First off, before I get to my main point, there are actually many benefits to being an atheist and one can find far more good meaning in life being an atheist than a religious believer. I will bring up a few points:
1.) Atheism results in the advancement of scientific knowledge and the knowledge of reality. If we all still believed in fairy tales, then not much advancement would be made.
2.) Knowing that this is the one and only life we have encourages many people to get things done in this life and to not delay those said things. It gives more good meaning and makes this life that more special to atheists.
3.) Atheism prevents some foolish and harmful situations from happening to us and others. Many, as a matter of fact. If we did nothing more than prayed, then others would still be harmed and killed. Furthermore, religious doctrine results in the needless murder and sacrifice of others.
4.) Atheism is liberating. It sets us free from religious doctrine, having to go to church, and allows us to live our own ways of life without worrying about going to hell or anything of the sort.
So with all of these points out of the way, I am now going to make my counter points to them. Take note that these counter points only apply to people like me and don't apply to everyone else:
1.) There are people such as me which atheism has no benefit. My goal and dream in life is to be a composer. Therefore, atheism has no part of my composing dream whatsoever or my life in terms of having any benefit for me. For a scientist and someone who wishes to seek the truth about reality, atheism would have a lot of benefit.
Their atheistic knowledge would serve to make them advance our knowledge of the world and to encourage them to seek even more truth. But this doesn't apply to me since I am no such person. I do not care about advancing our knowledge of reality or anything like that. My goal and dream is composing. Therefore, the only knowledge of benefit for me here would be the knowledge I obtain from music theory and from musical experience.
Also, one cannot be expected to live a certain way. Just because I am not someone who wishes to be a scientist or to advance our knowledge of the world does not make me foolish or anything else of the sort here. It would be no different than saying that a person is foolish just because he/she did not want to pursue a career in dentistry, teaching, or psychology. That person is just different and has no interest in those careers. That does not make him/her foolish, selfish, or childish. Therefore, just because my only interest in life is living an eternal blissful life in which I have my good moods for all eternity as I will explain later on here, that does not make me foolish, selfish, or childish either.
2.) If I had the choice to either live a limited life that has pain, suffering, misery, and many bad moments with some good moments or to instead live an eternal blissful life of no more suffering that has an eternal amount of good meaning and no bad moments, then it is quite obvious I would choose to live the eternal blissful life.
Even a trillion years later you would still find me fully happy and finding full good meaning in this eternal blissful life. I would be far more encouraged to do things in life and get more things done knowing that my life has the absolute best good meaning it could ever have through living this eternal blissful life. Some people would ask me how this is even possible and how any human being can live like that. Well, the answer here is that I am not a human being. I am nothing like you.
Furthermore, when a loved one in your life passes away, that is it. You can no longer meet them in some eternal blissful afterlife where you and him/her can live an eternal good life of no more suffering. You can say that you keep them in your heart, but they are not literally in your heart. That is only a figure of speech and nothing more. There is no soul of theirs that lives on within you. It is nothing more than your own personal created meaning in your life.
One last thing here to conclude counter point #2. Look at all the people who go through much suffering in their lives. They commit suicide only to forever remain dead in the end with no eternal blissful afterlife as a reward for all their suffering. A person who goes through the absolute worst suffering would choose to have authorities end his/her life since he/she has no quality of life and cannot find any good meaning in his/her life no matter how much he/she tries.
3.) There are people like me who just simply believed in the God and afterlife. But we do not criticize, harm, or demean others and nor do we perform foolish and harmful acts towards ourselves and others based upon this belief. I once had the belief in the God and afterlife in the past and I never did such things. But I later on lost my belief and became an atheist. I didn't read the bible, go to church, or follow any doctrines. I just simply lived my life having the hope and belief in God and the afterlife. But, of course, if someone was in danger or being hurt, I would actually go out of my way and do something about it. I would not just sit there and pray since I was already well aware that prayers don't tend to work.
4.) Like I said before, my life was not bound by any doctrines or anything else of the sort. I just simply lived my life believing that if I am an innocent person, then I will live on in an eternal blissful afterlife. Therefore, atheism is not liberating at all for me one bit. My simple belief in the God and afterlife was what was liberating to me and gave me hope.
So now that I have explained all my counter points, you can see here how there really are people such as me in which atheism serves no benefit and is useless. Especially since my good moods (pleasant feelings/emotions) are the one and only things that give good meaning to me, my life, my family, and my composing dream. Our thoughts and our moods are so closely related in the world of neurology and psychology. The moral version of good and bad is a thought version of good and bad. If you judge your life to have good or bad meaning through your way of thinking, then that is supposed to make it so.
But there is a non-moral feeling/emotional (mood) version of good and bad. This version of good and bad has nothing to do with our way of thinking. If you are in a good mood, then your life has good meaning regardless of what you think and tell yourself otherwise. If you are in a bad mood such as feeling depressed, then your life has bad meaning regardless of what you think and tell yourself otherwise.
The mood version of good and bad is the only thing that actually gives our lives good and bad meaning. If we are neither in a good nor bad mood, then the moral version of good and bad gives us nothing more than labels (words and phrases) of good and bad meaning to our lives. But it does not give our lives any actual good or bad meaning.
It does not give us the mental state of perceiving good meaning in our lives which would be the vibrant, vigorous, "alive," and transcended mental state of experiencing our good moods. As long as you are in a hopeless and "dead" mental state due to your depression and/or anhedonia, then you cannot perceive any good meaning in your life at all. It would be no different than if a blind and deaf person told his/herself that he/she still has sight and hearing. He/she would be doing nothing more than applying labels of sight and hearing.
But that would not give him/her actual sight or hearing nor would it give him/her any other version of sight or hearing either. I don't have time here to go into great detail about how this mood version of good and bad is the only thing that gives our lives good and bad meaning, but I will tell you this. I struggle with depression and a chronic 24/7 absence of all my pleasant feelings/emotions (good moods).
My life now has no good meaning whatsoever. To top it all off, I am an atheist as well. So this also means I cannot have any good meaning in any eternal blissful afterlife either. So I can neither have any good meaning here in this one and only life I will ever have to live and nor in some afterlife. If I had the choice, I would rather choose to have my belief in God and the afterlife back even though it is a delusional belief. Just me being deluded in the afterlife would at least give me thoughts of hope even though it would be a delusional version of hope.
This is a metaphorical quote that describes my personality:
"I do not live by anyone else's rules. Not even the rules of this universe. I defy and transcend the laws of this universe. I can never die, never suffer, and never have problems. I am unstoppable and cannot be brought down. I take in all the energy of this universe and experience its divine power through my good moods.
I transcend higher and higher through my good moods for all eternity and compose epic masterpiece after epic masterpiece through my transcending and inspiring good moods. The moral way of life is worthless to me and brings my life no good meaning. As long as I am in a bad or bland mood due to my depression and anhedonia, then not even me changing the entire world can have any good meaning to me. The only thing that can give it good meaning to me is if I am in a good mood from that."
Now I know that no one can defy and transcend the laws of this universe. We are all bound by them. We are all bound by the suffering and problems of this universe given to us. But I was just giving a description of my personality. In other words, who I would rather be. This life isn't who I am. Atheism isn't who I am. Pain, suffering, misery, depression, and anhedonia isn't who I am. It is like wearing a style of clothes that is not my style at all and is something I utterly detest. It just doesn't suit me one bit. It does not suit my personality. So everything is working against me here. Thus, I will not put up with it. I will do all I can to try and recovery my good moods as well as my belief in the God and afterlife even though I don't think that can be possible.
1.) Atheism results in the advancement of scientific knowledge and the knowledge of reality. If we all still believed in fairy tales, then not much advancement would be made.
2.) Knowing that this is the one and only life we have encourages many people to get things done in this life and to not delay those said things. It gives more good meaning and makes this life that more special to atheists.
3.) Atheism prevents some foolish and harmful situations from happening to us and others. Many, as a matter of fact. If we did nothing more than prayed, then others would still be harmed and killed. Furthermore, religious doctrine results in the needless murder and sacrifice of others.
4.) Atheism is liberating. It sets us free from religious doctrine, having to go to church, and allows us to live our own ways of life without worrying about going to hell or anything of the sort.
So with all of these points out of the way, I am now going to make my counter points to them. Take note that these counter points only apply to people like me and don't apply to everyone else:
1.) There are people such as me which atheism has no benefit. My goal and dream in life is to be a composer. Therefore, atheism has no part of my composing dream whatsoever or my life in terms of having any benefit for me. For a scientist and someone who wishes to seek the truth about reality, atheism would have a lot of benefit.
Their atheistic knowledge would serve to make them advance our knowledge of the world and to encourage them to seek even more truth. But this doesn't apply to me since I am no such person. I do not care about advancing our knowledge of reality or anything like that. My goal and dream is composing. Therefore, the only knowledge of benefit for me here would be the knowledge I obtain from music theory and from musical experience.
Also, one cannot be expected to live a certain way. Just because I am not someone who wishes to be a scientist or to advance our knowledge of the world does not make me foolish or anything else of the sort here. It would be no different than saying that a person is foolish just because he/she did not want to pursue a career in dentistry, teaching, or psychology. That person is just different and has no interest in those careers. That does not make him/her foolish, selfish, or childish. Therefore, just because my only interest in life is living an eternal blissful life in which I have my good moods for all eternity as I will explain later on here, that does not make me foolish, selfish, or childish either.
2.) If I had the choice to either live a limited life that has pain, suffering, misery, and many bad moments with some good moments or to instead live an eternal blissful life of no more suffering that has an eternal amount of good meaning and no bad moments, then it is quite obvious I would choose to live the eternal blissful life.
Even a trillion years later you would still find me fully happy and finding full good meaning in this eternal blissful life. I would be far more encouraged to do things in life and get more things done knowing that my life has the absolute best good meaning it could ever have through living this eternal blissful life. Some people would ask me how this is even possible and how any human being can live like that. Well, the answer here is that I am not a human being. I am nothing like you.
Furthermore, when a loved one in your life passes away, that is it. You can no longer meet them in some eternal blissful afterlife where you and him/her can live an eternal good life of no more suffering. You can say that you keep them in your heart, but they are not literally in your heart. That is only a figure of speech and nothing more. There is no soul of theirs that lives on within you. It is nothing more than your own personal created meaning in your life.
One last thing here to conclude counter point #2. Look at all the people who go through much suffering in their lives. They commit suicide only to forever remain dead in the end with no eternal blissful afterlife as a reward for all their suffering. A person who goes through the absolute worst suffering would choose to have authorities end his/her life since he/she has no quality of life and cannot find any good meaning in his/her life no matter how much he/she tries.
3.) There are people like me who just simply believed in the God and afterlife. But we do not criticize, harm, or demean others and nor do we perform foolish and harmful acts towards ourselves and others based upon this belief. I once had the belief in the God and afterlife in the past and I never did such things. But I later on lost my belief and became an atheist. I didn't read the bible, go to church, or follow any doctrines. I just simply lived my life having the hope and belief in God and the afterlife. But, of course, if someone was in danger or being hurt, I would actually go out of my way and do something about it. I would not just sit there and pray since I was already well aware that prayers don't tend to work.
4.) Like I said before, my life was not bound by any doctrines or anything else of the sort. I just simply lived my life believing that if I am an innocent person, then I will live on in an eternal blissful afterlife. Therefore, atheism is not liberating at all for me one bit. My simple belief in the God and afterlife was what was liberating to me and gave me hope.
So now that I have explained all my counter points, you can see here how there really are people such as me in which atheism serves no benefit and is useless. Especially since my good moods (pleasant feelings/emotions) are the one and only things that give good meaning to me, my life, my family, and my composing dream. Our thoughts and our moods are so closely related in the world of neurology and psychology. The moral version of good and bad is a thought version of good and bad. If you judge your life to have good or bad meaning through your way of thinking, then that is supposed to make it so.
But there is a non-moral feeling/emotional (mood) version of good and bad. This version of good and bad has nothing to do with our way of thinking. If you are in a good mood, then your life has good meaning regardless of what you think and tell yourself otherwise. If you are in a bad mood such as feeling depressed, then your life has bad meaning regardless of what you think and tell yourself otherwise.
The mood version of good and bad is the only thing that actually gives our lives good and bad meaning. If we are neither in a good nor bad mood, then the moral version of good and bad gives us nothing more than labels (words and phrases) of good and bad meaning to our lives. But it does not give our lives any actual good or bad meaning.
It does not give us the mental state of perceiving good meaning in our lives which would be the vibrant, vigorous, "alive," and transcended mental state of experiencing our good moods. As long as you are in a hopeless and "dead" mental state due to your depression and/or anhedonia, then you cannot perceive any good meaning in your life at all. It would be no different than if a blind and deaf person told his/herself that he/she still has sight and hearing. He/she would be doing nothing more than applying labels of sight and hearing.
But that would not give him/her actual sight or hearing nor would it give him/her any other version of sight or hearing either. I don't have time here to go into great detail about how this mood version of good and bad is the only thing that gives our lives good and bad meaning, but I will tell you this. I struggle with depression and a chronic 24/7 absence of all my pleasant feelings/emotions (good moods).
My life now has no good meaning whatsoever. To top it all off, I am an atheist as well. So this also means I cannot have any good meaning in any eternal blissful afterlife either. So I can neither have any good meaning here in this one and only life I will ever have to live and nor in some afterlife. If I had the choice, I would rather choose to have my belief in God and the afterlife back even though it is a delusional belief. Just me being deluded in the afterlife would at least give me thoughts of hope even though it would be a delusional version of hope.
This is a metaphorical quote that describes my personality:
"I do not live by anyone else's rules. Not even the rules of this universe. I defy and transcend the laws of this universe. I can never die, never suffer, and never have problems. I am unstoppable and cannot be brought down. I take in all the energy of this universe and experience its divine power through my good moods.
I transcend higher and higher through my good moods for all eternity and compose epic masterpiece after epic masterpiece through my transcending and inspiring good moods. The moral way of life is worthless to me and brings my life no good meaning. As long as I am in a bad or bland mood due to my depression and anhedonia, then not even me changing the entire world can have any good meaning to me. The only thing that can give it good meaning to me is if I am in a good mood from that."
Now I know that no one can defy and transcend the laws of this universe. We are all bound by them. We are all bound by the suffering and problems of this universe given to us. But I was just giving a description of my personality. In other words, who I would rather be. This life isn't who I am. Atheism isn't who I am. Pain, suffering, misery, depression, and anhedonia isn't who I am. It is like wearing a style of clothes that is not my style at all and is something I utterly detest. It just doesn't suit me one bit. It does not suit my personality. So everything is working against me here. Thus, I will not put up with it. I will do all I can to try and recovery my good moods as well as my belief in the God and afterlife even though I don't think that can be possible.
