First of all, I am not “of little faith”; I have no faith whatsoever. Secondly, I don't think I'll go anywhere. I don't think there's anywhere to go. You believe you'll go somewhere, but you haven't died—so you can't know, you can only believe.

Thirdly, I do not lead a “worry free, careless life”. I don't recall you walking a mile in my shoes, so how could you know whether or not my life is free of worries and care? Seems to me that you feel it's your place to judge me without knowing me at all. How very holy of you. Oh, and it's a nice touch, that “You will pay later” business. Did you shake your fist at the screen after you typed it? How self-righteous and boorish. I bet you relish the idea of seeing me “on judgment day”, don't you. Gets you all excited and fills you with pride, I bet, thinking of seeing me realize the terrible, irreversible error of my ways (i.e., not believing in your merciful, loving “Lord”) as I am condemned to an eternity of screaming, burning, unforgiving hell. The smiley face is a nice touch (also typical; smugness is apparently universal among your kind).

Finally, I have to note that you failed to address any of the points I made in my post. All you offered was instant judgment, smugness, and ignorance. Congratulations! I am sure you fit in very nicely with the rest of your congregation.

By the way, you “don't even know”, either. You believe. To believe is not the same as “to know”. To speak your belief is not “to speak the truth”. Not that I expect you'll listen to me; I expect (assuming you read this at all) that you'll simply judge it (as you judge me) as something ungodly and therefore worthless. I suppose that, in the end, this is only fair; after all, I think your faith is utterly stupid and I pity you. Please note: no smiley.

I agree with you about reality being ultimately far more satisfying than any fantasy. It is an amazing thing to me that anyone would prefer just-so stories over something that he or she could actually prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Once the "softly spoken magic spell" has been broken and one's eyes have been opened, one gets off one's knees and finds it dumbfounding that one spent so much time thinking that there were angels and demons and gods and whatnot, when reality is so much grander and impressive and mind-blowing… and accessible.

But of course we want from time to time to have that warm embrace of protection from the cold, cruel side of the world. I suppose the best we can do is to find it in healthy, loving relationships with other warm, living, real human beings.

I maintain that the basic lessons of the Buddha cut closest to the bone of the issue. I maintain this because I have had enough experience with it to know that, were I willing to relinquish my own habits and long-term desires, it could indeed bring to me a peace that would transcend my temporal wants and perturbations. I stubbornly hold onto old habits because some part of me still wants to and I am not willing to fight it. Maybe someday I will be there. Paradoxically, I am also aware that all the wants and perturbations teach me lessons I can use to better myself over the long run. Everything is a lesson if that's how we choose to see it… or nothing is. It's always up to us, if we can but see that it is so.

See also: "Life's what you make it".