Thanks for defining and explaining. Based on your last paragraph you seem to have an interest in traditions/religions/or philosophies of life. I recently TA-ed for an undergraduate course which discussed what it means to have a good life. The course went through various religious and philosophical traditions pushing students to question what they value.
It seems like your interest in these values for your self as well as hope to see change in the world.
I would personally recommend you read through traditions and see what is interesting or affects your personal values :)
If it adds anything, I personally went from culturally Christian, to radically Christian and maybe somewhat conservative, to being open to eastern religions in undergrad and becoming Buddhist.
That stage of radically challenging my Christianity really made me a better person. It made me more able to challenge my beliefs and see values as important not something to be enforced.
Finally, I want to comment on reading various traditions though as you appear to be more interested in values and the separate you may not find this important. I personally find it harmful to just randomly mix traditions. There certainly are living examples of common and uncommon traditions that frequently mix but I firmly believe the modern day hippie who randomly mixes values and cosmologies creates a weaker system for themselves then if they stuck to the one most applicable. That said, in China it was and is rare for common practitioners to see going to the Buddhist temple one day then the Dalits shrine the other an issue.
Celebrating the Chinese one’s while in the west is hard. Many of them already have western equivalents so they happen twice. Plus I got to keep track of the lunar calendar. The Buddhist ones are also hard because it differs per tradition.
It would be a much better would if the American crazy mostly white boys chose targets that actually helped the common people rather than random children. They want to become famous? Be a crazy person but do something no one else would for good.
You will really enjoy reading Max Weber’s the Protestant ethic. I think that’s the title. It’s about how Protestant values on work worked really well with the new capitalism and how the values were maintained but god was removed. Highly recommend.
There are plenty of good reads on the sacred. I personally find it odd that you as an atheist have an idea of the sacred. Could you define it?
For community I definitely feel nothing beats religious communities. But it’s not a religion to religion basis but community.
And…?