Discover Top Posts Tagged with #file3

Atheism Implies That Life Is Absurd or Meaningless

The idea that life is meaningless is one I think most people have at one point or another. Many of my religious friends openly admit their skepticism of life’s purpose. In truth, none of us really knows why we’re here. None of us, no matter what you believe, can provide completely irrefutable evidence that we are here on earth for any one reason or another. None of us, without a doubt, knows why we exist, if there is a reason at all! Religion gives life a purpose: please God. Religion makes your only goal in life to make your maker happy, and the way to make him happy is to read his holy book, and do what he said in his book to be good. Atheists find meaning in life without gods or holy books. There are many things to create and pursue in life without a god! The pursuit of happiness, for one, is such a driving force in us that it was written into our Declaration of Independence! 250 years ago people decided to break free from tyranny and injustice to a new world where they could live and love and explore in freedom, and one of those freedoms they claimed was the pursuit of happiness.

Atheists don’t need a god to find meaning in our lives. There is so much more than prayer and ritual and reading to explore. We live to be inspired, to have creativity sparked within us, and to spark creativity within others! We know our lives have meaning because we see the impact we make on one another every day. Not to say not seeing an impact does not mean it’s not there. After all, a tree will make a sound in the forest even with no one nearby (It’s not a riddle, it’s not that clever, think about it for a second, of course it makes a sound.) But to say that life is absurd is absurd itself. To say that life is unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate is wrong by definition. To say that life is unreasonable is insane. It is the most reasonable thing any of us know. Living is the only thing every one of us has ever experienced. It is the only thing all of us are at once experiencing! How could anyone say something as obviously-taking-place as life is unreasonable?

To say such an idea is illogical is in itself illogical. Life is the most logical thing we know! If you were to ask someone “are you alive,” and they respond “no,” that is illogical! If you responded, you are alive. You are living. Even if you did not respond, if your body holds a pulse, however faint it may be, if your heart beats in any capacity, you are alive! Illogical: Lacking sense or clear, sound reasoning. To make sense of things is what we do, and though we may not understand the true meaning of life (which you could argue means life lacks sound reasoning) we can add clear meaning to it ourselves! Clear, secular meaning full of objective knowledge and sound reasoning. It IS possible.

And how can life be inappropriate? Inappropriate means unsuitable for the occasion or situation. How can life be unsuitable for anything? Maybe if the occasion is your funeral life may be inappropriate, but in any other capacity life is the most appropriate behavior! So to say that we believe life is absurd is, by definition, incorrect. There is nothing more interesting, lovely, exciting, and beautiful than life. We embrace it as much as any religious person does, just with a different approach.

#Atheism #Atheist #Skeptic #Files #File3 #Misconceptions