The brain has some incredible machinery for social relationships, community, and hierarchy. A framework like Internal Family Systems (IFS) can leverage this machinery to break down problems (disintegrated self) into parts and then imaging how they relate to each other using this machinery. I've found that using the machinery for hierarchy/religion can be useful for sussing out what I value. When there is something I authentically want to do I can check in with my motivation by stating what I want to do, and then ending the sentence with "**F**or the glo**R**y **O**f **G**od" (henceforth the FROG Framework). "I want to eat this pizza... for the glory of god" feels somewhat nonsensical, unless the pizza was baked by your talented friend and pizza chef Andrew - then it feels... somewhat in service of god? But why? Is it Friendship? Art? Craftsmanship? I don't know, I just know that somehow it seems to "count". Most agnostic people I know think deeply about morals, are dedicated to doing good, consider and evaluate their values. Often they also lack a way of getting in touch with something like "purpose". A common pitfall I've seen is an attempt to quantify or reconstruct the purpose from values or beliefs. If you attempt to quantify human suffering now and into the future, and then min/max the outcomes by dedicating your life to a percentage chance of protecting against some downside existential risk, you're going to have a bad time -- not because of what you're doing, but because of how you got there. You wouldn't expect there to be a big difference between: - You figure out what is good, and then do it - You imagine an all-powerful, good, and beautiful person who loves you. What do you think would please them? Do that. But in practice, it seems to be a super power of getting in touch with what you value. If you made up this god they are a reflection of you. When I doubt my course in life, I check myself with the FROG framework. Here are some interesting things I've noticed with my FROG: These are good: "I'm writing every day for a month for the glory of god" "I'm trying to perfect my pizza recipe for the glory of god" "I want to perfect this piano piece for glory of god" "I grow tomatoes for the glory of god" "I put away my phone at the end of each week and connect authentically with friends for the glory of god" "I'm creating a novel way to connect and collaborate for the glory of god" These are weak sauce: "I want to get a raise for the glory of god" "I want to tune my investment strategy for the glory of god" "I want to get a promotion for the glory of god" "I'm gonna 80/20 this so we can get it out sooner for the glory of god" "I want to figure out how to get more views/reactions for the glory of god" "I'm working long hours at my tech job because there's an upcoming product launch for the glory of god" "I'm going to raise the most money for charity for the glory of god" "We should do YC for the glory of god" "I gotta get these enterprise features out for the glory of god" My FROG values mastery, craftsmanship, passion, interest, helping others, rich experience, connection. It doesn't value money, status, pats on the head, compromising on taste. If you have a big G god in your life, you might already have this figured one out.