Atheism and the meaning of life - what drives you?

[arewethereyet]

I would say that the meaning of life changes for people over their lifetimes.

When I was a kid, I just wanted to survive the next beating and make it to 18 so I could leave home.

Then I started having kids and that was my main focus. From keeping them alive having had not much experience with being responsible for another life. Also, educating them so that they were able to function in the world.

Along the way I worked toward skills so I could contribute financially to the family's survival as well as some fun things thrown in.

Then it was getting older and hit with major illness and just wanting to make it through as painlessly and as whole as possible. I actually finally made it to college three months before I was diagnosed with breast cancer and, though it took a while, earned a degree. Always learning has been important to me,

Now, I am sort of coasting. And that's okay. I work part time from home. Have picked up a hobby I put down years ago due to lack of time. My relationship with my oldest has (in the last couple years) become a very pleasant part of my life after some rocky years.

I just don't think there is one meaning to life. There are many and they are different for everyone and they change over time.

[Jehanne]

I wondered what drives fellow atheist considering the meaning of life is extremely blurry when we don't consider there to be an afterlife.

For me, atheism is a conclusion not a choice.  I cannot believe in a god anymore than I can believe that 2 + 2 = 5.  Hoping for an afterlife is wishing for that which, intrinsically, does not exist, and for me, that is an unhealthy state of mind.  While little children can be excused (and, indeed, in virtually all cases, are to be encouraged) for believing in things that do not exist (all of my 5 kiddos believed in the existence of Santa Claus), adults ought to know better; we, after all, drive cars, and our kids do not.

The supreme meaning in my life is the survival of my species, homo sapiens sapiens; while I will someday die, I very, very much hope that my species, our species, persists and survives for eons and eons to come.  But, I also want to enjoy life, family, friends, work, games, food, etc.

[Nay_Sayer]

What drives me?

Normally a 2009 Honda CR-V

[Ranjr]

Believing in afterlife removes the meaning from life.

[vulcanlogician]

Believing in afterlife removes the meaning from life.

Paul willed the end; therefore he also willed the means.... What he himself didn’t believe was swallowed readily enough by the idiots among whom he spread his teaching.—What he wanted was power; in Paul the priest once more reached out for power—he had use only for such concepts, teachings and symbols as served the purpose of tyrannizing over the masses and organizing mobs. What was the only part of Christianity that Mohammed borrowed later on? Paul’s invention, his device for establishing priestly tyranny and organizing the mob: the belief in the immortality of the soul—that is to say, the doctrine of “judgment”....

When the centre of gravity of life is placed, not in life itself, but in “the beyond”—in nothingness—then one has taken away its centre of gravity altogether. The vast lie of personal immortality destroys all reason, all natural instinct—henceforth, everything in the instincts that is beneficial, that fosters life and that safeguards the future is a cause of suspicion. So to live that life no longer has any meaning: this is now the “meaning” of life....

[The Grand Nudger]

@TheEnd8888
The things that drive an atheist and a theist are the same things.

I'm willing to bet that a god botherer thinks about the afterlife about as much as I do...and that they see meaning in life apart from that just as I do.

[slartibartfast]

I wondered what drives fellow atheist considering the meaning of life is extremely blurry when we don't consider there to be an afterlife. How do you approach anything? Every label, tag, mindset is in fact subjective too and can vary from one second to the next - what you find fun might change very fast. I am aware some of you have children and families, I suppose that will effect that massively. But in my personal situation I have never been bothered about pleasing anyone but myself, as a result I am yet to start a family - though it will be a consideration for me up until I'm about 50 if I find the right partner to start a family with. 

Suppose the real question is what really gives meaning to life apart from reproducing ? Any ideas? I don't consider things like fame and being remembered particularly relevant, once dead you're dead and seeking the acclaim of others whilst alive you are wasting time you could have spent focusing on yourself in my opinion.

I had a thought - to consider life has no meaning is double edged . If it means nothing you are lucky you've even been born - in which case life means everything (including each second). Slightly complicated and believe this is in the right section. I'm sure this has been discussed before (hopefully not recently), just wondered thoughts for the present moment in time.

Why does there have to be a "meaning" to life? And what does "meaning" even entail? Some form of higher purpose? Reason for existence? Explanation for life, the Universe and everything? 

Isn't the fact that as a human you are here, breathing, loving, helping, learning, teaching, reproducing, observing, shaping, enjoying, laughing, struggling, persevering, triumphing, crying and philosophizing by asking this very question enough? In my view all of these experiences give me more than enough "meaning" without having to have the faery at the bottom of the garden as well, yes.

Let me turn this around - even Christians don't find meaning by your definition. They might think they have been given the answer to how they came to exist, however the reason / purpose / goal for their existence is still completely unclear and as "unknowable" as God's will and plan - they have just one more thing to worry about than me - having to spend a good portion of their life trying to second guess and please a benevolent / malevolent boss who ultimately decides their fate at their ultimate annual review and who gives no progress reports. 

In my view theists just go through life thinking they have the secret to the "meaning" of life, when really they simply have a 2000 year old instruction manual written by people, which tells them they have an imaginary friend sitting on their shoulder all their life who they can talk to to give them courage and solace if they only truly believe it, and make them feel better about having a potentially shit life by promising them a better one as long as they follow the instructions well enough. This in my view is not finding true "meaning" or fulfilment or purpose.

[Fake Messiah]

"What drives an atheist to live" is one of the common questions, but I don't understand why? Why is it such a mystery? Or why is it so obvious what drives a theist but not an atheist? And what is that "obvious" thing that drives theist to live?

[Neo-Scholastic]

Our motivations and enjoyment of life are different from its significance. IMHO part of atheism's allure is the feeling of being liberated from any grand naratives. The question is what grounds proximate meaning when the ability to ground it in ultimate meaning is no longer an option...sound and fury signifying nothing, etc.

[The Architect Of Fate]