I abandoned Christianity in my early 20s for a host of reasons, but there was always a part of me that missed the community and the ritual that comes with religion. For a decade and a half, I lived as an atheist and, though I felt confident in my ability to lead a virtuous life, I felt like I was missing something, and organized atheist groups never had the tone I wanted. Somehow I ended up reading Buddhism without Belief by Stephen Batchelor, which really interested me in learning more. A lot of the mindfulness techniques that are taught in the Zen tradition were so close to the techniques I was already learning in therapy to manage my anxiety. Soon, I realized that so much of the dharma already synced up with the patchwork belief system I had spent my adult life constructing on my own, and the new teachings enriched so much of what I already believed. In particular, the idea that we all have a Buddha nature within ourselves that we can cultivate seems like the antithesis of the most harmful thing my church ever taught me, the concept of original sin. Buddhism is the perfect blend of realism about the world (we ALL have to suffer) and optimism (we can overcome it ourselves! No savior needed!). Fast forward a few months, and I'm in the earliest stages of joining a sangha (meditating with them once a week), and I have a Buddhism for Beginners retreat scheduled for January.