On religion, many are destined to reason wrongly; others not to reason at all; and others to persecute those who do reason. - Eric Maisel

They are alive, but they are not engaged in the project of their own lives. No one has ever taught them otherwise. Why aren’t we offered any existential training? Because one of society’s unacknowledged goals is to minimize existential thought. A company making widgets doesn’t want you to wonder about the meaningfulness of its widget. It wants you to be attracted by the widget’s design and to buy two of them.

Let others find themselves alike,
My will is obstinately I.
My winter blinds are wide to winds
And long, in cold,
My curtains fly.

The atheist’s way is your way. You will take your journey, and it will not be identical to my journey.