on the meaning of life...?

Question

this question is for all those who seem to believe that atheists can't have any meaning in their lives since they don't believe in a higher power. would your life cease to have meaning if you found out tomorrow there isn't a god? would you kill yourself? or would you still look for meaning? please, don't bother answering if your going to be so closeminded as to say nothing can convince that there isn't a god.

the picture is me, dufus...

jeff, i noticed you completely avoided the question... way to go. on the pic. i thought i was a cool pic, i photoshopped it. big deal. i don't worship him like you worship a murderer who allegedly killed off nearly all of mankind.

Answer 1

The philosophical question "What is the meaning of life?" means different things to different people. The vagueness of the query is inherent in the word "meaning", which opens the question to many interpretations, such as: "What is the origin of life?", "What is the nature of life (and of the universe in which we live)?", "What is the significance of life?", "What is valuable in life?", and "What is the purpose of, or in, (one's) life?". These questions have resulted in a wide range of competing answers and arguments, from scientific theories, to philosophical, theological, and spiritual explanations.

These questions are separate from the scientific issue of the boundary between things with life and inanimate objects.
Popular beliefs
"What is the meaning of life?" is a question many people ask themselves at some point during their lives, most in the context "What is the purpose of life?" Here are some of the many potential answers to this perplexing question. The responses are shown to overlap in many ways but may be grouped into the following categories:

Survival and temporal success
...to live every day like it is your last and to do your best at everything that comes before you
...to be always satisfied
...to live, go to school, work, and die
...to participate in natural human evolution, or to contribute to the gene pool of the human race
...to advance technological evolution, or to actively develop the future of intelligent life
...to compete or co-operate with others
...to destroy others who harm you, or to practice nonviolence and nonresistance
...to gain and exercise power
...to leave a legacy, such as a work of art or a book
...to eat
...to prepare for death
...to spend life in the pursuit of happiness, maybe not to obtain it, but to pursue it relentlessly.
...to produce offspring through sexual reproduction (alike to participating in evolution)
...to protect and preserve one's kin, clan, or tribe (akin to participating in evolution)
...to seek freedom, either physically, mentally or financially
...to observe the ultimate fate of humanity to the furthest possible extent
...to seek happiness and flourish, experience pleasure or celebrate
...to survive, including the pursuit of immortality through scientific means
...to attempt to have many sexual conquests (as in Arthur Schopenhauer's will to procreate)
...to find and take over all free space in this "game" called life
...to seek and find beauty
...to kill or be killed
...No point. Since having a point is a condition of living human consciousness. Animals do not need a point to live or exist. It is more of an affliction of consciousness that there are such things as points, a negative side to evolutionary development for lack of better words.

Wisdom and knowledge
...to master and know everything
...to be without questions, or to keep asking questions
...to expand one's perception of the world
...to explore, to expand beyond our frontiers
...to learn from one's own and others' mistakes
...to seek truth, knowledge, understanding, or wisdom
...to understand and be mindful of creation or the cosmos
...to lead the world towards a desired situation
...to satisfy the natural curiosity felt by humans about life

Ethical
...to express compassion
...to follow the "Golden Rule"
...to give and receive love
...to work for justice and freedom
...to live in peace with yourself and each other, and in harmony with our natural environment
...to protect humanity, or more generally the environment
...to serve others, or do good deeds

Religious and spiritual
...to find perfect love and a complete expression of one's humanness in a relationship with God
...to achieve a supernatural connection within the natural context
...to achieve enlightenment and inner peace
...to become like God, or divine
...to glorify God
...to experience personal justice (i.e. to be rewarded for goodness)
...to experience existence from an infinite number of perspectives in order to expand the consciousness of all there is (i.e. to seek objectivity)
...to be a filter of creation between heaven and hell
...to produce useful structure in the universe over and above consumption (see net creativity)
...to reach Heaven in the afterlife
...to seek and acquire virtue, to live a virtuous life
...to turn fear into joy at a constant rate achieving on literal and metaphorical levels: immortality, enlightenment, and atonement
...to understand and follow the "Word of God"
...to discover who you are
...to resolve all problems that one faces, or to ignore them and attempt to fully continue life without them, or to detach oneself from all problems faced

Philosophical
...to give life meaning
...to participate in the chain of events which has led from the creation of the universe until its possible end (either freely chosen or determined, this is a subject widely debated amongst philosophers)
...to know the meaning of life
...to achieve self-actualisation
...all possible meanings have some validity
...life in itself has no meaning, for its purpose is an opportunity to create that meaning, therefore:
...to die
...to simply live until one dies (there is no universal or celestial purpose)
...nature taking its course (the wheel of time keeps on turning)
...whatever you see you see, as in "projection makes perception"
...there is no purpose or meaning whatsoever
...life may actually not exist, or may be illusory )
...to contemplate "the meaning of the end of life"

Other
...to contribute to collective meaning ("we" or "us") without having individual meaning ("I" or "me")
...to find a purpose, a "reason" for living that hopefully raises the quality of one's experience of life, or even life in general
...to participate in the inevitable increase in entropy of the universe
...to make conformists' lives miserable
...to make life as difficult as possible for others (i.e. to compete)

Answer 2

Meaning has to come from an intelligence. No natural process can give you meaning. Evolution cannot say " you were meant to do ..." Meaning comes from living for a purpose. This is what a prominent atheist says about purpose:

“Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.” –Bertrand Russell (Nobel Laureate writer, mathematician and philosopher)

But those who reject God have a defense and that defense is self deception. For example, ask anyone if they are good (or basically good) and they will answer yes. Even criminals plotting their next crime will honestly believe they are basically good. How is this possible? They unconsciously raise or lower their standard for good until they FEEL they meet the standard. Such is the power of self deception when feelings are used instead of logic.

Answer 3

Wow, how sad that people would kill themselves if their delusional beliefs in mythical non-existing gods was made rational and tossed out.

I guess those religious folks who only "live" for their mythical god have never appreciated the beauty of a sunset; the mysteries of the unexplored universe; the smile of your child in your arms; the absolute pleasure of a wonderful meal; the company of good friends and family; the amazing amount of things there are to learn, see, do, and experience in these short lives of ours.

All those things (and many more!) give meaning, joy, and challenge to life -- without having to have a mythical god behind them, or a false hope for an "afterlife" that doesn't exist.

Why can't it be enough for you to live here and now...to experience all life has to offer, to love and be loved, to learn and to teach, in the one life that you have? Why is there no meaning unless there is more than that one life?

I feel very sorry for such deluded people. They might as well not even exist, since this one life they have is so meaningless to them, and they only live for a mythical life in some made-up heaven with some made-up god. How very, very sad. You're missing out on a wonderful world and a wonderful life.

Peace.

Answer 4

I wouldn't kill myself friend but the thought of living life and of being a good, bad or evil person will seem like a waste of time because in the end, if there is no God, it really doesn't matter does it?

Answer 5

Well.. I would just ask you, how on earth could such a thing be proven either way? I can't think of a situation where every believing person on earth would have no choice but to believe there is no God. But hypothetically, if it did happen and I was absolutely sure there was no God, then yeah I very well may kill myself. Why not? Life would be meaningless.

Answer 6

I think you probably have meaning to life. You must have family and friends, probably a job with co-workers. I guess my life would still have meaning, just no hope for the future or after death life. I look forward to seeing my family that has passed away. Maybe I would try to find meaning in what I owned.

Answer 7

It wouldn't change much, but then I don't subscribe to the God is a seperate entity in the sky thing.

Meaning & purpose in life is what you make it. If you can not create your own purpose here, then your just sucking air!

Answer 8

Why do you use for an avatar the picture of a communist murderer? Does that give your life meaning?
Okay, so the picture is you. Who are you trying to imitate, dufus?

Answer 9

well I belive in God but your qustion seems to confuse me as I always tell people who dont belive in God I say tell God aboute how you fell and I tell them look at John 3:16 it will help you through life for eternity and beyound

Answer 10

i would love my kids still but there would be no hope past this life...im sorry to hear that..