the statement "the universe has underlying laws, and everything we observe is the result of these laws"

That would be scientific realism. Not all scientists or atheists attach to that viewpoint.

right, but it's a reasonable thing to believe, right? maybe 'laws' is an inaccurate word to use, but what are the other common belief structures that don't propose that there is some manner of consistency that arises out of the nature of things? constant chaos is consistency, in my opinion, but i guess that's a matter of definition.

...is not perfectly analogous to "reality is god's will, and everything we see is a manifestation of god's will"

The difference is that now magically we justify everything based upon the will of some unknown, unobserved and unnecessary entity. Occam's razor has something to say about this hypothesis.

perhaps replacing "god's will" with "god" or perhaps "zhvhhfh" would be more direct. i was struggling for words. i kind of like zhvhhfh, actually. i guess i'm talking about daoism, though, which in my opinion is pretty damn reasonable (and actually is sort of an exercise in occam's razor, the way i understand it).

Agreed. That doesn't mean that either experience is ultimately true. [...] even if we both have had experienced them they are ultimately delusions.

i agree with the first point, but what i'm pointing to is the fact that people are indeed, regardless of where you stand on the factuality of what they are worshipping, worshipping the same thing. also, i would go so far as to say that ideals are inherently false in the same way that god is false.

love is something that people experience. unless you really struggle to define love as something concrete, i don't think you can argue that it actually exists. however, it is a significant positive experience for a vast majority of people.

i think the value of both 'love' and 'zhvhhfh' is derived from symbolic association, and the value cannot be demeaned by refutations of their logic. that being said, arguing for or against the existence of love is pointless. just go ahead and experience it.