Atheism and Purpose

[SleepingDemon]

That's a very eloquent post. Thank you for writing it on my behalf. It sounds like the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. But if you're right, happiness is impossible because life and consciousness and the formation of a person who could write what you just did is a waste. We become aware, we go extinct. Actually, only a god could be that cruel to us.

But I do believe we cease to exist when we die. The difference, I would argue, is that we cease to exist the same way we ceased to exist as a small child.

For instance, I had a memory yesterday of something I said to my mother when I was five. I remembered it clearly for some reason, and it struck me that the person who said that to my mother was not the same person remembering it. The boy had ceased to exist a long time ago.

As for purpose, I would concede that it may not be possible to willfully follow a purpose in life. We have a purpose, each and everyone of us, but it comes to us automatically and deterministically. Some people are born for the prison yard, some people cure polio.

Hmm it won't let me remove my Kudos, thought I was clicking the reply button.

Anyway, I don't quite understand why your responses sound so depressing. I don't understand why one would be depressed about this sort of thing anyway, but that's another discussion.

Some people aren't born for the prison yard, that is absolutely untrue. While we are all partially a product of our respective environments, at some point it is still a choice. Now granted someone who grows up in poverty has a harder time becoming a fully functional and successful citizen as opposed to someone who grows up in a wealthy family. However it isn't impossible for the former to be as successful as the latter or even surpass them, it is all about choices. And the choices we make are what matters most.

Now, most theists that I know tell me that it is incomprehensible how one can be happy believing that there is nothing beyond this life. My answer is typically something to the affect of life itself being the source of happiness, but that response doesn't tend to do well with people who are by nature depressed anyway. I suppose the thought of some eternal reward in an blissful utopia after they die provides some hope that whatever they endure here will be compensated in the life to come. To me it's insulting to believe such a notion. To diminish all of the world's suffering into some celestial barter system where pain in this life equals rewards in the next. Human suffering should not exist at all, period, and any attempt to reconcile suffering with a promise of eternal bliss should be shot down with the same indignified disregard as it was delivered.

Do you think atheism condemns one to a miserable, pointless existence? Simply waking up to sunshine, being greeted by smiling loved ones and friends even on occasion makes me happy. The endless possibilities within this very young species gives me nothing but hope and joy. I'm not simply content to be alive, but i'm excited to be alive. And on some level I think that is really the point of it all. There is no compensation. You won't find a pot of gold at the end of your rainbow, there will be no eternal bliss with dead relatives and the saints. Your reward is what you make of this time you have here. Whether you contribute to your species is up to you, but it is upon you to do something with your life. It is your responsibility to find your piece of happiness here. If you aren't happy within yourself, you won't be happy with anyone, or doing anything else.

You have it all wrong man, you have atheism all wrong. Atheism is a logical conclusion one finds when one has the audacity to question old paradigms and superstitions. If you believe in god, or gods, and you ask questions you will end up in the very same place the rest of us do, otherwise, you are asking questions having already decided on the answer, which really is a pointless venture. There is no higher calling to atheism, it isn't a church, or a religion, or even a philosophy. Atheism is a conclusion. Your disbelief in dragons or fairies gives you no distress, you don't find yourself longing for death after deciding once and for all that no monsters are under your bed. Life does go on once you realize that Santa Clause was actually your relatives all along. And you move on with your life. Life is about going forward, our species moves forward, time moves forward, the years fly by and our short time here expires. But you're here today, and tomorrow is a new day. So stop being so damned depressing, have a drink, read a book, look up at the stars, and life your life.