So, I literally have no non-believing friends. I definitely have no one I know that is an atheist like me.
I struggle a lot with this question as well as depression because of it. I've read a little about existentialism and embracing the fact that there is no meaning to life, giving you the freedom to make your own meaning and live however you want. But I just can't seem to get into that. I grew up in a very religious household and though I've been able to shed the old beliefs, I have yet to find something to replace my old meaning of life.
How do you all deal with this issue of finding meaning in your life?
To learn how not to take yourself so damn seriously. Along the way you smell the Rose's. Live , drink, and eat mary.... No.. I mean eat ,drink, and be mary.... no..I mean just have a damn good time and leave Mary out of it...?
When I am in doubt, I go to the number 42.
That's exactly what I was thinking! I wonder how many here know...
@APaleBlueDot
Did you know that yesterday was Universal Towel Day? (It's a real thing!)
@mandaquinn
Of course! One of my favorite authors...
@Holysocks Yes, wow, what a way with words he had with words! Mr. Prefect would be proud to know towel day is official!
@APaleBlueDot
And that falling out of buildings would be safe.
@APaleBlueDot Adams . Do you know where your towel is ?
You don't need meaning. You have golden mornings and natural renewal. You have the cycles of nature. Spring flowers, and newborn lambs. You have the glory of summer when nature turns out in full bloom. Then the hope of a full harvest. Comforts in winter, warm homes and comfy nights around the TV. You have each new human life and the possibility that this one has the answers. You have the beauty and brains of each young person as they grown into adulthood, their energies and their endeavours. The jigsaw piece importance of each one of us. Young have the wisdom of the elders who can pass on stories of the past. The ones who had the answers if we are only prepared to listen and after their human life has ended, their vital energy remains. Atoms and molecules never die. This is eternity and you have that too.
I am comfortable with life having no external meaning, so I have replaced it with time honored mantras like "Take care of other people" and Don't be a dick".
I really don't stress over the meaning of life. Simply put: I just try to be happy, face whatever challenges life throws at me and be good person.
Don’t mean to be annoying, but I am 66 and I think we are hear to be kind to each other and to pay attention to how critical we are of ourselves and others. That being said, I meditate, do yoga and drink with my friends! I pay more attention to my distaste for ass holes?. And work at being more loving: a work in progress. The whole idea of “ meaning in life” seems to me to be a residual effect of being brought up with dogma. I wish you the best just sharing my thoughts. Namaste?
What's the point of little kids playing on the playground? There's no specific point. Just try and have fun and try not to hurt anyone else. That's literally all it comes down to.
Is there meaning to the life of a cat or an amoeba? Suirely, there's no inherent meaning to any event other than that which we allot - history gives certain events a meaning by stringingthem together with others in a chain of cause and effect (the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, for example, together with Russian mobilization, and the Schlieffen Plan). Buddhism seems to be the only philosophy to address the path by which to escape the fond notion of there being any meaning to existence, other than reproducing and so ensuring the survival of the species for another generation.
Good point, I never thought of the meaning of animal lives. I suppose within the context of the natural world a human beings purpose is to bring understanding and perhaps love.
@Denker If not love, at least tolerance
I am French and surprisingly an existentialist.
I do believe that life has no real purpose than life itself and survival through reproduction and copying itself.
But i also believe that trying to make ourselves happy and being authentic has the creature that we are, should be the meaning of life for each human being.
Must there be meaning? Can't we just muddle along doing the best we can until we die? Yeah, I'm a bit depressed, but living a long and healthy life seems as meaningful as anything else. My parents weren't religious and I suppose sent my brothers and I off to Sunday school for appearances sake. Mom always took us and dropped us off, but let us all quit when we were 12, 10 and 8. I've had a bizarre experience that makes the question more confusing. Before ever meeting my wife to be, I saw her in a crowd of people and she had an aura around her. She passed after 32 years of marriage and either of our kids are as capable as anyone and could take over the world. Very strange seeing that aura, determining it must have been some sort of message, wooing her and winning her heart, having two of the best kids on the planet, now 30 and 27. I'm surviving the kind of brain cancer that comes with a median life expectancy of 16 months, a 98% death rate within 5 years and a promised recurrence. Maybe the meaning of life is different for each person. Mine has become a life of leisure by design, mostly playing golf but always smoking weed. I do it with a strong recommendation from my neuro oncologist as it helps control seizures and I've inexplicably resisted having that "inevitable" recurrence. Maybe THC really does kill cancer. I liked everything about your profile except your location. You're only half my age, too, but I can deal with that.
Man is the only animal that has this problem. No other animal struggles for meaning. This is an indication the problem is limited to the area between your ears.
As far as the universe is concerned, it's the hokey pokey! That really is what it is all about!!
I seem to remember reading something about someone having a conversation with a gorilla through sign language where they talked about the meaning of life. Just cuz they don’t talk doesn’t mean they don’t have deep thoughts. Shit there are animals of higher intelligence like dolphins whales the great apes and even ravens that commit suicide on perpose you can’t tell me they aren’t having some kind of what’s the point moment.
@Dfox My understanding is sign language primates have not asked any questions[medium.com]. Though it seems Alex did [en.wikipedia.org] ask questions.
However, this is just from a quick Internet search and we know how conclusive those are.
@mandaquinn OH COME ON!!! That was obviously too heavily edited to be an actual dialogue with KOKO. Someone used clips to make her say what they wanted.
@mandaquinn I currently have five dogs, five cats and several visiting animals both feral and wild. I have great love, respect and admiration for animals of all kinds.
But to employ video editing tools to use them as puppets is disgusting. It shows no respect for what and who they are and they are amazing. They are not your sock puppets!!
Never thought life had to have a meaning or purpose.
Why should it.
Hot water, good dentishtry and shoft lavatory paper
Everyone is in the same boat. You have to nurture your hobbies, goals and passions.
I used to feel this way. But if you think about it, through a Christian worldview God basically just made you to worship him. What kind of meaning is there in that? You're just a slave to an advanced being. That's sort of a crappy meaning. God, knowing all things, made mankind imperfect enough to screw up right off the bat, then a little later screw up enough that he wanted to destroy the world, then he had to come to earth himself in order to sacrifice himself, to himself, to make a loophole for a rule that he created in the first place. Then eventually mankind is gonna screw up enough again that God's just gonna end it all (revelations). The Christian God comes off as an arrogant asshole, with anger problems who apparently can't do anything right, but demands you worship him for... reasons?
Being an atheist to me means that everything that I do matters. I can't be an asshole and do terrible things and just pray to sky daddy and be forgiven. My actions have real consequences. My short time on this earth means more. The things I say to people mean more. There aren't any do-overs and I'm accountable to the people I care about. Do no harm. Try to do something to make the world better than you found it, leave enough love behind so that when you are gone that people remember you and miss you.
Purpose gives me meaning, and purpose is nice because you can decide it for yourself.
“There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it."
Richard Dawkins
I belief that it is far easier in life to look for Purpose: Find that, and Meaning will quickly follow. For thinking, feeling, caring people, ditching religion only dispenses with the superfluous- It doesn't have to impact what is truly important in our lives: Family, friends, career, the regard and concern we have for others. Many human values were hijacked by religion as being religious values and even without faith, in fact preceding it, still serve to provide purposeful intent to human life. Look at your skills and abilities, consider how you can grow and use them to contribute to your life and your world and I assure you, you won't have to worry about finding meaning, for it will surely find you.