The road to success, and by that I mean... the possibility of giving the best one has to the cause that one loves most, is not easy.
One of the great benefits of organised religion is that you can be forgiven your sins, which must be a wonderful thing. I mean, I carry my sins around with me, there's nobody there to forgive them.
Don't despise empiric truth. Lots of things work in practice for which the laboratory has never found proof.