What is the point of anything?

[Foxaèr]

I could eat this delicious meal, it looks and smells wonderful - but I'll only end up shitting it out in the morning. So maybe I shouldn't bother?

Unless one also enjoys pooping. Then pooping is the reward for eating.

[Chad32]

We give meaning to our own lives. People end to value finite and fleeting things More, not Less. Except when sme theist starts talking about how atheists must not have any meaning to their lives because they have no god to tll them what their life means. Or because they don't believe in an eternal soul. So what if we have eternity? What are we supposed to do with it? Can you think of what you would do with your life a thousand years from now? a million? Billion? Trillion? When a hundred years seems like the blink of an eye, what will the purpose in your life be?

[Tonus]

If you found the key to your prison camp cell, would you stay in the cell, asking yourself, "How will I know where to stand?" I wouldn't. I'd hit the ground running, and run whichever way my little feet wanted to lead me.

As opposed to professor, who would swallow the key and hope for a severe case of constipation.

[Cyberman]

Unless one also enjoys pooping. Then pooping is the reward for eating.

Yes, but after it's all been "pooped" any sensual reward follows it down the pan. Then you have to go through the chore of eating again. Unless you're into faecal transplantation, in which case not only do you enjoy being full of shit, you don't even care that the shit is not your own.

[Foxaèr]

When a hundred years seems like the blink of an eye, what will the purpose in your life be?

To live, learn, love, rinse and repeat?

[Chad32]

When a hundred years seems like the blink of an eye, what will the purpose in your life be?

To live, learn, love, rinse and repeat?

I'd rather have a thousand different lives than stay in the same place for that long.

[Darkstar]

Leaving religion is like going from an on-rails shooter (a very boring one) to an open world RPG. Enjoy the freedom!

That's a really apt analogy, mind if I expand on it? In the sense of an on-rails game, there is a very specific goal. You simply progress through the levels until you beat them all. In the case of an open world game, it is entirely possible to create a game that doesn't have an explicit end state. Maybe there is no last boss, no way to 'win' the game, but you have to ask yourself, are you playing the game so that you can check-mark some 'objective complete' boxes, or because it's fun? Does the fact that there is no ultimate 'purpose' in the game make it unenjoyable?

Or here's another example: in one game your player character might be destined to become a paladin, but in another you can pick any character class you want, and customize your stats. Does the fact that there is no greater meaning behind your character's abilities (e.g. plot-wise) mean that you would rather have them pre-determined?

Or what about the Monster Hunter series? The games (well, I only played Tri and 3 Ultimate) have paper thin plots, and don't necessarily have a well-defined final boss, and yet I can keep playing random quests over and over. I play them because they're enjoyable, not because a higher power dictated that I do so. Why would anyone need a higher power to explicitly authorize their actions?

The question as to the meaning of life has a deceptively simple answer: it's whatever you choose for it to be. It is meaningful precisely because you chose it, not in spite of that being the only reason. Besides, what kind of purpose does the Christian god grant, anyway? Eternally stroking his ego? Be glad you aren't bound to that! Oh what a sad life it would be if that were our purpose!

[Pizza]

Life. Living. What is the point of any of it?

Who needs a point when you have an internet connection?

[emilynghiem]

Hi there, so this is my first post here. I won't bore you all with the details, but I've been on the way to deconversion for some time. There's one thing I struggle to get my head around though, largely because of my religious background (Catholic) I'm sure but it is something I do think about a lot.

Life. Living. What is the point of any of it?

No I'm not posting this while slitting my wrists to a Hawthorne Heights/Linkin Park mix, and it is something that crosses my mind whenever anything good or bad happens now. You built a sandcastle? What's the point? It's going to be gone when the tide comes in. You finished reading some novel? Well wasn't that a fine waste of an hour.

Yes..I know this sounds pessimistic, but this line of thinking goes on to higher levels too. Why bother building monuments when eventually either hundreds or thousands of years from now it's going to be gone. Why bother reproducing if the human race and the planet itself is inevitably going to pass away. In particularly ill moods I've even thought about whats the point eating or drinking to sustain yourself now if you're going to die anyway. Everything just appears ultimately pointless, staving off the inevitable and ultimately a complete and utter waste.

In a way I know I've cultivated this mindset myself, years of religious activity and several years studying Theology reinforces this mindset. Even still, I can't seem to come up with a good reason to do anything now. Of course I work, I eat and the like; I might not care but there are others around me who still do and I don't see a reason to "Break the Spell" as Dennett put it. Most of the time I wish I hadn't myself, and let doubts and remain just that.

Not exactly a cheerful post I know, but it is something I think of more and more. Have any of you got an answer or an idea, because I can't come up with one.

Hi Neil
I think starting with neutral is the best place to be.
You can see all the mountains and rivers, all the ups and downs in life.
Then when you want on or off the roller coaster or merry go round, you can do so and jump back off. Stay grounded in knowing that you are healthy, and have wonderful people around you to explore life together.
Just make the most of your relationships, and the resources available to you, and you will have a grand time making your journey as adventurous or as leisurely as works for you.
=====================
the meaning of life:

"To understand and appreciate the beauty in everything and every person around you, the interconnected design of all elements in harmony with the greater whole, and the love and good purpose in everything in the universe."
==========================

You can also look up the Unitarian Universalist principles
where they wrote out a secularized version of the greater good for humanity including
* the free and responsible search for truth and meaning
* the right of conscience and respect for the democratic process
* the goal of world community with peace justice and liberty for all
etc.

If I was going to take Christianity and spell it out in secular terms it would look something like that. Christianity = perfect charity for all, perfect conscience, Christ Jesus = Restorative Justice, Justice with Mercy etc.

The advantage of taking a secular position is you can translate back and forth from the religious symbolism to real life concepts. Not everyone can do that.

---

Unless one also enjoys pooping. Then pooping is the reward for eating.

Yes, but after it's all been "pooped" any sensual reward follows it down the pan. Then you have to go through the chore of eating again. Unless you're into faecal transplantation, in which case not only do you enjoy being full of shit, you don't even care that the shit is not your own.

I've heard of
"Do unto others, then run"
or do unto others before they do unto you.

I guess your version is double of that.
Doo doo unto other before they doo doo on you!!!

[thesummerqueen]

Hi Nell, I was in exactly the position you are in, a little over 4 decades ago.
I weighed out the good and the bad of life and it was obvious the bad won out.
If atheism / naturalism is right, the smartest thing to do is exit.
Ah but what if they are wrong?

Growing up in Catholicism, I came to figure I would have to go to hell with my friends because I could not be good enough. I threw out their rigmarole, but eventually began to search for the truth about life.

I looked into occult stuff, but began to read the bible.
I came to the place where it was obvious that out of all the myriad philosophies and views of life
ONE and only one is true and all the rest are lies and shades of lies.
Like a checkerboard- one of the squares is the truth.
Make that your quest.
There is a reward out there.

You don't make a fucking lick of sense, d'you know that?