Atheopaganism

For a long time, I thought of my worldview as absurdist.

Nihilistic, maybe?

Not in a dramatic way --

More like a quiet assumption in the background - that searching for meaning felt pointless.

Like meaning wasn't really something you find,... so trying to pin it down felt unnecessary.

Then I started creating more seriously!

Drawing.....

Designing.......

Tattooing......

Painting.......

Consuming..... (seems to be a big thing now)

I was drawn to bold art that leaves someone stunned.

Especially now with everything being oversaturated.

I was drawn to repetition and symbols.

And the bigger the better!

Those symbols weren't just visual choices.

They slowed the eye down.

They drew me to actually look into what was being said.

Looking back, it feels obvious I was working something out.

I just didn't have language for it yet.

While spending more time with those symbols - where they come from, why they persist - I came across the work of Mark Green and the idea of atheopaganism. A philosopher whoes work I highly suggest.

Not a revelation --

More like recognition.

A way of caring deeply about nature, the earth, and seasonal cycles without attaching anything supernatural to them.

Just the physical world as it is.

Science.

Humanism.

Critical thinking.

Ethical living.

etcetera etcetera

Meaning as something built slowly, through attention and responsibility - not something handed down.

Still trying to make sense of this framework, but it's sticking.

Especially now, when it feels harder than ever to live with a moral conscious. When people are treated like opportunities instead of people. When value feels tied to inheritance instead of contribution.

I keep coming back to the idea that meaning comes from what you offer.

Skill....

Effort....

Care....

Something closer to a trade-based way of thinking.

Where responsibility actually matters.

Tattooing fits into that space for me.

Through making, I found meaning I didn't think existed - or maybe didn't think mattered?

Something built quietly over time.