Belief

I've ranted about it before, but it has returned to the forefront, since I have finally met someone who can support the other end of the arguement for belief in a religion (ie not be stupid about it). So, I'll rant for a few hours here and then I'll have it all figured out. Anyhow, here is the fundamental problem that I see. I am, deep deep down in my core an athiest. I try and cover it, and I spend a great deal of time trying to convince myself that I am wrong, but way down, I don't really believe in anything past the world we are now in. That's just me. Now, this person I know, let's call her Quanda, believes that we have a spiritual side, and being a baha'i has some pretty precise notions of what that is. Now her argument runs something like this (with appologies for over simplifying and generally murdering it): inside her soul, she knows that there is a god of the sort that baha'i think exists and that there is an afterlife. She can feel it. I don't doubt that. However, I maintain that there is a scientific explaination for it that exists in this world, not in the other. She implies this is because I am ignoring amy spiritual side. But in order for me to STOP ignorng it, I need to believe in it. And in order for me to believe in it, I need proof. This proof must come from our world, and there simply cannot be any. So, the key to begin belief is belief itself. It is a catch 22 situation. You can't give me empirical proof of a soul, becuase it is not an empirical entity. And I can't accept spritual proof as long as I don't believe in a soul. So, although I think I may be wrong, there is no way for me to just jump beliefs like that (atheism is a belief of sorts). I think that this sucks for everyone involved, because I would sure like to see what it's like having spirituality around, but in the end, I can't. Maybe a blow to my head will do the trick.