Believing in nothing

"You don't believe in anything?"

"¿No crees en nada?"

When the topic of religion comes up, and I declare my lack thereof, I've been asked both these questions. To me, though, there is a distinction between the phrasing of the English question and of the Spanish one. In Spanish, the question is this: you believe in nothing?

I must ponder. What does it mean, exactly, to believe in nothing?


I feel as though the question itself is creating a stigma. Of course, I know that the question is asked in regards to belief in a deity. The word nothing, however, carries a much more powerful meaning to it. It brings to mind nihilism, psychopathy, anarchy, darkness, emptiness. A world without morals, beauty, order, or light. A world of nothing.


If I don't believe in a god, then what can I say I believe in? No, I don't "believe" in science. Science is the means of gathering of empirical data, of observing phenomena and acquiring knowledge. Science is a structural, logical process that is not subject to the whims of belief. Logically, when it comes to science, there is nothing to believe in.

But there's that word again, nothing. To not believe in a god seems to imply a lack of belief in anything. Does logic, reason, and objectivity strip the atheist of the ability to find beauty in life? As science slowly peels away the mysteries of the universe, does this strip us of our ability to find wonder in it? If science tells you that love is merely a chemical process of your brain, does that make your passion any less fervent?

I would argue that, the more we discover about the universe, the more complex and mysterious it becomes. There is nothing wrong with believing in a higher power in order to explain these mysteries, but nor does a lack of a higher power mean there is nothing. I would argue, in fact, that the discerning scientist may see more beauty in the universe, the more it's studied.

You have the theist, who believes that the complex universe was crafted by sentient, benevolent hands. The belief that there is a higher power who crafted billions of unique personalities is, frankly, quite mind boggling. But then, so is the idea that no such being exists, and that is where things become much more beautifully complicated.

If we are to appreciate the existence of life as it is now, then we must throw our minds back to life's inception: the Big Bang. Fast forward billions of years, to the creations of stars and solar systems. Our small, relatively unremarkable star, born in chaos 4.57 billion years ago. From this tumultuous event came dust, materials that slowly accreted together to form planets, moons, and asteroids. Somehow, in those younger years of the solar system, when everything was much more violent, this pale blue dot we call Earth was lucky enough to survive.

Then there is the fact that Earth was positioned in that narrow strip called the habitable zone. Pushed too far in, Earth could've become another Venus, a landscape scorched with magma and intense heat. Pushed too far out, Earth could've become another Mars, a barren desert too cold to hold onto life for very long.

Finally, placed in the habitable zone and protected from an onslaught of meteors partially by our gas giant big brothers, Earth was in a position to cultivate life. Complex life, able to withstand the many unique landscapes that Earth contains, from the lush green forests to the icy kingdoms.

Somehow, out of all these circumstances needed for life to grow, sentience emerged. Human beings evolved into creatures with brains that contain more neurons than stars in the universe. Diverse, complex minds that are able to create language, music, and question reality. Crafty hands that are able to put a world of information in the palm of your hand or send machinery into outer space.

When I contemplate all the circumstances it took for sentient life to emerge, I am left stunned at the enormity of existence. This is not nothing. This is the appreciation of everything.


The Earth is an incredibly small planet, nothing but a piece of driftwood in an ocean. On it, there lives seven billion people. Seven billion people, each with their own unique backstory, fingerprint, thoughts, and ideals. We are incredibly small, and in the scale of the universe, we are not even electrons. But we have the ability to look upon the stars, and question the enormity of it all.

Humans are pieces of star dust, the remnants of the accretion disk that formed our planet billions of years ago. We are not simply part of the universe, we are the universe. Humanity is simply the universe becoming self aware.

In short, logic does not strip away the ability to appreciate beauty, but only facilitates it. It is not accurate to say that I, nor any other atheist, believe in nothing. I believe in the universe. I believe in life.

Where are you?

Where are you?

You are here.

In a land cradled by the palm of a gentle ocean. Its blue fingers stretch to a limitless horizon, melting and streaming upwards into the sky. You are encased in an azure jewel. The sky towers above at a height with no end, and the sea basks in its glow and reflects its color. They are one in the same, a blue giant with a warm smile and strong, chilly hands.

You are here.

You stand at the precipice of ruins, balancing between two eras of time. Below you, the city is a clean metropolis of modern architecture and winding streets. Above you, the fortress of a time that has long since passed.

You encounter two different scents. The fortress is the smell of damp, elderly stone, of a time that has laid to rest. Immovable and solid, the rock bears the mark of history. The second scent is that of the ocean, salty and fresh. The waves are reborn and renewed each day, forever shifting the sands and shaping the earth.

One unyielding and old, a testament to time. One constantly moving, a testament to a life that's always changing.

You stand between the past and the present. Where will you go?

You are here.

The streets are the pulse of youth, filled with lights, laughter, and action. At all times, history towers above them, but this is not a place of the past. History is remembered, but it is not lived. This is not a place of nostalgia, where the people look back to books that have been closed. 

Instead, this place is filled with movement. The people have their eyes set forward, to the horizon of unending possibilities. They live here, their feet in the present but their minds in the future. It is a time of progress and change, where the voices of laughter and happiness are equal to the voices demanding to step forward.

In these fearless streets you live, beneath a glowing sun and before an endless ocean. Beneath a fortress of time and before an unpredictable future. Step now, into the boulevards of liveliness. Step now, into soft sand. The city welcomes you.

Where are you?

You are here, in Alicante.

You are living now.