Monday, November 21, 2011

Purpose and Meaning To Life

Purpose and Meaning To Life


Atheists are often confronted with a line of questioning revolving around what provides purpose and meaning to their lives. What do atheists believe in? What gives their life purpose? What gives their life meaning? Typically it is asserted that because an atheist does not believe in a god, their life has no purpose and no meaning.

For starters, it is diabolical to assert that purpose and meaning can only come from believing in a god. Travelling down this road expects you to disregard all other pursuits in your life as lacking purpose and as essentially meaningless.

Atheists have two things in common, they don't believe in any gods and just like almost all of humanity, their lives have purpose and meaning. Where their purpose and meaning is derived from can be wild and can be varied. What their opinions and positions are on subjects are also similarly wild and varied.

Some may draw purpose and meaning rallying against the ridiculous notion of religion and the mega rich mega churches that benefit. Some may draw purpose and meaning in composition of music and art. To not draw only positive associations, some may draw purpose and meaning from violence and the less digestible aspects of human behaviour.

For me personally, purpose can be derived from many and varied places quite easily without enacting belief in a god. Family gives meaning, creativity gives meaning, work gives meaning and so it seems, life itself gives meaning.

A theist who believes in god, feels they derive purpose and meaning from a god. Congratulations, they assert possession of a gift that non-believers can not experience, or so they say. A positive assertion that the theist has purpose and meaning to life whereas those non-believers cannot and/or do not. Fairly typical of a theist to gravitate towards positivity in their position.

Now address a simple question, where does a hypothetical god derive purpose and meaning from? A god is usually at the top of the spiritual food chain and answers to nobody. Using the same logic as applied to atheists, a god and it's existence has no purpose and no meaning.

  • Atheists do not believe in a god = No meaning or purpose to life.
  • A god cannot have belief in a higher being = No meaning or purpose to life.

These two statements arrive at the same result because atheists reject higher beings and a god has no higher being to worship. They both do not worship higher beings, therefore neither has purpose or meaning to their existence. However, in reality, a god, the idea of a god, or whatever it is, falls into the same category as an atheist. Purpose and meaning are derived from many and varied places, internally and externally.
Meaning Without God - Rabbits

As a side note, what exactly is the purpose and meaning of the existence of a god? If a god is everything outside of it's creation, the bits outside the universe we live in, what is the point of a god being there? A theist worships a god and finds purpose and meaning, but what is the purpose and meaning of a god?
Simplistically, could a theist derive the same kind of purpose and meaning from the worship of a dictator?

In conclusion, the assertion that an atheist, who does not derive purpose and meaning from god, has no purpose or meaning to their life, is absurd.

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