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.