Alcontali,
Thanks for your comment. Frst of all, I never said that I'm an atheist, and I am not one. I get that you don't like Kierkegaard, but I don't know that he was a proponent of atheism. Organized religion, yes, he was critical of it, but he also said that without a belief in God, we are all doomed. To answer your comment, yes, we eat breakfast, and some of us play the organized game of tennis. But "sheepdom, or being a "sheeple, would be defined, I think, as following and accepting rules or rituals with no meaining..It's a contradiction, I think, because Kierkegaard proposed his famous"leap of faith". Then again, he was a contradiction. Also, if you can please define Satan. I'm interested.

So, Kierkegaard advocated being an individual, but so did Thoreau. Both of them had a distaste for "sheepdom"...(people following in lockstep with one another). I think that's why both were critical of organized religion. Aside from that, what I find interesting is that Kierkegaard is said to have explored other writings to come up with his philosphical conclusions. I don't trhnk Thoreau did that, as he was more of an independent self experimenter. I guess it makes no difference how one comes up with one's conclusions. However, there are several philosophers who have gotten their conclusions from the bible, Budda, Jesus, and other philosophers. In fact, there is a man, and his name is Dr. Thomas Hora who formed his own method of psychiatry, based on his explorations. (I think Albert Ellis did the same). I am trying to read them all, to discover who I most agree with and /or who makes the most sense to me. It's difficult!!!!

Terrpin Station, Just s it is near impossible for you to consider everything in this world is "from an idea," well, it is just as hard for me to think otherwise. I see that everything has a pattern, and comes from a source that has created it. I guess it must be the poet in me. I have very little interest in scientific explanations.

Now that you have spoken of thepossible origins of the universe, how does the idea of God come into play? The athiest supposedly claims that the universe has been here forever. I can'tfocus on the universe, because, to me, everything in the world is an idea that has been created. Even an apple tree, seems tome, to be an idea that has been created from a thought. But, I wrestle with not knowng who or what that creator is,or if I am to learn something that would lead me to believe there is none.