As a panentheist I kind of see the cosmos as a life giving entity which is kind of like god.. in that the cosmos creates life, it is life, and it is intelligent in that we are intelligent and contained within it. You don't have to see god as a biblical entity described in the Hebrew bible. So I believe in a kind of greater fractal cosmic computing god which is the underlying substance of being, something so great we cannot know it. The difference between an my POV and an athiest's is that I suspect that this system represents a greater intelligence imbued with meaning, is the substrate of life and love and despair and relief and free will.

Also, I think that most religions and spiritual movements ultimately try to connect to this cosmic computing force, but are heavily laden with different cultural sociological systems, which have advantages and disadvantages. In some ways these systems have become blueprints for society, which now that they are built may be ready to move beyond, and in other cases they represent intense cultural identity which gives easier access to this meaningful but ultimately unknowable fractal intelligence, and can continue to serve their followers. Even in the athiest experience looking introspectively into the human psyche we can find this force in the awe of our own intelligence, of beauty, and the elegance of mathematics. Heaven, life after death, sin, these are trivial and crude human mythologies.

Because of free will, we are accountable for our actions and must take direct responsibilities for our actions, out of respect for the inherent awesomeness of everything and everyone, we should learn to be decent and admire the essence of every person. And try to live in constant awe of our reality, if that means with ritual or without. Meditate, talk to it, talk to yourself, enjoy mathematics or appreciate beauty, to look for and live with awe, to be connected to it, by whatever means you can. For me, I feel I can best connect to it by the creative process, a means of emulating it.. by writing a game, a piece of music, fiction, painting, creating algorithms, solving problems, making things, painting, inventing characters, gathering and processing information.