religion? atheism? whats the difference?
so once in a while you come across something in your life that makes you question everything all over again... and makes you rethink your entire existence... this has happened to me a few times in life, and once again yesterday. nothing drastic happened yesterday, but i did have a talk with one of my friends at school. it was a friendly, long, involved discussion about religion and life and existence... and it opened my mind to lots of fancy ideas/things. now as most of you know im an atheist, and i have been for about 5 or 6 years now.. my reasons why? well, theyre kind of personal, but i can defend my position... and of all my "atheist" friends, a lot of them believe what they believe b/c they hate religion, or specifically, catholicism, which i think is a ridiculous reason to believe what you want. people say "why are you an atheist?" and they respond with "because the catholic church is corrupt." thats stupid.. its embarassing... yes, i believe the church is corrupt, but thats not my reasons for being a non-believer... and to those people who just "dont follow religion" it doesnt mean youre an atheist, it means you dont follow religion, which is totally fine, dont be shy to say that... when i think about atheism, and i think about how to defend my position when im in an argument (or debate) i think about philosophy, and i think about lots of different existential ideas... and i think it was existentialism that last made me think like this.... so in talking with a theist friend of mine yesterday, he posed the idea that believing in god is putting faith in the meaninglessness of life... god gives hope. god gives something to strive for.. and remember, we're not talking about God the entity, who sits upon high and judges people as religion dictates, we're discussing god the eternal power, the eternal essence, the higher... not a figure.... so this "god", this "good" this "beauty" gives us something to call good, something to call beauty, something to strive towards and never achieve, as bo said "a beginning and an end, while we're stuck in the middle." and it made me think... where does the idea of beauty come from? originally? i mean, our society and our friends/family tell us "this is beautiful, this is just, this is good, this is bad".... but where did THAT come from? it tetters on platos ideas/forms philosophy.. that god is all those things, and all our creations are mere copies of that original, but can never be that original or that perfect...now i dont believe this, as i dont believe in god... but it is a good point... where did this develop? and i guess this is where it started for me... i can defend this position, but i defend it in a way that i defend most of my beliefs, in the pessimistic way... as in, i dont really offer an answer for it, but i offer an answer of what it CANT be.... like this: although i cant tell you where GOOD and BEAUTY and the such came from, i can tell you that they dont exist, and they must be man made for this one reason only: humans are the only species that find these things as BEAUTY, or LAW, or JUSTICE or FAIRNESS... in nature, its natural laws that apply... when an animal is killed by another animal, it doesnt face a trial... nor is it retaliated against (despite what disney has you believe). nor do animals fall in love... they mate, because its natural... thats all that matters... so us, the more intelligent ones, place this fictious value on LOVE, and BEAUTY and LAW and FAIRNESS and what-have-you.
so what brings meaning into the life of an atheist? well for me, ive realized that life is meaningless... theres no before life, and theres no after life... theres no god to believe in, theres no heaven to look forward to... so why am i here? why do i remain? and even more so, why the hell am i doing what im doing? studying? going to school? whats the point? its all meaningless... and i've figured that i am absolutely right.. it is all meaningless.. everything everyone does in their everyday life and existence is totally without meaning as existence has no meaning... it cant, just think about it... we're brought into this world without choice, and die nearly 100 years later... what is the point to it all? well, why dont i just kill myself? or drop out of school? and the answer is this: as theists find their faith in the meaningless in god, i as an atheist find my meaning in my life, and what i do... yes, chemistry is meaningless, so is even philosophising about this, but this is what brings meaning to me, this is what makes my life meaningful to me...
but lastly, the most important part... where did it all start from? in science, you search for answers, not truth... you keep breaking down every question and result you have until you reach the ultimate end, which is impossible i suppose... why does this happen, because of this, but when why does that happen, well because of this... and it keeps going and going and going until you reach the point where you cant answer it anymore... the most common example is the beginning of the universe.. we can justify everything that happens at 10^-30 seconds after the universe began, but how did it start? and then where did that start? and this is where my nonjustifications for god come in.. i dont believe in god bc as a scientist, i believe in the search for answers... implying god implys all answers, and then theres no reason for searching... so it seems silly to me.. but also, if God created the universe, who/what created god? and these arent hatefilled questions to antagonize the religion right... these are realy questions of any 8 year old that i never had answered but didnt really think about it until the end of high school when i made up my mind that god doesnt exist, and theres no logical reason by which god would exist... again, its not a hatred of religion that drove me to this... its a bunch of reading, and thinking and talking and non-answers ive gotten...
but maybe there doesnt need to be a logical reason, as life is without logic like i said....
so what brings meaning into the life of an atheist? well for me, ive realized that life is meaningless... theres no before life, and theres no after life... theres no god to believe in, theres no heaven to look forward to... so why am i here? why do i remain? and even more so, why the hell am i doing what im doing? studying? going to school? whats the point? its all meaningless... and i've figured that i am absolutely right.. it is all meaningless.. everything everyone does in their everyday life and existence is totally without meaning as existence has no meaning... it cant, just think about it... we're brought into this world without choice, and die nearly 100 years later... what is the point to it all? well, why dont i just kill myself? or drop out of school? and the answer is this: as theists find their faith in the meaningless in god, i as an atheist find my meaning in my life, and what i do... yes, chemistry is meaningless, so is even philosophising about this, but this is what brings meaning to me, this is what makes my life meaningful to me...
but lastly, the most important part... where did it all start from? in science, you search for answers, not truth... you keep breaking down every question and result you have until you reach the ultimate end, which is impossible i suppose... why does this happen, because of this, but when why does that happen, well because of this... and it keeps going and going and going until you reach the point where you cant answer it anymore... the most common example is the beginning of the universe.. we can justify everything that happens at 10^-30 seconds after the universe began, but how did it start? and then where did that start? and this is where my nonjustifications for god come in.. i dont believe in god bc as a scientist, i believe in the search for answers... implying god implys all answers, and then theres no reason for searching... so it seems silly to me.. but also, if God created the universe, who/what created god? and these arent hatefilled questions to antagonize the religion right... these are realy questions of any 8 year old that i never had answered but didnt really think about it until the end of high school when i made up my mind that god doesnt exist, and theres no logical reason by which god would exist... again, its not a hatred of religion that drove me to this... its a bunch of reading, and thinking and talking and non-answers ive gotten...
but maybe there doesnt need to be a logical reason, as life is without logic like i said....