Atheists - What is the meaning of life?

[FerventGodSeeker]

I was going to put this in a discussion room but my comments always seem to get threads booted to debate areas, so why not just skip the foreplay, lol. This question is for atheists, and I'm wondering what you guys feel the meaning or purpose of life is, and how you reach that conclusion?

FGS

 

[JerryL]

I see no reason to believe there is one.

What do you think is the purpose for God?

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

I see no reason to believe there is one.

So there is no purpose to life? Why go on living?

What do you think is the purpose for God?

God is extremely purposeful, not only does He have His own purposes for Himself but we are given purpose in Him....but that's kinda getting off the topic of the thread, which is to get the atheistic view on the issue.

FGS

 

[JerryL]

So there is no purpose to life? Why go on living?

Do you mean "why do we choose to?" or "why should we?"?

God is extremely purposeful, not only does He have His own purposes for Himself but we are given purpose in Him....but that's kinda getting off the topic of the thread, which is to get the atheistic view on the issue.

But you already know the athiestic view, you just don't understand it. That's the purpose of the question. Many of the answers are the same.

In you making answers for things you understand, you can understand things that telling you would only let you know.

You've answered that God has made his own purposes for his own existance. I don't see any problem with a person making their own purposes as well. I think we all do.

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

Do you mean "why do we choose to?" or "why should we?"?

Both, I suppose.

Many of the answers are the same.

Such as?

You've answered that God has made his own purposes for his own existance. I don't see any problem with a person making their own purposes as well. I think we all do.

Except you know that your purposes are just arbitrary and have no actual meaning. God, on the other hand, is an infinite being capable of existing forever, creating, destroying, etc. You live for a few years on a tiny rock and then rot. Comparing the two doesn't really work, God exists on a totally different plane of reality than we do.

FGS

 

[d.]

So there is no purpose to life? Why go on living?

just because there is no over-arching, general 'meaning of life' does not mean there is no reason to live. if you think about it, it's be kind of stupid to off yourself just because you weren't meant to draw excalibur out of a stone or something in that vein.

'what is the meaning of life'?

the question is meaningless and based on strange premises if you ask me, and you did.

 

[doppelganger]

Personlly, I think it's a perversion and a sign of social and spiritual sickness to have such a suspicion against life as to demand of it a reason or purpose.
It is such suspicions that separate one from "God."

What alone can be our doctrine?— That no one gives man his qualities—neither God, nor society, nor his parents and ancestors, nor he himself (—the nonsense of the last idea was taught as "intelligible freedom" by Kant—perhaps by Plato already). No one is responsible for man's being there at all, for his being such-and-such, or for his being in these circumstances or in this environment. The fatality of his essence is not to be disentangled from the fatality of all that has been and will be. Man is not the effect of some special purpose, of a will, an end; nor is he the object of an attempt to attain an "ideal of humanity" or an "ideal of happiness" or an "ideal of morality"—it is absurd to wish to devolve one's essence on some end or other. We have invented the concept of "end": in reality there is no end ...One is necessary, one is a piece of fatefulness, one belongs to the whole, one is in the whole; there is nothing which could judge, measure, compare, or sentence our being, for that would mean judging, measuring, comparing, or sentencing the whole ... But there is nothing besides the whole!— That nobody is held responsible any longer, that the mode of being may not be traced back to a causa prima, that the world does not form a unity either as a sensorium or as "spirit"—that alone is the great liberation; with this alone is the innocence of becoming restored ... The concept of "God" was until now the greatest objection to existence ... We deny God, we deny the responsibility in God: only thereby do we redeem the world.

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

just because there is no over-arching, general 'meaning of life' does not mean there is no reason to live. if you think about it, it's be kind of stupid to off yourself just because you weren't meant to draw excalibur out of a stone or something in that vein.

'what is the meaning of life'?

the question is meaningless and based on strange premises if you ask me, and you did.

Considering that people have been pondering the very question for millenia, I'm not quite sure where you're coming from with your comment that it's "built on strange premises." It seems like a pretty basic human desire to be meaningful, make a difference, etc. When our lives are purposeless and unfruitful, we are generally unhappy and feel unfulfilled. Most of humanity has postulated that humanity, including each of us individually, does have some over-arching purpose, whatever it may be. For me personally, "making my own meaning" would seem incredibly arbitrary, since it would have no significance outside of my own head. I would feel like I was fooling myself. Thus, my question arises: What is the atheistic meaning of life?

FGS

 

[Jaymes]

This question is for atheists, and I'm wondering what you guys feel the meaning or purpose of life is, and how you reach that conclusion?

There is no meaning or purpose. I've not found anything to support there being a meaning or purpose for each and every individual, so the natural conclusion is that there is none.

 

[finalfrogo]

Except you know that your purposes are just arbitrary and have no actual meaning. God, on the other hand, is an infinite being capable of existing forever, creating, destroying, etc. You live for a few years on a tiny rock and then rot. Comparing the two doesn't really work, God exists on a totally different plane of reality than we do.

I hope you are not proposing that atheists should believe in God because he provides a better meaning than the "meaningless meaning" atheists provide themselves...

Even if God gave humanity a meaning, one could ask, "But what is the meaning of that?" "And what is the meaning of that? "And what is the meaning of that?" and so on.

 

[Sunstone]

I was going to put this in a discussion room but my comments always seem to get threads booted to debate areas, so why not just skip the foreplay, lol. This question is for atheists, and I'm wondering what you guys feel the meaning or purpose of life is, and how you reach that conclusion?

FGS

What do you mean by "meaning"? I often hear theists say their lives are meaningful because they believe in deity, but how does belief in a deity create meaning? And what kind of meaning is it?

 

[JerryL]

Both, I suppose.

1) Some combination of instinct, training, self-awareness, and personal cognative process
2) This question is founded on an untrue presupposition and so cannot be answered any more than "If Dolphins are so smart, how come they live in igloos".

Such as?

"not only does He have His own purposes for Himself"

Except you know that your purposes are just arbitrary and have no actual meaning. God, on the other hand, is an infinite being capable of existing forever, creating, destroying, etc. You live for a few years on a tiny rock and then rot. Comparing the two doesn't really work, God exists on a totally different plane of reality than we do.

Your conclusion does not appear to flow from your premise. You claim God's purpose is what God has purposed himself. I claim the same for people.

You also seem to be contradicting your own religious belief that we are eternal.

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

What alone can be our doctrine?— That no one gives man his qualities—neither God, nor society, nor his parents and ancestors, nor he himself (—the nonsense of the last idea was taught as "intelligible freedom" by Kant—perhaps by Plato already). No one is responsible for man's being there at all, for his being such-and-such, or for his being in these circumstances or in this environment.

Ok, nothing caused us to be here. Check.

The fatality of his essence is not to be disentangled from the fatality of all that has been and will be. Man is not the effect of some special purpose, of a will, an end;

Ok, so humanity, along with "all that has been and will be", is not intentional and has no goal or purpose. Check.

nor is he the object of an attempt to attain an "ideal of humanity" or an "ideal of happiness" or an "ideal of morality"—it is absurd to wish to devolve one's essence on some end or other.

Ok, so self-improvement is pointless. Check.

We have invented the concept of "end": in reality there is no end ...One is necessary, one is a piece of fatefulness, one belongs to the whole, one is in the whole; there is nothing which could judge, measure, compare, or sentence our being, for that would mean judging, measuring, comparing, or sentencing the whole ... But there is nothing besides the whole![/QUOTE

]Ok, so we have no individual purpose or value. Check.

That nobody is held responsible any longer, that the mode of being may not be traced back to a causa prima, that the world does not form a unity either as a sensorium or as "spirit"—that alone is the great liberation;

Ok, so no one is responsible to anyone. Check.

with this alone is the innocence of becoming restored ... The concept of "God" was until now the greatest objection to existence ... We deny God, we deny the responsibility in God: only thereby do we redeem the world.

When we don't have to be responsible to a power higher and other than ourselves, life is better. Check.

In summary, we have no cause, nor any purpose, and neither does anything else in existance. There's no point to improving oneself or society, and we have no intrinsic value. No one is responsible to anyone else for their actions, least of all God, and when no one is responsible, it makes life somehow "liberated." Is anyone seeing any positivity, morality, or hope in this message at all?

FGS

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

I hope you are not proposing that atheists should believe in God because he provides a better meaning than the "meaningless meaning" atheists provide themselves...

Something like that. It seems more logical to have an objective, external meaning than one that you just invent in your own mind.

FGS

 

[JerryL]

In summary, we have no cause, nor any purpose, and neither does anything else in existance. There's no point to improving oneself or society, and we have no intrinsic value. No one is responsible to anyone else for their actions, least of all God, and when no one is responsible, it makes life somehow "liberated." Is anyone seeing any positivity, morality, or hope in this message at all?

If you had already decided you answer to your own question, and are ignoring ours, why did you bother to ask?

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

[/i] If you had already decided you answer to your own question, and are ignoring ours, why did you bother to ask?

Just because I question your answers doesn't mean I don't want your answers. It means I want to analyze them and see how you arrive at them.

FGS

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

It seems more logical to have an objective, external meaning ...

That is a perversion of "logic".

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

Your conclusion does not appear to flow from your premise. You claim God's purpose is what God has purposed himself. I claim the same for people.

Except that I'm not seeing how you can do that. People are not infinite, omniscient, all-powerful beings. God is. They exist on totally different planes of reality.

You also seem to be contradicting your own religious belief that we are eternal.

Not at all. I believe that we can be given eternal life. However, unlike God, we had a beginning, and are finite, while He is infinite.

FGS

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I believe that we can be given eternal life.

And some people believe in Yetti. So what. Unless and until you can suggest a reason why we should consider your belief something other than delusion, you are simply preaching.

 

[doppelganger]

Is anyone seeing any positivity, morality, or hope in this message at all?

It went right by you. But that's okay. I offer it as a sort of "Spritual Rubik's Cube." So long as language remains your master rather than vice versa, you will never solve it. Seek and you shall find. Ask and you shall be answered. Knock and the door shall be opened for you.