what do christians (and people in general) mean by "feeling empty inside"?

[Angrboda]

I think the idea of a "God shaped hole" or that feeling of emptiness inside likely points to a phenomenologically real thing, that there are specific subjective states which feel like that, though looking at responses such as GC's, I suspect it's used most often simply as an apologetic "stub" by people who may not ever have even had the experience. I suspect if you asked 100 Christians to describe the experience, you'd get all sorts of descriptions of anything from the mundane feelings of sadness to the sublime heights of existential angst, such as those pierced by Keirkegaard and Christian mystics. Various religious thinking triggers brain functions associated with interpreting the existence of others, other minds, others' intentions, and the self. (e.g. Jesse Bering's work on the belief instinct, and the observation that fMRI scans show that when a person is thinking about what God would want, they are activating the centers that activate when thinking about what they would want.) So I suspect it's a real phenomenon, seemingly related in a way to Sartre's look of 'the Other', but I doubt the Christian interpretation of its metaphysics and psychological meaning have any validity. But then, that's typical of religion, and especially modern Christianity, to take a powerful emotional experience and graft it onto an existing metaphysic, thus satisfying the "sounds reasonable" center of people's brains. (As a side note, Buddhism is guilty of much the same thing in its approach. It takes common emotional experiences and welds a conjectural psychological and metaphysical explanation onto those experiences, to encourage adoption of the religious practices [from meditation to specific ethics and politics].)

[Jackalope]

Been hearing all my life from Christians that "we have a hole inside of us that only god can fill, and we may try to fill it with girls, video games and foods but only god can fill it" :S

and even some non christian people talk about "feeling empty inside".

what does it mean to you?

I believe that what people generally mean by such statements is "Without X, I see no purpose or reason to it all".

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It's basically the same thing as existential angst.

Yes, this. That's the phrase I was grasping for and not finding.

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From a existentialist point of view, foregoing belief in God comes at great cost.

Except it doesn't, not necessarily. The cost for me has been "If I feel a need for meaning and purpose, I must find my own."

In the absence of God the universe is absurd

That would be from an absurdist point of view, not existentialist.

life becomes an empty gesture

That would be from a nihilist point of view, not existentialist.

I think I see what you're getting at here, but it appears that you're conflating some heavily nuanced terms.

[Neo-Scholastic]

I think I see what you're getting at here, but it appears that you're conflating some heavily nuanced terms.

Hence my second clarifying post.

[Whateverist]

I think the idea of a "God shaped hole" or that feeling of emptiness inside likely points to a phenomenologically real thing, that there are specific subjective states which feel like that, though looking at responses such as GC's, I suspect it's used most often simply as an apologetic "stub" by people who may not ever have even had the experience. I suspect if you asked 100 Christians to describe the experience, you'd get all sorts of descriptions of anything from the mundane feelings of sadness to the sublime heights of existential angst, such as those pierced by Keirkegaard and Christian mystics. Various religious thinking triggers brain functions associated with interpreting the existence of others, other minds, others' intentions, and the self. (e.g. Jesse Bering's work on the belief instinct, and the observation that fMRI scans show that when a person is thinking about what God would want, they are activating the centers that activate when thinking about what they would want.) So I suspect it's a real phenomenon, seemingly related in a way to Sartre's look of 'the Other', but I doubt the Christian interpretation of its metaphysics and psychological meaning have any validity. But then, that's typical of religion, and especially modern Christianity, to take a powerful emotional experience and graft it onto an existing metaphysic, thus satisfying the "sounds reasonable" center of people's brains. (As a side note, Buddhism is guilty of much the same thing in its approach. It takes common emotional experiences and welds a conjectural psychological and metaphysical explanation onto those experiences, to encourage adoption of the religious practices [from meditation to specific ethics and politics].)

I agree that institutional religion does exist to swap out interpretation for direct experience. We are spared the angst of interpreting our own experience in exchange for helping to defend the shared alternative.

There is plenty to be in awe of without any particular religion's pantheon and story line. I think the "god shaped hole inside" may just be our sense that our conscious self is always a small thing beside the greater otherness within. Some how within the dynamics of my psyche/mind/soul I experience intuition, insight, conviction, inspiration and even such mundane experiences as reaching for and finding the right word when looking to express an idea. We also experience times of dullness when we are uninspired, lack understanding and can't quite find the words to express what we mean.

I think living with this mystery beats calling it by any particular religious system's names and accepting their institutional interpretations. If you're willing to do without certainty -which is illusory any way- and if you can accept yourself warts and all, then you can live with the mystery and make your own way. Seems like the only game in town worth playing to me.

[Mister Agenda]

I'm sorry that was your experience, Chad, and if religion really helped you, I don't begrudge it. I personally don't see materialism as implying that the trans-personal values you speak of are not real or important.

And the universe may be a cold place, but it's also a very cool place. The material in my body has existed and will exist as long as the universe. There never has been and never will be again anyone quite like me, or even anyone very close. My story is unique and rare, because for everyone of us there are millions of narratives that could be told but will never, ever happen. My life doesn't have meaning to the universe but it AND the universe have meaning to me. So does Good, Truth, and Beauty. Out of all the possible people I'm one of the few who actually get to exist, and it's amazing. I've been Appalachians-level poor and it was still amazing then. And although I'm not looking forward to my life ending, it feels like greed to complain that it wasn't enough and that it's somehow less because it's temporary. And the bad things in life and the suffering of many people who never had it as good as me on my worst day are sad, but they're not a mystery: the universe IS a cold place, and we're like billions of tiny flames that flutter briefly, some of whom never get to burn very bright at all. But it's still amazing and I can't stay sad in the midst of awesome grandeur.

YMMV.

[thesummerqueen]

^ People like you keep me from drinking some days due to this forum.

[DeistPaladin]

It's all part of the forumla of every religion:

1. Create a problem that doesn't exist.
2. Posit a nonsense solution for the fake problem
3. For the low, low price of total submission, you can get the solution from us.

Examples:

1. You have thetens attached to your soul
2. You need to be cleared of thetens
3. We'll be happy to take care of that for... how much money did you say you have again?

1. You are a born sinner
2. Luckily, Jesus bled on a cross to fix that
3. Love Jesus or he'll torture you forever.

[thesummerqueen]

Sounds like most infomercials, DP. "Let's pretend you need this doo-dad! You can't do this by yourself!"

Yogurt was right - it's all about marketing.

[bladevalant546]

I like your formula, which is why I like Zen Buddhism the best as most of their tenets are more about actually improving the human condition instead of glorifying it and outright shoot the responsibility off the individual. According to typical human psychology negative emotions are the most powerful or atleast easiest to manipulate. Guilt being one of these negative emotions is often used in tandem with fear to bring in followers.

Now this is not meaning all religions utilize this for means of control and/or power or money. This is however the main tool most will use to those ends. Cults and political religions often utilize fear and guilt as their methods of control. What these two emotions especially guilt generates false insecurity (which is your empty space). Often times will use generalized statements like; "Someone here is struggling with pornography, or someone is struggling against lust, or my favorite someone is doubting God and you are waiting for a sign." These are very common statements that alot of people could apply themselves too. Couple that with the fear of pain (torture in hell) that makes for a powerful means of psychological manipulation.

Basically in short it is a sad thing because certain religions have such huge potential of bring peace and tolerance to certain aspects of humanity.
(sorry for long winded response, but I thought hard about what you wrote :p)

[Tonus]

I think that religion as a concept works against the potential of peace and tolerance. It separates people into friends and non-friends (if not outright enemies) and draws some very clear lines. That doesn't promote peace or tolerance. It's why even religions that have some teachings of peace and tolerance don't seem to be able to get people to be peaceful or tolerant. When your concept requires that you recognize an "us" and a "them" and a system that provides "us" with rewards for being "right" and provides "them" with punishment for being "wrong" you're not really teaching peace and tolerance.