Faith: No one is without an altar.

Source: Wallace and the illusion of a life without faith

In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship... is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things... you will never have enough... Worship your own body and beauty... and you will always feel ugly.

(David Foster Wallace, "This Is Water", speech to Kenyon College, 2005)

Explanation: The brain wired to worship—why there are no atheists in reality

Wallace, a brilliant and secular writer, dismantles the illusion that there is such a thing as a "life without faith." In his speech, delivered a few years before his suicide, Wallace argued that the human mind is wired to seek meaning and serve a supreme value. The question isn't "whether to believe," but where to invest that belief. The human default is to worship ego, power, money. Spiritual faith is the only conscious act of stepping out of the prison of the self.

Perspective: The fanatical atheist and the dangers of any blind faith

The extreme atheist is often the most fanatical believer in the room. He believes in coincidence, he believes in matter, and he believes in his own limited intellect.

Of course, it's very hard to live in a vacuum of values. If a transcendent value—whether a human being or God—doesn't fill the void, brands and status-seeking will rush in. Choosing faith in God (or another grand value) isn't "primitivism"; it's an act of refining the soul. Yet we must remember that any faith, whether in God or in people, can itself turn into a dictatorship, fuel hatred, and offer hollow, mob-driven meaning—a faith that validates every whim and evil in the name of whatever lies beyond reason. Faith alone is not enough without self-criticism, a good heart, and humility.

Going Deeper: The servant of God alone is free—freedom in the right yoke

Rabbi Judah Halevi coined the phrase: "The slaves of time are slaves to slaves; the servant of God alone is free." The idea is identical to Wallace's: freedom is not the absence of a yoke (for that is impossible), but choosing the right yoke. Whoever doesn't worship the infinite inevitably becomes enslaved to the perishable (to the body, to time, to society).

Culture: Bob Dylan and the song that shattered the illusion of neutrality

Bob Dylan's song "Gotta Serve Somebody." Dylan sings with brutal simplicity: whether you're an ambassador, a boxer, or a rich man, "you're gonna have to serve somebody." The song is a manifesto against the liberal illusion of neutrality. You're choosing a side, even when you don't choose.