Exactly, the atheist is so mentally and spiritually damaged that he cannot even do what comes natural to nearly all children. Instead, he regresses to an animal-like state where nothing exists but what his fleshly senses tell him, and (at higher precedence) his perception of the animal pecking order and what those powers tell him. He becomes trapped in a state of complete powerlessness over his own reality, but insists that his "realism" and "maturity" actually help him navigate his life better even as he becomes a slave to his own body.