Hi Wally- Welcome!
I was raised by atheists, so I never went through this experience. But if it helps, I'll tell you generally how morality exists in our family:
P1: It's very likely that this life is the only chance we have to do or experience anything, so we should live it fully.
P2: It therefore follows that it's very likely that everyone else also has only this one chance, so we should try really hard not to interfere with anyone else's one chance, and (corollary: we should in fact, when we can, try to maximize that chance for others.
P1 and P2 sometimes conflict. In that case, think hard. If you pick yourself (as we will often do), keep a tally of that, and be mindful of how badly you are interfering with other people's one chance at life. At some point, because you are a member of a species equipped with a sense of altruism (as are all other primates), you will probably feel an urge to assist others. Will it be starving Africans? Maybe or maybe not. Our culture has progressed toward a more global sense of kinship, but if you don't feel that- OK. The needs of your immediate community are probably evident.
Or you can live a life dedicated to P1 while only obeying the spirit of P2 (not raping and murdering others), and you will be in the company of many people, theistic and atheistic alike.
P1 and P2 are evident to me. If you agree, how you choose to interpret those is really no different than how you choose to interpret ANY moral framework. You really DO get to decide what's right inside of the boundaries of your culture's laws.
I was raised by atheists, so I never went through this experience. But if it helps, I'll tell you generally how morality exists in our family:
P1: It's very likely that this life is the only chance we have to do or experience anything, so we should live it fully.
P2: It therefore follows that it's very likely that everyone else also has only this one chance, so we should try really hard not to interfere with anyone else's one chance, and (corollary: we should in fact, when we can, try to maximize that chance for others.
P1 and P2 sometimes conflict. In that case, think hard. If you pick yourself (as we will often do), keep a tally of that, and be mindful of how badly you are interfering with other people's one chance at life. At some point, because you are a member of a species equipped with a sense of altruism (as are all other primates), you will probably feel an urge to assist others. Will it be starving Africans? Maybe or maybe not. Our culture has progressed toward a more global sense of kinship, but if you don't feel that- OK. The needs of your immediate community are probably evident.
Or you can live a life dedicated to P1 while only obeying the spirit of P2 (not raping and murdering others), and you will be in the company of many people, theistic and atheistic alike.
P1 and P2 are evident to me. If you agree, how you choose to interpret those is really no different than how you choose to interpret ANY moral framework. You really DO get to decide what's right inside of the boundaries of your culture's laws.
