(November 8, 2023 at 5:51 pm)Simon Moon Wrote: It is more satisfying as an atheist, no contest.
And no, it's not because I want to "sin".
Partial list of reasons:
When I accomplish something, I know it is all me who is responsible, not some god. And yes, the opposite is also true, if I fail at something, it is also all on me. But even then, I get to learn from my mistakes.
I no longer have to worry that friends and family won't be tortured for eternity for thought crimes.
I don't have to perform gold medal levels of mental gymnastics in order to try to shape reality to my irrational beliefs.
I love having an internal representation of reality, that has much better probabilities of mapping to reality, than irrational beliefs do.
As Matt Dillahunty says, "I want to have as many true beliefs, and as few false beliefs as possible". Working for that goal, is very satisfying.
True. But I found that what these were replaced with wasn't great either:
1) I can't accept praise or blame if freewill isn't true and we live, as I think likely, in a largely deterministic universe.
2) No hell. But no heaven either. Just justiceless oblivion for everyone and everything.
3&4) No gymnastics, but lot's more confusion and not knowing, and a sense of it all being absurd.
Again, a very mixed bag.
