meaningful atheism
September 15, 2005 – 3:18 pmAt eight days since I last posted to this blog, I’m ready to shamelessly cross-paste™ my own comment on The Raving Atheist’s Question of the Day (see his right-hand sidebar, or just click here).
If I must find or create or assert meaning in my life for myself, then by definition it is localized meaning. Suppose I find meaning in helping little old ladies across the street. This may mean nothing at all to those who find meaning in mushrooms.
With no overarching, externally set value or meaning, we are each essentially alone. Some of the commentors in this thread understand that, and they are the ones who talk about distractions rather than meaning. If there is no God, then video games, drugs, masterbation or even middle management represent the more insightful approach to life.
Those who say there is no God, but are resolutely determined to “make a go of it,” to instill into their lives nice meaningful things (like helping little old ladies across the street) are either not smart enough to see the need for distractions, or have merely chosen more socially acceptable distractions. It’s all alienation, despair and death, either tack you take.
Long before I was convinced there is a God I realized there simply was no way for me to empirically prove the question one way or another. In the absence of clear evidence I chose the option which is more interesting. If there is no God we spend our lives like tadpoles in a drying puddle. If there is a God, who knows what that could mean?
One Response to “meaningful atheism”
Joel,
Excellent comments. That Question of the Day actually inspired me to actually compose a guest post for TRA. He’s informed me it will be posted in the next few days. I doubt I’ll do as good a job, or be nearly as elequent as you consistently are, but you may find it interesting nonetheless. It’s basically a discussion of this issue of meaning and purpose upon which atheism seems to flounder.
I had a similar experience to your own. Before I was convinced of God, I was convinced that life had ‘real’ meaning. That necessarily excluded atheism as a contender in the battle of ideas. Interestingly, it also excludes nearly every eastern religion as well, as the end goal of most is the loss of the self into the ‘whole’ to the point where the individual existence at any practical level becomes meaningless.
By Steve G. on Sep 15, 2005