Meaning of Life?
sent in by Mike
I've been doing some thinking lately about the meaning of life. A pretty heady subject, to be sure. Most xians seem to feel that a life without a god is a life without meaning. But the mindset that life's meaning comes only from subservience to a god figure seems utterly bleak to me. What kind of meaning would my life have if I believed that I was placed on Earth, along with everyone else, to serve the ego of some mysterious supernatural superbeing? Should I be happy to be the plaything of such a god, to be used and abused as he sees fit? Can a life be said to have true meaning if everything is predetermined by an omniscient deity? Wouldn't that just be play-acting?
It strikes me that my life--without any god figures--is actually far more meaningful. I live my life based on decisions that I reach through an intellectual process. I work hard for myself and for those I love. My successes are my own, and I can rightly enjoy them and be proud of them. My failures are also my own, and I can learn from them. The past is behind me, and the future is unwritten. It can be exciting, scary, and rewarding. My life is certainly not perfect, but it's my own.
If the fact that I don't share the xian need to have an invisible friend somehow equates to a lack of meaning in my life, then I'll take meaninglessness any day of the week.
San Antonio
TX
USA
How old were you when you became a christian? 16
How old were you when you ceased being a christian? 40
What churches or organizations or labels have applied to you? Methodist
What labels, if any, would you apply to yourself now? Atheist, freethinker
Why did you become a christian? Really believed it
Why did you de-convert? Did too much research; realized it was bullshit
I've been doing some thinking lately about the meaning of life. A pretty heady subject, to be sure. Most xians seem to feel that a life without a god is a life without meaning. But the mindset that life's meaning comes only from subservience to a god figure seems utterly bleak to me. What kind of meaning would my life have if I believed that I was placed on Earth, along with everyone else, to serve the ego of some mysterious supernatural superbeing? Should I be happy to be the plaything of such a god, to be used and abused as he sees fit? Can a life be said to have true meaning if everything is predetermined by an omniscient deity? Wouldn't that just be play-acting?
It strikes me that my life--without any god figures--is actually far more meaningful. I live my life based on decisions that I reach through an intellectual process. I work hard for myself and for those I love. My successes are my own, and I can rightly enjoy them and be proud of them. My failures are also my own, and I can learn from them. The past is behind me, and the future is unwritten. It can be exciting, scary, and rewarding. My life is certainly not perfect, but it's my own.
If the fact that I don't share the xian need to have an invisible friend somehow equates to a lack of meaning in my life, then I'll take meaninglessness any day of the week.
San Antonio
TX
USA
How old were you when you became a christian? 16
How old were you when you ceased being a christian? 40
What churches or organizations or labels have applied to you? Methodist
What labels, if any, would you apply to yourself now? Atheist, freethinker
Why did you become a christian? Really believed it
Why did you de-convert? Did too much research; realized it was bullshit
Comments
What will it take to undo all the lies and bullshit? A major catastrophy? A nuclear war? A meteor strike? Thanks, Mike
Along with that invisible friend, christianity is also filled with invisible enemies, ie. Satan and his devils trying to tempt us at every corner.
Such paranoia serves to justify christianity's misguided answers to the question ...keeping people locked in the circle of fear, which then impedes any broader, or deeper, search for meaning.
How does one do that? Look at what you're good at. Look at your skills. What makes you happy? What brings you enjoyment? For me, it's making movies (sure, home movies, but movies nontheless). Making them and showing them to other people and watching them laugh at the jokes and humor brings the greatest glow to my chest.
If you affect one person, you've changed the world. If you made one person laugh, then you've started a chain reaction and that person will hopefully positivly affect another person, so on and so forth.
So if you use your talents and skills to positivly affect other people, you're helping to change the world for the better.
As for God, I personally believe that God (I don't believe in bible-god) would like it if we took care of our planet and each other, and wants us to be happy. But God doesn't interfere with our day to day lives very much, so we're pretty much on our own.
I think at the end of our lives, God would ask how many people we've helped, how many people we've loved, and how many people we've comforted during our life, rather then if we've accepted Jesus as our savior.
Yes, so then it's reasonable to assume that either, A) "God" is an uncaring, and thus, a non-personal entity...i.e..."dead weight", or B) "God" does not exist.
Gee, I'm stumped.[/sarcasm]
Think of it as a game. Chess, or monopoly, or what have you. What is the meaning of playing the game? Some play to win, others for the sheer joy of playing. A lot of people on this planet seem to think that if you don't play your pieces, that they get more time in a different game, a game 'bigger and better' than the one they found themselves in, but they are deluding themselves, if you ask me.
Go on and play the game. Enjoy the game. Find meaning in it, not because there *is* meaning in it, but because you, playing, give it meaning.
Or, as Walt Whitman so wonderfully said:
O me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew'd,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring - What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer
That you are here - that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
O yea I forgot,...God only likes mindless sheep.Enjoyed your post,...short and sweet!