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Atheism and the meaning of life - what drives you?
September 9, 2021 at 10:15 am
I wondered what drives fellow atheist considering the meaning of life is extremely blurry when we don't consider there to be an afterlife. How do you approach anything? Every label, tag, mindset is in fact subjective too and can vary from one second to the next - what you find fun might change very fast. I am aware some of you have children and families, I suppose that will effect that massively. But in my personal situation I have never been bothered about pleasing anyone but myself, as a result I am yet to start a family - though it will be a consideration for me up until I'm about 50 if I find the right partner to start a family with.
Suppose the real question is what really gives meaning to life apart from reproducing ? Any ideas? I don't consider things like fame and being remembered particularly relevant, once dead you're dead and seeking the acclaim of others whilst alive you are wasting time you could have spent focusing on yourself in my opinion.
I had a thought - to consider life has no meaning is double edged . If it means nothing you are lucky you've even been born - in which case life means everything (including each second). Slightly complicated and believe this is in the right section. I'm sure this has been discussed before (hopefully not recently), just wondered thoughts for the present moment in time.
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RE: Atheism and the meaning of life - what drives you?
September 9, 2021 at 11:11 am
(September 9, 2021 at 10:15 am)TheEnd8888 Wrote: I wondered what drives fellow atheist considering the meaning of life is extremely blurry when we don't consider there to be an afterlife. How do you approach anything? Every label, tag, mindset is in fact subjective too and can vary from one second to the next - what you find fun might change very fast. I am aware some of you have children and families, I suppose that will effect that massively. But in my personal situation I have never been bothered about pleasing anyone but myself, as a result I am yet to start a family - though it will be a consideration for me up until I'm about 50 if I find the right partner to start a family with.
Suppose the real question is what really gives meaning to life apart from reproducing ? Any ideas? I don't consider things like fame and being remembered particularly relevant, once dead you're dead and seeking the acclaim of others whilst alive you are wasting time you could have spent focusing on yourself in my opinion.
I had a thought - to consider life has no meaning is double edged . If it means nothing you are lucky you've even been born - in which case life means everything (including each second). Slightly complicated and believe this is in the right section. I'm sure this has been discussed before (hopefully not recently), just wondered thoughts for the present moment in time.
This is a non-problem. ‘Life’ has no meaning. ‘Lives’ do.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Atheism and the meaning of life - what drives you?
September 9, 2021 at 11:11 am
I believe that meaning can only exist in the present moment, and can best be appreciated through mindfulness and immersion in the here-and-now. I'm driven primarily by experiences, particularly art, nature, and the acquisition of knowledge.
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RE: Atheism and the meaning of life - what drives you?
September 9, 2021 at 12:01 pm
All I wanna do is have some fun. . .
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RE: Atheism and the meaning of life - what drives you?
September 9, 2021 at 2:09 pm
How many times....
Life is what you make it. Whatever makes getting up and moving around interesting. There's absolutely no limit. What drives one person sounds silly to the next. I personally love challenges, mental, physical, emotional, you name it. I've always endeavored to try new things that I know nothing about. Some I keep doing while others I give up. I'm amazed that so many religious people find meaning in prayer and devotion to Bible study. To me that's the most boring thing in the world.
Why is it so?
~Julius Sumner Miller
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RE: Atheism and the meaning of life - what drives you?
September 9, 2021 at 4:07 pm
(This post was last modified: September 9, 2021 at 4:08 pm by Fake Messiah.)
What gives me meaning in life? Trying not to masturbate so that Saint Peter lets me through the gates of Heaven. Oh, wait! That's the Christian meaning in life.
What gives me as an atheist meaning in life is:
![[Image: reasons.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/3R3L7QnD/reasons.png)
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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RE: Atheism and the meaning of life - what drives you?
September 9, 2021 at 4:20 pm
Interestingly enough, there's a lot of overlap with theists.
Why is it so?
~Julius Sumner Miller
![[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/zf86M5L7/extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg)
