As An Atheist Can Your Life Have Purpose and Meaning?

I was wondering what other people thought about this.

I realize we weren't born with a purpose. No creator or "higher calling".

But as a non believer can your life have meaning and purpose without god?

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Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on June 21, 2012 at 10:35pm

Thanks, Tom.   Rabbi Sherwin Wine used to say that traditional religion is "vertical" - salvation comes from "above."  But humanism is "horizontal" - all we need for happiness is all around us: mainly, other people.

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on June 22, 2012 at 3:09am

I like the Rabbi's metaphor.

Happiness doesn't travel vertically; it travels horizontally or not at all.

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on June 28, 2012 at 5:11pm

Alan I liked that you said that Humanism is horizontal - I never thought of it that way.

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on July 1, 2012 at 11:29am

Thanks, Steph.  Rabbi Wine was an amazing man -- all-encompassing intellect, spellbinding orator, great teacher, wonderful sense of humor.  It was a great privilege to know him and be in his congregation for 11 years. 

His courage in doing away with God and trying to create a humanistic Judaism -- something the rest of the Jews, in Detroit and elsewhere, thought blasphemous and crazy --  was a brilliant effort (which was very satisfying until I discovered the flaws in the concept, and his successor backslid into Bible stories).  He was all about human dignity, which had no place in traditional religion.

I secretly wished I could see how a thoughtful, committed atheist faced death - but he was killed in a car accident (age 79!).  Check him out: Sherwin T. Wine.

Permalink Reply by TNT666 on November 16, 2012 at 1:25am

God was made in the image of humans, so when humans adulate god they adulate themselves, Humanism has brought nothing new to that equation, still humans adulating humans.

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on June 22, 2012 at 11:03pm

A few days ago I blurted out to a fellow "old fart" that when my body can no longer orgasm I will be ready to die. At long last I identified my life's purpose.

Decades ago, when I was leaving Catholicism, I read about the world's major religions. In the books I consulted, I found that ONLY ONE major religion, Tantric Buddhism, that regarded sex as a positive influence. ONE! ONLY ONE!!!

We can easily prove wrong the conservative claim that America was founded on Xianity. Yet many Americans throughout the nation's history grew up in Xianity and left for various kinds of non-religion. Their values continued to have influence.

For instance, to choose one of probably hundreds of instances, in the 1920s when my mother was in her upper teens, it was considered scandalous for women who were obviously pregnant to don bathing suits and go to public swimming areas. 

So far in this discussion no one has admitted to sexual pleasure as a life purpose. Why not?

America was not founded on Xianity, but Xianity certainly had influence. DAMMIT!!!!

Permalink Reply by Idaho Spud on June 23, 2012 at 8:12am

Showing you were pregnant in public being scandalous is so incredibly stupid.  Religion dramatically messes-up our sex-lives.  Mormonism sure did mine and my ex-wife's, as well as my mother's and my sister's.  If I were closer to the rest of my mormon relatives, I'll bet the same could be said for them.

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on June 23, 2012 at 1:49pm

Tom -- Well said...hear, hear!   Human well-being, one of the goals of all our actions, takes many forms.

Religion is all too often a vehicle for people impressing their individual sexual hangups on others. 

Tantra is codified and institutionalized, but I bet there were plenty of ancient religions with a strong focus on sexuality (for a modern example, see "The Wicker Man" [original], one of the greatest anti-religion movies ever made) -- fertility rites, etc.  Too bad the dominant Abrahamic faiths are so up-tight about sex.

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on June 23, 2012 at 9:51pm

Some forms of paganism celebrated sex but they weren't mentioned in the books I read in the 1950s.

"...pleasure is not really a purpose." ???

Where's your evidence?

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on June 23, 2012 at 11:54pm

Thanks, Write4U, for your reply.

Re "OTOH, true happiness can be achieved only as a shared experience with another."

I don't want to engage in extended debate on points in your reply; here I will say only that I often see qualifiers such as "true" on terms such as "happiness".

I found much happiness while hiking in Arizona's Superstition Mountains. Because I was sometimes not sharing with others, was I experiencing an untrue happiness?

I also write for occasional publication. Once, when I found an incorrect statement in a nationally published law book, I researched the relevant law and found evidence that supported a change in the published work. I felt an entirely solo happiness. When I saw the nationally published correction, I felt another entirely solo happiness.

Long ago, enough people judged others that the people who wrote Xianity's rules devised "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

I found it easier to quit judging AFTER I found happiness, long after I quit Xianity.

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on June 26, 2012 at 6:08pm
You make good points Write4U - the pursuit of personal gratification does seldomly lead to a meaningful life. I personally enjoy helping others.
Permalink Reply by Steph S. on July 2, 2012 at 11:53pm
Write4U I agree that sharing experiences with another can help with a feeling of completeness.
Oh yeah I agree that in helping others and making someone else happy is a great meaning to life. I strive to do that myself.

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