Agnostic.com

3 3

This is how I want to live. Though it's easier said than done...

Omnedon 7 Feb 2
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

3 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

0

Your writing is really informative, especially because it's so meaningful and updated. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post!

Your writing is really great. I’m so glad I read it. It kept me hooked the whole way through.

Thanks for this information. I really appreciate the information that you have provided.

[upsers.fit]
[myccpay.onl]

2

Perhaps the greatest mistake is in believing that life has some meaning that exists independently of our individual lives and this thought gives impetus to search for something that does not exist whether it is a god or imagined state of nirvana. We imagine that our lives lack something, however, that something always remains an amorphous notion in the imagination while ignoring that fact that life is a dynamic process and there is no fixed point of arrival. Imaginary excursions may be fun or entertaining or a diversion from the moment or situation in which we find ourselves.

All our fine philosophical thoughts go out the window when we suddenly choke on something that we have just eaten, the panic sets in fast as we gasp for air. We cough it up and for a few brief moments we are glad to be alive. The simplicity of the moment seems to elude many people who have an overwhelming tendency to dramatize it in a variety of forms; they ascribe their reaction to external events and seldom reflect on their reactions.

And of course the search for transcendent meaning, is quite possibly no more than vanity anyway.

@Fernapple Somewhat like painting legs on a snake, utterly superfluous.

0

Very good. Here for what they are worth, ( Not much.) are my views, which all end in a joke, very like Absurdism which I would perhaps call Appreciateism.
When we realize that there are no big, god given, purposes in life, demanding our obedience. And the many completely contradictory purposes, offered by the many different religions, prove that to be so. Then we can easily see, that wanting any big purpose at all, is merely a vanity and narcissism. The failings which are the weakness that all religions feed off. For if you build up the vanities of people, then they will, obey you, pay you, and praise you, for as long as you keep flattering and confirming those vanities, over and over again.
Yet atheists often say in reply to the theist's question. “What is the purpose of life, if there is no god ?” That, by being none religious, we are free to choose our own purposes. Though admittedly they must by definition be small personal ones, for a transcendent purpose is just another god, meaning that in the deepest sense, atheism, agnosticism and deism are inevitably, by their nature, mainly philosophies of humility.
Yet here for fun is the irony. Suppose for one second, hypothetically, for arguments sake, that there is a creator, an intelligence behind the universe, though one who has not revealed any purpose to us yet, perhaps a deist creator at most. Then what can we discern, if anything, is most likely to be pleasing to it, if pleasing it has any value at all ? Well after the usual if doubtful, givens, such as, be kind, the only thing I think that seems likely, is that we should appreciate its creation as much as possible, down to the smallest detail. Valuing and treasuring all that we are given. And what are we doing when we create our own small purposes, whether, we climb mountains, garden, paint pictures, entertain our pets, make a coffee for a friend or help in a charity shop, if not appreciating that creation, or nature, down to the smallest detail, and valuing it enough to care for it ? Practical environmentalism. Perhaps therefore being an atheist could after all, be the most pleasing of all things to the hypothetical creator.
Now forget the hypothetical creator, since it has now done its job, and what are you left with ? That the small things are the biggest things there are, because they demand the greatest appreciation of you, and it is when you turn your back on the idea of great purpose that you come nearest to your greatest purpose. And when you forget god that you are most likely to please god. So you see that in the end, my deepest thoughts lead to an ironic joke. Nice joke perhaps ? Yes, but I was also never more serious.
And is this my original philosophy ? No, I don't think so, for at the very least the Greek philosopher Epicurus more than twenty centuries ago wrote. “Bring me a pot of cheese and I will feast.” And. “Don't over think it.”

You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:707864
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.