(no subject)
I have been seduced by Xanga. Sad but true.
I think it was an unintentional drifting. In the past year, I had to switch both desktop and laptop-- and along the way, I enver bothered to re-bookmark LJ.
Here is a a semi-decent entry from my xanga site:
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Atheism
I am an atheist. In discussion, private and public, we, as atheists, have been accused of being as militant and as dogmatic as the fundamentalists we condemn: That atheism is a religion..
Well, religious folks: You are right.
The theist-- Christian, Jew, or Muslim-- have their worldview shaped by the idea of a God. God is like the body upon which morality and perspective of the theist is built. It is all encompassing. While the particulars of their gods may differ, all religious folks share an awe and devotion for the divine.
Where is the atheist without all of this? What is the atheist's guiding principle?
We're a motley crew, and I can't speak for all of us. But for a lot of us, death is God.
While the theist has some afterlife as part of a retirement package, the atheist has nothing. Lying awake at night or in stray thought during rush-hour traffic, we have considered our own demise. Existentially, it is chilling. Like the blind can never know color, atheists can't imagine death. In trying to imagine what it's like with our brains off, we're trapped in a scary infinite regress.
Death, and her cold embrace, is the start of our religion. The finality of things is what sets and begins to color our world. My perceptions now, my fears, and my hopes are the be-all, end-all of existance.
The first impulse is to be hedonistic. To try all, and experience all. I think every atheist, at some point has entertained this, but recoiled only after thoughtful consideration.
There is a golden-mean: Everything in moderation. This maxim holds because we live in a physical world-- there are limitations to time and resource. In the decisions we make, there are always costs and trade-offs. Partying all the time and eating nothing but cheesecake carries its obvious penalties.
There are certain things that we must have to keep us happy. This is a concenquence of human physiology and human culture. I must have a house for shelter. In order for that, I must have a job. There are also the concerns of food, girls, and WoW. It's a constant juggle-- and some hedonistic tilt in one category would mess up the whole thing.
No God = amorality, right? Not quite.
At least this atheist can't help but feel depressed at the inevitability of things. Through freak odds, we are granted this brief spark of existance. In the inevitability of death and a cruel impersonal universe, life is like a bad Shakespeare play. We're set up to be unhappy. We're set up to wither away and die.
But my glimmer of hope is that we have each other. As fucked up as this ride may be, I'll have company-- friends to care about, and a family to love.
This is humanism-- that human values is the ultimate ends of morality. Because happiness is fragile, we must do our best to preserve it. Our actions and conduct must be done with an eye to the common good.
So atheism is like a religion: we have our own worldviews, a meaning to life and ideas of proper conduct. Just don't belittle us in accusations of nihilism and amorality.
Athiests aren't angry children lost from the way. We've only decided to walk our own paths.
--------------------------
I know it's cheap to double-post, but hey, it's a start. ^_^
I think it was an unintentional drifting. In the past year, I had to switch both desktop and laptop-- and along the way, I enver bothered to re-bookmark LJ.
Here is a a semi-decent entry from my xanga site:
-----------------------
Atheism
I am an atheist. In discussion, private and public, we, as atheists, have been accused of being as militant and as dogmatic as the fundamentalists we condemn: That atheism is a religion..
Well, religious folks: You are right.
The theist-- Christian, Jew, or Muslim-- have their worldview shaped by the idea of a God. God is like the body upon which morality and perspective of the theist is built. It is all encompassing. While the particulars of their gods may differ, all religious folks share an awe and devotion for the divine.
Where is the atheist without all of this? What is the atheist's guiding principle?
We're a motley crew, and I can't speak for all of us. But for a lot of us, death is God.
While the theist has some afterlife as part of a retirement package, the atheist has nothing. Lying awake at night or in stray thought during rush-hour traffic, we have considered our own demise. Existentially, it is chilling. Like the blind can never know color, atheists can't imagine death. In trying to imagine what it's like with our brains off, we're trapped in a scary infinite regress.
Death, and her cold embrace, is the start of our religion. The finality of things is what sets and begins to color our world. My perceptions now, my fears, and my hopes are the be-all, end-all of existance.
The first impulse is to be hedonistic. To try all, and experience all. I think every atheist, at some point has entertained this, but recoiled only after thoughtful consideration.
There is a golden-mean: Everything in moderation. This maxim holds because we live in a physical world-- there are limitations to time and resource. In the decisions we make, there are always costs and trade-offs. Partying all the time and eating nothing but cheesecake carries its obvious penalties.
There are certain things that we must have to keep us happy. This is a concenquence of human physiology and human culture. I must have a house for shelter. In order for that, I must have a job. There are also the concerns of food, girls, and WoW. It's a constant juggle-- and some hedonistic tilt in one category would mess up the whole thing.
No God = amorality, right? Not quite.
At least this atheist can't help but feel depressed at the inevitability of things. Through freak odds, we are granted this brief spark of existance. In the inevitability of death and a cruel impersonal universe, life is like a bad Shakespeare play. We're set up to be unhappy. We're set up to wither away and die.
But my glimmer of hope is that we have each other. As fucked up as this ride may be, I'll have company-- friends to care about, and a family to love.
This is humanism-- that human values is the ultimate ends of morality. Because happiness is fragile, we must do our best to preserve it. Our actions and conduct must be done with an eye to the common good.
So atheism is like a religion: we have our own worldviews, a meaning to life and ideas of proper conduct. Just don't belittle us in accusations of nihilism and amorality.
Athiests aren't angry children lost from the way. We've only decided to walk our own paths.
--------------------------
I know it's cheap to double-post, but hey, it's a start. ^_^