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 Tammy S on June 20, 2012 at 5:05pm

LOL Alan, that was perfectly good coffee wasted on this damn screen!

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on June 20, 2012 at 7:45pm

So sorry.  But you gotta laugh at it.  Either that or pray.

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on June 21, 2012 at 1:34am

...life is like a roll of toilet paper - the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes?

1. I'm 81 and it (life, not the paper) is slowing down, maybe because I walk more slowly.

2. The paper's speed depends on how many people are sharing the bathroom with me.

3. Why, when the paper is about to run out, does a new roll appear?

4....

Thanks, Alan.

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on June 21, 2012 at 10:16am

Thank YOU, Tom.  I expect to be contributing to A/N when I'm 81. I will presumably know more about life than I've learned in my first six decades (which is not much). 

Thanks also for spinning the toilet paper into an entire life philosophy.  A new roll appears because new lives begin, replacing the one that gets flushed.

The toilet paper roll bears a striking resemblance to the Torah scroll.  Nothing of value in either.

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on June 21, 2012 at 10:29am

Thanks everyone for your insightful responses. I am really increasing my perspective.

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on June 22, 2012 at 2:52am

Alan, some more spin...

4. Xianity promises a happy future life but Xians don't want to use the last of the tp. They get kind of messy.

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on June 22, 2012 at 10:12am

LOL!!  Where does it say that in Scripture?

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on June 22, 2012 at 10:29am

I like the toilet paper reference. Time flies as you get older. I agree.

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on June 22, 2012 at 11:35am

Einstein said that when you're sitting on a hot stove, two minutes seems like two hours.  When you're talking to a pretty girl (I add: cute guy), two hours seems like two minutes.  That's relativity! 

According to Zen precepts, you can subjectively slow time down by paying attention and drinking in the richness of every moment (this doesn't count time spent in church/synagogue).  Takes practice, but it works.

Permalink Reply by Ibrahim on June 21, 2012 at 3:09pm

Excellent Question Steph, this question was asked by the Greek philosophers life Sokrat every one has a purpose like an astronaut studies how the universe behaves or a doctor to heal people from diseases or parents to raise their children.But do not think we only have one purpose everything evolves.

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on June 21, 2012 at 4:38pm

Ibrahim is right.  Your purpose is a combination of luck, choice, and something else, perhaps talent/inclination.  It may change.

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on June 21, 2012 at 7:15pm

Well, once you have life, it can't be taken.  And you have to have liberty to pursue happiness, however you define it.  I think "finding meaning and purpose" is not so formidable a project as religious believers make it -- so huge that only God can solve it.  Not true.  You'll find MANY answers in the 700+ comments.

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