Question:
What do The Joker, a surfer dude and a coconut have in common?

Answer:
They all like to watch life go by, content to bum around and watch the world turn.
Oh wait, Heath Ledger’s Joker likes to watch the world burn, but hey, same difference right?

There is the Hippie theory---Why go through such mental hemorrhage, always trying to figure out the universe, when all you have to show for it are two bumps on opposite sides of your head where religion and science lie, respectively?

Why not just sit back, laugh and enjoy the fireworks?

To be quite honest, that thought really appeals to me. Not attempting bliss through ignorance---More like, fully appreciating everything that Life has to offer. To stop and smell the roses, so to speak.

Love. Laugh. Live. and Wonder.

For maybe our existence is to marvel at the things God has created.

(Scientists on the other hand, take marveling to the extreme and try to disassemble every single anomaly on Earth, and then some.)

Where does the atheist figure in all of this though?

If we’re the ultimate evolution of the universe, why do we derive pleasure, perhaps even feel moved by beautiful things? And I don’t mean beautiful as in Jessica Alba‘s assets, please. There’s a very simple explanation for that. =/

But don’t tell me you’ve never felt even a shrag of awe when you saw the aurora, or the vibrant hues of a wild flower, or the desolate beauty of an arid desert, or the plethora of variety in a bed of coral, or the infinite depth of a starry night sky?

I believe that it is part of the soul to be awed. To have something beautiful, something marvelous strike a chord in your heart. Even for the non-theists.

If you don’t, you probably lack a soul.