I have a bone to pick with my fellow atheists...?

Question

According to my fellow atheists, the only purpose of our existence is to survive and pass on our genes. Quite frankly, I think that is a crappy and unsatisfying purpose. Please forgive me when I say that you are severely lacking in imagination and inspiration if the best you can come up with is simply to eat, sh*t, reproduce, and die. Can we think of nothing better than that? I think we can, and should.

Consider these words by Richard Dawkins:

"We can leave behind the ruthlessness, the waste, the callousness of natural selection. Our brains, our language, our technology, make us capable of forward planning. We can set up new purposes of our own, and among these new goals can be the complete understanding of the universe in which we live. A new kind of purpose is abroad in the universe. It resides in us."

Now, I don't know how Mr. Dawkins intended for those words to be interpreted, and, honestly, I don't care how he intended them to be interpreted, because I have my own interpretation that I like very much. And here it is, for what it's worth:

We are here to bring purpose to a universe that has no purpose. Against all odds, chance has given us this astronomically rare opportunity to not only exist, but to exist with brains capable of complex thought. (well, some of us, anyways).

To use a weak analogy (but the best I can come up with at the moment), the universe is like a car without a driver, speeding along mindless and reckless. And here we are, sitting in the backseat and just going along for the ride, wherever it happens to take us. Why shouldn't we climb into the driver's seat? Why shouldn't we steer it in the direction we want it to go?

Maybe the future is depending on us to use our brains and create. Who knows what amazing things the universe has yet to produce, things that need us to produce them. And who knows, maybe even someday, in the very distant future, the word 'human' might become synonymous with the word 'god'.

I cannot think of a more optimistic, uplifting, and inspiring purpose for our lives.

Answer 1

I applaud you Sir...Christian here.

Answer 2

The Universe is not like a car racing wrecklessly along. It is a very ordered phenomena; the Earth and its orbit, the moon and its orbit, the constellations - all
are set in perfect motion and harmony.

You are desperately looking for a comfortable life without God, and thats your right, but its also impossible.
The truth is, that you only eat, shi t, reproduce, and die.
What will you do? pretend that you are driving that car thru the Universe and just made a quickie stop for gas here? What are you doing? You want to justify an existance that you believe ends, so what is the purpose of justifying it? You are like a flower; its seed falls to the ground to grow another flower, and that flower dies. thats it, thats the flower's purpose. So that with you,
if there is no God in your belief, then you too, just die. As a matter of fact, it would appear that the flower has more of a purpose here on Earth than you do, and thats a shame, but if thats what you believe,
and thats all you have, my sadness over it won't change anything, so I will say goodbye. goodbye.

Answer 3

For me Graciela's answer was right on the mark. We are not given a purpose from some external source. The only purpose we have through nature is to ensure the survival of our species through reproduction, we are indeed still animals. We have however, evolved the wonderful ability to determine a purpose beyond survival for ourselves. Some people have done this with religion. I found it much more empowering to find meaning and purpose on my own. I think we should always keep in mind that we are humble inhabitants of the universe and not think of ourselves as Gods.

Answer 4

"According to my fellow atheists, the only purpose of our existence is to survive and pass on our genes. Quite frankly, I think that is a crappy and unsatisfying purpose. "

I wouldn't say that's our purpose, though I can't help but notice how much more satisfying passing along one's genes is than, say, having a purpose of spending eternity worshipping some invisible being.

I believe that the most purposeful thing that I can do is to have experiences and to be aware of them. We live in a wonderful universe, and there are very few things in this universe capable of being aware of that. I'm one of them. Being of aware of how wonderful the universe is, then, is a high and noble purpose.

I think it's very similar to what you and Dawkins have suggested here.

Answer 5

Just because I view life as birth, growth, perhaps reproduction, and death does not mean I think that is the only purpose. Mr. Dawkins had a good way of looking at things. By using our minds and altruistic impulses, we can overcome our most basic survival instincts to make the world a better place. Many of us are humanists so we already agree with you.

Answer 6

Who said our purpose is to eat, sh*t and f*ck? I don't think we have a "purpose" here. If we did, that would imply that we were put here by some intelligent entity. Since that is not true, then we don't have a purpose. We all make our own reasons for being here.

I'm here to rid the world of certain forms of hate. What are you here for?

Answer 7

We have no general purpose other than passing on the genes. We make our own purposes regarding why we think we're here. Purpose doesn't have to be cosmic.

Also in the words of Richard Dawkins, "We can be cosmically bleak without being personally bleak as well."

Answer 8

Yeah, no doubt. Frankly I believe most Atheists only say that to piss off Christians and other staunch religious people.

Anyways, I believe that it is because of our imagination we are able to believe in the possibility of inifinte regression, and have no need for a 'God' to satisfy us. We dont need a theistic interpretation of god to makes us feel safe and happy, and we are able to conceive of a god who need not necessarily be all good or all knowing. Likewise I think it is because of our imagination we dont really need meaning to make our lives complete. we dont feel insecure by our lack of it. My life feels fulfilled by my living in it. Not by my constant worry about what will happen when I die, or what type of legacy will I leave behind.

Answer 9

The Christain philosophy (contrary to popular belief), is to make the world a better place (on earth as it is in heaven) by loving god (with all our heart, soul, mind, liver, and spleen), and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Even though you don't believe in god, you could join in on half of that. Imagine a world where everyone loved each other like brothers and sisters. It's not going to happen anytime soon, but I say it is worth a shot.

Answer 10

i be responsive to ! unbelievable factor. asserting non-believer in a great way isn't any longer this sort of taboo in so some distance as politics are in contact. He have been given my know on that one. i'm additionally happy that he pronounced Muslims. For too long the conservatives have been synonymous with Christian evangelicals.

Answer 11

Wow , the sounds horrible. Humans creating and being gods. In some churches they actually believe that, already. You are starting to sound like the christians.
GB