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Today's Atheist Meme of the Day:
Atheists have meaning, hope, and joy in our lives. We simply focus that meaning, joy, and hope in this life, not in a hypothetical afterlife we think is implausible and have no reason to think exists. Pass it on.
It just drives me batty when people think that atheists have meaningless lives, are angry and depressed and are "missing something" because we have denied our connection to a god.
To me, the idea that we are created for the sole purpose of worshipping a tantrum-prone, narcissistic, and vengeful god who hired a better PR firm and is now trying to pretend that he's all loving and stuff while still sending people to be tortured for eternity simply for saying "I don't like you", THAT is enough to make me feel angry and depressed. That's enough to take away all the meaning my life has.
In a universe without a god (which this one is), there are no boundaries to what we can become, and no way of knowing what we will become, which makes the journey even more fascinating. There are only the boundaries of physics, and as we understand more about what those boundaries are, what we can do with them increases in number. A sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from "magic".
The meaning in my life is to try and make this world a better place, to help people to understand themselves and each other, and to hopefully change society so that these lessons continue on after I'm gone.
The joy in my life is my work and my intentional family, including my pets. As Greta Christina says, atheists can have "transcendental" experiences, we just know that there's nothing supernatural about them. The joy of relating to such wonderful, fantastic people, the growth I experience through my relationships with them, and observing (and perhaps participating in) their own growth, and just the fun of being with these special people, how can anyone say my life has no joy?
The hope I have is for a better future. And the reason I have that hope is because I have evidence that it's possible. Over time, society has consistently gotten "better". Of course there have been bumps along the way, of course not every society has equal footing. But the overall trend has been for the quality of life for humans (and even the rest of the planet) to improve, to get easier and yet more enriching and fulfilling, over time. Today is better than 10 years ago. 10 years ago was better than the Victorian age. The Victorians had it better than the Medieval age. They had it better than the hunter-gatherers.
I have meaning, I have joy, and I have hope. I feel happy with life and I can't imagine ever getting bored with it or tired of it and wanting it to end. Putting a god in this reality takes all that away from me. I know that I have only this life to live, so I have to make it count. I know that the consequences of my actions will affect me today and I have no chance at forgiveness afterwards, so I have to be consious of what I do and how it affects other people. I do not need a god to tell me to be an ethical person. If I did ethical things because I was afraid of punishment, that doesn't *actually* make me an ethical person. I believe people should be treated with dignity, and I believe that all without a sky-daddy telling me to behave myself.
I know I seem like the quintessential Angry Atheist for those who only see me ranting about religious stupidity online. But that's because you are only seeing me while I am ranting. Everyone has something they get angry about. But, in life, overall, I am happy. And the happiest people I know are atheists. God does not give me meaning, joy, or hope. He takes it away.
Atheists have meaning, hope, and joy in our lives. We simply focus that meaning, joy, and hope in this life, not in a hypothetical afterlife we think is implausible and have no reason to think exists. Pass it on.
It just drives me batty when people think that atheists have meaningless lives, are angry and depressed and are "missing something" because we have denied our connection to a god.
To me, the idea that we are created for the sole purpose of worshipping a tantrum-prone, narcissistic, and vengeful god who hired a better PR firm and is now trying to pretend that he's all loving and stuff while still sending people to be tortured for eternity simply for saying "I don't like you", THAT is enough to make me feel angry and depressed. That's enough to take away all the meaning my life has.
In a universe without a god (which this one is), there are no boundaries to what we can become, and no way of knowing what we will become, which makes the journey even more fascinating. There are only the boundaries of physics, and as we understand more about what those boundaries are, what we can do with them increases in number. A sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from "magic".
The meaning in my life is to try and make this world a better place, to help people to understand themselves and each other, and to hopefully change society so that these lessons continue on after I'm gone.
The joy in my life is my work and my intentional family, including my pets. As Greta Christina says, atheists can have "transcendental" experiences, we just know that there's nothing supernatural about them. The joy of relating to such wonderful, fantastic people, the growth I experience through my relationships with them, and observing (and perhaps participating in) their own growth, and just the fun of being with these special people, how can anyone say my life has no joy?
The hope I have is for a better future. And the reason I have that hope is because I have evidence that it's possible. Over time, society has consistently gotten "better". Of course there have been bumps along the way, of course not every society has equal footing. But the overall trend has been for the quality of life for humans (and even the rest of the planet) to improve, to get easier and yet more enriching and fulfilling, over time. Today is better than 10 years ago. 10 years ago was better than the Victorian age. The Victorians had it better than the Medieval age. They had it better than the hunter-gatherers.
I have meaning, I have joy, and I have hope. I feel happy with life and I can't imagine ever getting bored with it or tired of it and wanting it to end. Putting a god in this reality takes all that away from me. I know that I have only this life to live, so I have to make it count. I know that the consequences of my actions will affect me today and I have no chance at forgiveness afterwards, so I have to be consious of what I do and how it affects other people. I do not need a god to tell me to be an ethical person. If I did ethical things because I was afraid of punishment, that doesn't *actually* make me an ethical person. I believe people should be treated with dignity, and I believe that all without a sky-daddy telling me to behave myself.
I know I seem like the quintessential Angry Atheist for those who only see me ranting about religious stupidity online. But that's because you are only seeing me while I am ranting. Everyone has something they get angry about. But, in life, overall, I am happy. And the happiest people I know are atheists. God does not give me meaning, joy, or hope. He takes it away.
