Observe: Charles. An atheist. A realist. If he doesn’t understand it, he doesn’t believe it. He’ll give confusing, complicated concepts the benefit of the doubt—dark matter, quarks—but if something doesn’t make sense to him, he rejects it.
If he hears about samurai sacrificing themselves for their lord, believing this will improve their karma in their next lives, he shakes his head and says, “How stupid.”
If he hears of a young man attaining enlightenment while fasting and meditating under a tree in India, then quickly gaining thousands of followers, he snorts and calls it “A mystic preying on weak minds.”
Charles, the world is much bigger and more complex than you can possibly comprehend. And you are poor for your so-called reality.
You are a prisoner in a dungeon, insisting that nothing exists outside of your cell.
May the rest of us avoid this trap.
(And, no, I’m not talking about Darwin.)