A person who can entertain all ideas and isms equably without taking sides is secular.
Whether one believes in one religion or the other - perhaps even vehemently opposed to each other - but is yet able to humanely and holistically nurture no ill-will but goodwill for all, is secular.
Thus, it neither belief nor non-belief that determines one’s secularism; but the ability to digest all the inedible parts of all, including one’s own ism. And then, burp loud with a belly laugh! Then, hell, he or she is jolly well secular. Akin God!
Broadly, a nutty atheist or a religious nutcase could both be considered secular - so long they’re able to laugh at each other sans malice. And are nice to one another, harboring not a wish or will to harm the other. With or without god.
Then, and only then, will either of the extremes - believers and non-believers - could be thought of as being secular like the dishy cake with the “oh-my-god” delicious cream! Otherwise, all one-sided and the lop-sided, of all sides, are non-secular.
In fact, only a secular person can get beyond the limits set and settled by the mind.
Hence, it’s no wonder that the metaphysical truth does not dawn on religious nutsbut comes to play at the feet of those seekers who are the humblest of the most humble, and the meekest of the meek.
It’s the reason why the Ultimate Reality - as a firsthand “self-experience”, and as a “personal” self-realization - come running into the open arms of the freed-of-mind mystics than the full-of-it closeted armchair philosophers, theoretical physicists and the so-called “brainy” empirical scientists.
This is not to belittling the excellent spirits like the divine lot amongst the quantum scientists, who, could look beyond the obvious, and “get” that “all this” we see “here” is but a chimera, a mirage, just a thought. And that beyond and behind the “seen” world of thoughts and images lies a quintessential innate unity as god, as though. Of each and everything, and everybody.
Even of the imagined foe of religious nuts - ah! the “kafir”, and the infidel lot.
Therefore, in spirit and in truth, a person cannot be really and truly secular unless he-she finally gets it that only fools follow follies. That a wiser person - a secular person - looks beyond the apparent differences et all.
And understanding the worldly phenomena as a make-believe, he-she concisely and comprehensively - without an iota of an inner or an outer doubt and pretense - comprehends fully and truly the infinite immanence of the Onenes in and as the All.
On a mundane level, if we can just tolerate each other - broken as we all are by the vicissitudes of life, burdened by the infinitude of it all - and not cut the throats of each other, living civilly and peacefully with all; we, the peace-loving but the miserable human lot may yet be lumped as secular.
Ah, we, the broken, brow-beaten, bulldozed, bullshitting silly children of God!
Including the god-less amongst us all.
May we all be secular.
