are family or friends, we're talking about ppl I see for maybe a day or two at most. Do I feel compassion for them, yes of course, but emotionally attached is a bit strong.

Well, not emotional attached, just an emotional connection. The feeling you get when you look into someone's eyes.

I will consider the possibility that I may have an emotional attachment to the quest it's self, and therefore see not what is real but what I want it to be. The next time I look into the eyes of the dying or newly born I'll remember that.

I think we can all do that (i.e., apply our own perspective on reality), it's just that we need to make an effort to reduce such an influence. Generally, try to be as objective as we can.

I suppose that's what many atheists do. I certainly try to do so. Thus, it might be more emotionally fulfilling and comforting to think I have a guardian angel, or will live after death and see passed loved ones etc, but I just don't see the evidence for that to be the case. So, it's not what I want to be true, but what appears to be true.

reply to post by melatonin


Ok, getting back on topic, I'm to understand then that Atheists believe in what can be proved by science?

I'm going to play the devils advocate again if you don't mind. Let's take a look at that piece of grass I mentioned in an earlier post. By a scientific standard we know that it's a plant, it's green because of Chloriphyll, it gets nurishment through the air, the water sucked up through it's roots, etc... well if we are going to explore what it is, why it is what it is, how it exists, ect... would it not be logical to wonder where it came from? When did it start to exist? Why was it put here? And, if we trace it back as far as we can then wouldn't it be logical to wonder what lays beyond even that beginning.

See I think if you are going to look at the world in a scientific way then we have to acknowledge that everything here has a beginning and an ending. Nothing stays the same throughout this planet's evolution, so then, In my mind, you have to ask if there is a beginning and an ending then what caused it to start in the first place.

I think this is why ppl need a God. It's not so much that we all need some mystical parent to fix things for us when we can't figure it out on our own. It's more a way to look at what started it all. We humans as much as we'd like to know what makes it all come together, know very little about the universe. We are learning, but we have, who knows how many billions of years to go, before we have true knowledge. Labling the force responsible for life God is our feeble attempt at recognizing that force and still understanding that we know nothing about it. All we know is that it plays an intrical role in our day to day existance and how the world is evolving. PPl worship because of a belief that this life force is somehow like us, but greater. hehe egotistical I know.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you to believe anything, I'm just saying if we're going to say we are scientist and we'll believe when we find proof, then we can't ignore the information when it's presented, or we'll miss that proof when it appears. If we had never looked closely at the cell, we would never have discovered the molicule, and if we had stopped there, then we would never have discovered the Atom, and so on and so on. So in my opinion, to discount the idea of God is to say, there is no possibility, thereby limiting ourselves to an ideal that may retard our quest for knowledge. However, I do recognize that from the beginning you guys have been saying, "We'll believe it when we see it". That at least shows you have not totally closed your minds.