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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 TNT666 on November 15, 2012 at 8:49pm

Only if you've been told that by incompetent parents. If you were born with wolves! you would not be considering "purpose". Purpose is not biological, nor innate, it is a learned concept.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on June 14, 2012 at 7:17am

James, I'm persuaded that unhappy people need meaning, purpose and such, and that religion's (especially Catholicism's) purpose is to make people unhappy.

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Permalink Reply by TNT666 on November 15, 2012 at 8:50pm

Statistically, religious people are happiest. IMO the happiness mantra is a major catastrophe for humans, it blinds us to problems, making us serfs to power.

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Permalink Reply by Sandi on June 14, 2012 at 7:58am

I totally agree with you here James, why do we have to have any meaning or purpose to life. We question how we came to be, why we are here and the purpose of it all. The fact is we can't explain why we are here, evolution explains how and I think after that we should just go with the flow. Ultimately there is not difference in life quality between a religious person or an atheist. Some are rich, successful and some are not - from both sides.

I have to question how believing in a supreme being gives you purpose??? As far as I am concerned, it actually gives you less purpose because religion is so stale and stagnant that there will definitely be no answers ever - just the same old story over and over again 'goddidit' and we all know he ain't explaining anything.

Searching for a meaning or purpose to life is just the same as believing in religion, people need to feel that they are wanted and needed. How can we need a reason to live when you have no control over where and when you are born - shit happens and we should just live it and enjoy it.

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Permalink Reply by James Yount on June 13, 2012 at 10:59pm

Religion discourages the pursuit of meaning because it implies that God will provide us the answers on a silver platter after death. Meanwhile you're required to waste huge amounts of your time prostrating yourself before the fantasy. This is the true evil of religion because with only 80 or so years of life, most spend massive amounts of time bowing to the precepts of faith rather than seeking out the true inspirations and meanings of life. We allow the fear of death to keep us from truly living. For one that used to find meaning and inspiration in a book, I now see it everywhere else.

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on June 14, 2012 at 12:14am

That is true that religion keeps us from finding a real meaning to life because you are chasing after a fantasy the whole time. Thanks I agree.

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Permalink Reply by TNT666 on November 15, 2012 at 8:53pm

Of course, religion views individuality as sin. Religion is about teaching people to all live with each other, shut up, obey. Religions' first purpose was to achieve higher human living densities, so that the power hungry among us could amass massive buildings and wealth.

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Permalink Reply by annet on June 13, 2012 at 11:20pm

I am enjoying these responses a lot. Way to ask the big questions Steph!

As others have said, helping others makes me feel good which somehow equates to purpose. Another important one for me is self actualization. In a nutshell: ""the tendency to actualize, as much as possible, [the organism's] individual capacities" " Or as the army commercial used to say: "Be all that you can be." Laziness and a tendency to procrastinate get in the way much of the time, but the list of things to learn, places to go, things to try, people to spend time with, etc.... is long and will take more than a lifetime.

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on June 14, 2012 at 12:18am

Thank you Annet! So very kind of you!

Self actualization is important. And being the best you can be. I really loved reading your response.

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Permalink Reply by Tony Carroll on June 14, 2012 at 4:45am

Here's something I found while reading up on Thomas Jefferson:

If we did a good act merely from love of God and a belief that it is pleasing to Him, whence arises the morality of the Atheist? ...Their virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than the love of God.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Law, June 13, 1814