If there is nothing after this life, there is no point it seems. Everything we do here is so small and insignificant that we would be wasting our time, right? I would like the views on how you guys approach this matter. I am not an atheist by the way.
Posted: February 25th 2010
logicel
Yes, everything we do is small and insignificant, but that actually makes me feel good! Borrowing from French culture, it is exactly les petite bonheurs that give us joy in life.
Think of our smallness as a way for us to appreciate the universe. If we were big and important, what would there be to appreciate? God must be the most miserable entity ever. Is that why it demands undying devotion and worries about what we do in bed? It has become petty.
When we appreciate our smallness, we do not become petty, but rather open to what is out there, what can be discovered. Though we are so wonderfully small, we have the means to translate that smallness into something big by deepening our understanding of reality and nature. We are part of the universe, after all. We are no less insignificant than any other part.
Posted: March 8th 2010
Eric_PK www
In discussing other’s viewpoints, it really helps to work hard to think through their viewpoint.
From my perspective, the fact there is no bigger purpose of my life is just the way it is. It’s as much a part of my reality as the fact that my consciousness is stuck in this one body, or that my body is aging as the years pass. It’s part of the hand that I was dealt, and I spend little time thinking about it.
If you don’t get your life’s purpose defined from the outside, then life is clearly what you make of it. You get to define what’s important and what you value.
Or, to put it another way, I think your first statement is obvious – there is no point, no cosmic purpose that each of us is here.
Posted: March 4th 2010
Paula Kirby
My friend (and occasional contributor to this website) Steve Zara has answered this question elsewhere so powerfully that I cannot do better than to quote him. How argues that, however bleak you may find the idea of no afterlife,
'Theism paints a far, far worse picture of reality.
Life is brief. We don’t get to make our own meaning. It is imposed on us by a celestial judge. Life is one big test, every minute of it. Our every thought is under the microscope. And then we die. Let’s deal with heaven, as the other side of things is a bit nasty.
We live for say, 80 years. 1000 years later we are in heaven, in some kind of drugged-up happy state worshipping god. 10,000 years later, the same. 1,000,000 years later the same. 100,000,000 years later, the same. Life has changed on Earth, and so have the continents. But in heaven, it’s just one happy drug party. 3 billion years in the future, the Milky Way collides with Andromeda. The heavens change, but not Heaven. 100 billion years, and most of the stars have gone out. Civilizations cluster around black holes to farm their energy. Heaven is still a permanent High. Trillions of Trillions of years, and perhaps the universe is more full of intelligent life than ever, as black holes provide vast energy. In Heaven we are still praising God, and he shows no sign of getting bored of it. 10^120 years, and the last black holes have evaporated. There is still potential for change, and so there might still be life, but with each thought lasting a billion years. God is getting a bit bored, so a promotes a couple of angels to become Seraphim. But on with the bliss and praising! Uncountable trillions of years, and a random fluctuation creates a point of inflation and a new big bang. But even this time is infinitely small compared with the endless bliss and praising the Lord that is our fate, our initial 80 years of life seeming of utter insignificance.
If there has ever been an idea that renders life utterly meaningless it is theism.’
Posted: March 3rd 2010
SmartLX www
What we do here isn’t small to us. It isn’t insignificant to us. It might well be insignificant to an all-seeing deity who’s got the whole universe to keep track of, but we’ve got this one planet and this one short life to live and within that, things matter.
If there’s nothing after this life, this life is the point.
Posted: March 3rd 2010