Hello. I am new to the forum and this is my first post so if my question seems ridiculous or redundant please forgive me (also English isn't my first language). I will try to give it some context below and describe it in detail.

I am an atheist at this time of my life and I think I will remain an atheist, if not for the occurrence of an epiphany later on, which does not seem very probable to me (I am 25). To me it isn't so much a choice being an atheist but it is rather what life has shaped me to be so far so I am not interested in debating atheism or the existence of supernatural beings. I am interested in answers from other atheists who asked themselves this question because they had the same dilemma.

My question is not what is the meaning of life, because I don't feel you can give meaning to life and I think life just is. If you choose to give it some personal meaning, to me it seems somewhat irrelevant or to no purpose in the grand scheme of things (what I mean by this is how insignificant we are in relation to the universe we inhabit). So this leaves to me a scenario where we live a life without meaning to experience different things and ideally to draw pleasure from them. But to what extent can we really do that? Let's assume we have reached a certain age when we have already experienced a wide array of sensations and feelings and we have saw and done a lot of things. It just seems to me that all that will follow are variations of these things in a somewhat repetitive pattern. Sure, some may seem fun or exciting or beautiful at first, but the longer you repeat something it starts to lose it's initial appeal. If we combine this with the struggles of living and surviving in the world and with the pain and suffering that comes with it (that seems to increase with age at least for me), then I am left to ask myself why is life worth living?

Never had that problem, really... but I'd answer your question with: kids and grandkids. Try to make the world a better place for your descendants.

(January 6, 2013 at 8:43 am)pocaracas Wrote: Never had that problem, really... but I'd answer your question with: kids and grandkids. Try to make the world a better place for your descendants.

Thank you for your answer.

While I imagine parenthood may have it's joys I think it's more like something we are genetically programmed to do to perpetuate the specie so that is why for me it does not really qualify as something worth living for.

There is no "meaning of life" you make your own and avoid being a robot.

Sounds like your the type of person that needs to seek out new hobbies on a perpetual basis. In your response re kids you clearly showed that you are capable o creating independent criteria for judging the value for any given human endeavor. If all the value judgements you make about life's various activities seem to you to be the sum total of 0 (and this distresses you) you may want to look into some happy pills. But.....if you simply find that over time any given activity has a deteriorating value then all you need to do is keep looking for new stuff to hook your interest (and that seems to be a pretty common urge honestly). I don't like plastic army men any more myself...though I do recall them providing me immense amounts of joy at some point in the past.

I'm not really certain how atheism gets conscripted into this one though, as I don't see how it either betters or worsens the situation you've described. "Why is life worth living" seems to be the question you're asking "as an atheist" tacked on to the end really offers nothing additional to consider with regards to the part of the question.

(January 6, 2013 at 10:12 am)Rhythm Wrote: Sounds like your the type of person that needs to seek out new hobbies on a perpetual basis. In your response re kids you clearly showed that you are capable o creating independent criteria for judging the value for any given human endeavor. If all the value judgements you make about life's various activities seem to you to be the sum total of 0 (and this distresses you) you may want to look into some happy pills. But.....if you simply find that over time any given activity has a deteriorating value then all you need to do is keep looking for new stuff to hook your interest (and that seems to be a pretty common urge honestly). I don't like plastic army men any more myself...though I do recall them providing me immense amounts of joy at some point in the past.

I'm not really certain how atheism gets conscripted into this one though, as I don't see how it either betters or worsens the situation you've described. "Why is life worth living" seems to be the question you're asking "as an atheist" tacked on to the end really offers nothing additional to consider with regards to the part of the question.

Thanks for your reply.

Well... i guess it gets conscripted because if you believe in god(s) or a certain religion you usually get a book with instructions and a purpose. But not having a preset one makes you question if there is a purpose and if there is not a purpose makes you wonder if or why its worth the trouble.

I've considered happy pills but it somehow seems artificial and like cheating

I once saw this question being asked to matt dillahunty by a christian he was debating with and he seemed to freeze when he was asked what is the point of life for atheists.
It seems like the most easy to answer question ever in my opinion. I personally live to achieve different goals, now im not exactly a high flyer in any sense but i love working hard for achievements thats just me. I love going to the gym and pushing it to the limit, ive had other times where ive dedicated months to learning spanish, or randomly learning about science, or other months where ive randomly got into doing art using photoshop and illustrator.
Theres a million things an atheist human can live for. exercising, learning, fucking, dancing, drawing, reading, writing. If anything all of these things are MORE important to an atheist since an atheist knows this is the only life they are getting so they better make damn good use of it and experience all they can while they are here.
Its the same thing when asked why would an atheist ever feel the need to be kind. Because this is the only life im going to get and it feels good to know in short time im here ive tried to do a bit to make the world a little bit of a better place to live in.

(January 6, 2013 at 10:33 am)paulpablo Wrote: I once saw this question being asked to matt dillahunty by a christian he was debating with and he seemed to freeze when he was asked what is the point of life for atheists.
It seems like the most easy to answer question ever in my opinion. I personally live to achieve different goals, now im not exactly a high flyer in any sense but i love working hard for achievements thats just me. I love going to the gym and pushing it to the limit, ive had other times where ive dedicated months to learning spanish, or randomly learning about science, or other months where ive randomly got into doing art using photoshop and illustrator.
Theres a million things an atheist human can live for. exercising, learning, fucking, dancing, drawing, reading, writing. If anything all of these things are MORE important to an atheist since an atheist knows this is the only life they are getting so they better make damn good use of it and experience all they can while they are here.
Its the same thing when asked why would an atheist ever feel the need to be kind. Because this is the only life im going to get and it feels good to know in short time im here ive tried to do a bit to make the world a little bit of a better place to live in.

Thanks for your reply.

Yes we all set short or long term goals to achieve certain things that either give us certain emotions or spiritual fulfillment or material things or whatever. My issue is that there seems to be approximately a repetitive pattern in the things we do and feel if you think about it (if we consider fractal theory for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal). So if everything is more or less the same and there is no purpose it makes you wonder why its worth going through it again and again. It is not about setting new goals or finding new things to replace playing with toy soldiers.

May i ask why do you want to make the world a better place to live in? Isn't that just a way to improve your surrounding habitat so you are more comfortable or because you want your children to have a better chance of survival? Is it your love for the human race or are we just programmed like that?

Why Indeed!

Quote:then I am left to ask myself why is life worth living?

Because it is all you have.

Would you be better off chained to some absurd doctrine given out by crooked priests to keep idiots in line?